Methods For Mindful Eating

Methods For Mindful Eating

Food is family. Food is tradition. Food is comfort. Cooking can be an excellent restorative activity that has the ability to release stress and allow you to re-center. Sitting down at the table with a nutritious lunch that you prepared from scratch can feel rewarding and indulgent (even if it's packed full of greens!). Or maybe you aren't a fan of prepping meals and every once and a while you like to treat yourself to lunch from a restaurant. That delicious salmon that flakes apart when you touch it with a big green arugula salad can act as the perfect mid-day pick me up before heading back to the office.

Food can also act as a companion during spells of boredom or periods of discomfort. Creating a healthy and meaningful relationship with food that is focused on nourishing your body is the first step towards eating mindfully.

Mindful eating, defined, is the technique used to gain control over your relationship with food. It's a practice that promotes healthy relationships with food and creates positive patterns that can help balance your overall health and wellbeing.

Why is mindful eating important? By eating mindfully, individuals have the power to gain control over their relationship with food and overcome poor or unbalanced eating habits. Other positive attributes may include taming tendencies to binge eat, losing weight, or assisting with negative relationships with food or disordered eating. Think of it as a step in the right direction and a path towards a more balanced lifestyle!

Getting Started

The goal of eating mindfully is to create positive eating habits that may translate to other parts of your life. Small habits -- like choosing to eat a handful of berries or nuts instead of chips when you are hungry-- can result in life-changing transformations. It's all about giving yourself the resources and mindset to think clearly and make educated food choices.

This is a method of eating to encourage positive relationships with food. If you are trying to create a personalized diet plan, it is best to reach out to your personal physician or dietician for assistance! You should never take on a diet or exercise plan without consulting a professional first.

It's really easy to get started with mindful eating. Make meal times special. Record what you eat in a food journal with some thoughts about how you feel afterwards. Pay attention to how delicious dishes are and savor every bite of them. Ask yourself some simple questions to make judgements on foods before eating them and don't forget to eat foods that you love!

More Than Immediate Gratification?

If you're stressed and eating a whole bag of Cheetos in 15 minutes or half a dozen cookies at the end of the night to reward yourself for a hard day at work, there may some re-centering that can be done to change your relationship with food that could help you feel better in the long run.

Having a food diary is a great way to track eating habits and take a hard look at why you are eating what you are eating. When you start to flip through the pages and see there are certain times you head to the kitchen for the pint of Ben & Jerry's or find yourself in a drive thru picking up a 1/4 pounder with a large fries, extra ranch dressing, and a shake for dinner, you can track what causes you stress and what meal times you really need to watch.

The occasional indulgence is well deserved and you should never feel deprived. If you really want a cookie and you took a moment to think about it, eat one! The process of mindful eating is really about understanding why you are picking up certain foods and asking yourself if it's benefiting you in the moment or long term. If the benefits outweigh the immediate gratification, by all means enjoy!

Screen-Free Meal Times

It takes seconds to devour half a bag of tortilla chips or inhale the pasta you made for lunch while eating in front of your phone or computer. We have all done it.

Think about when you go to the movies and you sit with a giant bowl of popcorn in your lap. Before you know it, you feel your hand grazing the bottom of the bag or bowl because you were so enthralled with what was going on on the screen. It didn't really feel like you had consumed so much because you were distracted by other things going on in your surroundings. This is a great example of "mindless" eating.

Make an effort to limit the amount of tech you are using during designated meal times. Not only does your food end up tasting better, it gives you the opportunity to enjoy a fifteen minute break and decompress without screens. We promise, your email inbox will still be there when you get back to your desk.

As a rule of thumb, focus on savoring your food and paying attention to what you are actually enjoying rather than eating out of necessity. Your meal will be more satisfying when you take time to appreciate it rather than mindlessly grazing

Are You Really Hungry?

It is a completely normal habit to gravitate towards the fridge or the pantry at the end of a long day or to snack continuously on unhealthy foods when things are stressful at work. You're not alone! We do this because food gives us immediate gratification -- it tastes good, it's satisfying, it engages our senses, and it's always there for us.

Step one: Ask yourself if you are actually hungry. If the answer is yes, go grab a snack or make yourself something to eat. 

If the answer was "no", you're not hungry, consider why you feel the need to reward yourself with a treat or snack. Or, ask yourself why you are self-soothing with food.

Asking yourself these questions does not mean you cannot eat whatever you were heading to the pantry for. It simply makes you more aware of why you are making the choices you are making and encourages intentional eating.

Spend Time In The Kitchen Cooking

Learn to love cooking and spend time cooking the things you enjoy eating. You will feel gratified when you start a project, complete it, and sit down to enjoy the end result. There are lots of simple and satisfying recipes out there that take under 10 minutes to prepare and are beginner friendly.

Be proud that you took five minutes to whisk together your own, homemade salad dressing and tossed it over some spinach and berries. Something as simple as mixing a few ingredients together has the ability to yield a fulfilling result.

We understand, not everyone is a world renowned chef -- and that's okay. There are dozens of free videos online if you need help with even the most basic cooking techniques like boiling water or making pasta. Try it out for yourself and see what you can whip up!

Understanding our relationship to eating cultivates a lot of insights and help us start living our highest potential

Natasa Pantovic Nuit

Think On It

While it may feel silly comparing eating to meditation, there is some truth to it. Take time to enjoy every bite of food you are eating and feel good about what you are choosing to put in your body. When you take time to savor each bite -- a meal prepared with love, energy, and time will taste better and be more fulfilling than a handful of your favorite junk food snack of choice.

You Can Do It!

We are all in different places when it comes to our health and well-being. Whether you're just starting your wellness journey or you are already a guru, it's nice to have a friendly reminder to check in on yourself and do something that's good for you.

Work gets busy, holidays can be hectic, and it can be easy to put yourself second and help those around you first. Remember -- you can't pour from an empty cup.

Your personal health and well-being is just as important as those around you. Take a few moments today to evaluate how things are going when it comes to your relationship with food.

The beautiful thing about the habit of mindful eating is that it is a habit -- you can start working on this anytime you see fit and move through the process at your own pace.

We've included a few helpful pointers below to get you thinking about some considerations you could make when it comes to your own mindful eating practice. They may seem obvious, but they are important factors when it comes to getting started with implementing this practice in your own life.

The Basics

• Slow down -- spend time enjoying your food rather than rushing through meals or snack times
• Avoid distractions while eating
• Listen to hunger cues -- eat when you are hungry and stop eating when your body tells you that you're full
• Focus on eating nourishing meals that contain foods that aid your overall health and wellbeing
• Pay attention to how you feel after your meal. How did your food choices impact your body and mood.
• Avoid eating foods that don't work for your body (If you have food intolerances / sensitivities, do not continue eating those foods)
• Focus on eating to make your body feel good rather than eating out of boredom or due to stress
• Observe your relationship with food and any negative aspects that could use work
• Do you have any negative feelings (anxiety, stress, guilt) associated with food? If you do, you may want to consult a professional dietician or physician
• Appreciate what you eat and enjoy every bite!