3 Tips To Practice Mindful Eating
Mindfulness is a practice that requires your full awareness and presence. Mindful eating is really no different, it is the act of staying present throughout your meals and observing the taste, smell and texture of your food.
I often ask my clients the first step to mindful eating is to notice what hunger feels like for you in your body since we’re all different and experience hunger differently.
Hunger for you may feel like:
You notice your stomach grumbling
You get irritable
You start yawning or have some brain fog
With mindful eating, there is no counting calories, macros, and no weighing food. It’s just you listening to your body and giving yourself what you think you need at that moment based on how you feel.
The purpose of mindful eating is not to lose weight, although it is likely that those who adopt this style of eating will lose weight. We tend to slow down and sometimes eat less when mindfulness is brought into our meals.
But the intention is not to lose weight- the intention is to help individuals savor the moment and the food and encourage their full presence for the eating experience.
If you’re someone looking to practice mindful eating, I’ve got three practical tips to help you get started.
1. Sit down to eat your meal and plate your food
You’d be surprised at how many people eat on the go, whether their at their desk at work, driving to work, multi-tasking at home. When we’re eating on the go, we’re usually not focusing on chewing and digestion actually starts in the mouth so do yourself a favor and make sure you sit down to eat and put your food on a plate.
2. Take a pause mid-way through your meal
This will help you to notice how hungry or full you feel since it takes a bit more time for your stomach sensations to catch up with your mind.
3. Try to limit the amount of distractions you have while you’re eating your meals
Have you ever been on the phone with someone while eating and 5-10 minutes goes by and all of a sudden your food is gone and you hardly realize you were even eating? There’s something to be said for staying present to your meals and eating with no distractions. We usually eat faster, don’t chew as well and don’t get to fully enjoy our meals when we’re distracted. I know this is a tough one so start out by setting small but attainable goals for yourself. If you’re someone who likes to catch up on emails while you eat or watch YouTube videos on your lunch break at work, try negotiating with yourself and set a goal that you won’t eat while being distracted for half the meal. Increase your time each week and you’ll notice a HUGE difference not only in how satiated you feel afterwards, but how full you stay thereafter.
If you have any questions about mindful eating, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Follow Amanda Hart for eating tips & tricks
