Probably you’ve heard about mindfulness on media recently. Did you know that mindfulness can be applied to your mealtimes? In this article, I will explain what mindful eating is and its benefits. As a bonus, I will share the 7 principles of Mindful Eating that you can start practicing from today!
When was the last time you took the time to savor every single bite of a meal?
In this busy day and age, so often we inhale the meal in five minutes and get on to the next thing.
Meanwhile, you may be fighting against ever-increasing weight and strictly following the trending diet plan. But not seeing the satisfactory result that you desire.
Yes, Mindful Eating requires you to slow down to savor every bite, but who knows that’s what your body is needing?
Table off Contents
Mindful Eating Explained
Why should you incorporate Mindful Eating in your daily life?
Practice Mindful Eating:
Engage all your senses.
Be aware of your emotions, thoughts, and feelings
Eat till 80% full
Savor the small bites and eat slowly
Honor the food, honor your body
Serve modest portions
Eat for Balance
Summary
Mindful Eating Explained
Mindful Eating is about being in the present moment (in this case, eating) using all of your senses and without judgment, savoring and enjoying every bite you eat.
Often so many people’s minds are disconnected from their body because they’re so busy running around to get all the things on their to-do list done. When you’re eating while distracted, your brain will not register that you’re eating and cannot signal your body to prepare for incoming food, thus compromising the metabolism1
Mindful eating reconnects your mind to your body. When your mind is connected to your body, it functions in full alignment.
Why should you incorporate Mindful Eating in your daily life?
There are several benefits to practicing Mindful Eating:
Improved relationship with food
Increased confidence in your body
Effortlessly reaching your optimal weight
Greater satisfaction from eating
Freedom to choose what you like to eat and understanding what your body desires
Improved metabolism and digestion
Practice Mindful Eating:
Here are the 7 basic principles on how to start practicing Mindful Eating.
Engage all your senses.
What you eat should appeal to all your senses.
Hearing – What happens when you hear a steak sizzle on a flaming hot pan? Or hear the knife hitting the cutting board in a nice rhythm. You realize there’s someone cooking in the kitchen!
Smell – Then you start smelling the juicy aroma of the cooked steak. Food that smells good makes you hungry and your digestive organs start secreting digestive enzymes to get you ready to eat!
Sight – Having just a piece of steak on your plate is not visually appetizing. Put colorful sides like steamed broccoli and carrots. Assemble the food in a way that is visually appealing to you
Touch – Having a variety of textures in your food will take you to a different dimension of food! Add some crunch to your soft, mushy comfort foods. Like adding nuts or seeds in your salad!
Taste – Every meal should incorporate all 5 testes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami).
Be aware of your emotions, thoughts, and feelings
A study shows that happy emotions are associated with healthy food choices. And the opposite is true, when people are feeling down, people tend to comfort themselves with chocolate and chips. So before you eat, screen your inner-self. Ask yourself what you’re thinking, feeling, and doing before the meal.
Eat till 80% full
In Japan, we say “Hara Hachi Bu” meaning eat 80% full. We’re told that if we eat 80% full, it will keep the doctor away. And this practice seems to give you a longer and healthier life. As an example, people in Okinawa, Japan actively practice this and they are the longest living people in Japan (average life expectancy 89 years old)!
Savor the small bites and eat slowly
On average, Americans spend 15-20 minutes eating. Did you know it takes 20 minutes from your first bite till your brain gets the message that there’s food in the stomach? By the time you finish cleaning up the food on your plate, your brain just registers information that you’re actually eating food!
Honor the food, honor your body
In this day and age, food is available everywhere -at least in the U.S., It’s very easy for us to take our food for granted. Every year we waste about 38 million tons (that’s the weight of 104 Empire State buildings)! One of the reasons why we keep throwing food away is that we’re often not self-aware of how much we throw away food. Therefore I believe mindful eating can be a part of the solution. Why? Because mindful eating practice honors the food, the people, the earth, and yourself. It brings awareness and consciousness to every bite you take.
Serve modest portions
The external environment can influence consumer intake. One study found that Americans rely on external cues to gauge when to stop eating, in comparison, French relies on internal cues to stop eating such as “when I’m no longer hungry”. Americans relying on external cues, ate 1.5 x more than the French. Although my ultimate goal for you is to eat like French, for now, try controlling your intake by serving smaller portions. Start by using smaller plates (9-10″ diameter) and tall narrow glasses for water and other beverages.
Eat for Balance
Your life is not about “eat to live” or “live to eat”, it’s to eat for the balance! Knowing what to eat is as important as knowing how to eat. Nowadays, there is so much information on the web about healthy nutrition and I’m really happy that people are putting more effort into having vegetables on their plates. However, please don’t forget that eating for balance includes Mindful Eating. Because even though you may be eating kale and apples all the time if you’re mindlessly eating those foods, they’re not serving you any good for your body.
Summary
Mindful Eating is not a diet nor it has a specific plan that you can follow. I consider it more like a way of life, it teaches you to become more aware of what your body is telling you.
It has multiple benefits that you can enjoy for a lifetime including better relationships with food, increased confidence in your body, and smoother digestion.
If you are new to Mindful Eating, I suggest you focus on the first 3 principles; using all of your senses, being aware of your thoughts, emotions, and feelings, and eating 80% full. Mindful eating practice starts with awareness, rather than trying to fit yourself in a cookie-cutter diet, start by knowing yourself. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses around food.
I believe the human body has an innate ability to regulate itself and bring our health to balance when we slow down and listen to our body. In this day and age, it’s become harder and harder to slow down or take the time to listen to our body. People rely so heavily on the medical system to treat their pain and ailments while ignoring the slight signals that their body has been sending.
Join my Mindful Eating Challenge to get started with practicing mindful eating today!
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