Mindful Eating

It's 3:30pm, a couple hours after lunch and you have had a stressful day so far. Your feet almost walk themselves to the snack cabinet and before you know it a full chocolate bar has been devoured, and you are feeling so guilty. Sound familiar?

Eating has become such a mindless act, while it is the most important variable that defines our physical, mental and emotional energy. The abundance of distractions like the telly, Netflix, social media and so forth have conditioned us to be more attentive to the distractions and completely oblivious to the food. Add to that the fact that stress and exhaustion trigger many unhealthy eating habits such as binge eating, over/under eating, emotional eating etc that may lead to significant ailments.?

What is Mindful eating and why do we need to practice it?

Mindful eating is bringing full awareness to the experience of eating. It is about slowing down, bringing attention to the food and engaging all 5 senses with the food - noticing its colours, smells, textures, flavours and sounds.?

By eating mindfully, you restore your attention and slow down, making eating an intentional and an enjoyable act instead of a reactive one.

1. Mindful eating and unhealthy eating behaviors:

Mindful eating methods have been shown to reduce Emotional eating (eating in response to certain emotions) and External eating (eating in response to environmental, food-related cues, such as the sight or smell of food.) Mindful eating helps you distinguish between emotional and physical hunger. It also increases your awareness of food-related triggers and gives you the freedom to make a choice rather than falling prey to an impulse. (Research quoted)

1. Mindful eating and wellbeing:

By changing the way you think about food, mindful eating promotes overall wellbeing. It eliminates the negative feelings that may be associated with eating, replacing them with awareness, improved self-control, and positive emotions. Mindful eating may aid weight goals by changing eating behaviors and reducing the stress associated with eating. (Research Quoted)

How to practice Mindful eating:

1. Eliminate distractions:? Turn off the TV and put down your phone. Take a moment to really look at your food, noticing the effect food has on your feelings.?
2. Relish the food: Be aware of the full experience of eating. Take a moment to be present with your meal. Engage all your senses in the act of eating. Eat slowly and notice the colours, smells, flavours, textures and the sounds of the food.?
3. Pay attention to your posture while eating: Slouching on the couch, half lying while watching TV and eating etc can slow down the metabolism. Taking a dignified, upright posture while eating can positively impact the experience of the meal.?
4. Know when to stop: Eating slowly will enable you to know the difference between actual hunger and disguised hunger. You will slowly start to notice the feeling of satiety.
5. Bring Gratitude for food: Appreciate the food and close the meal with gratitude for it, for the one who cooked it and for the entire process of it coming to your plate. The age old practice of starting and ending a meal with a prayer across cultures is actually a powerful reframing exercise that impacts our emotions as well as metabolism.

Eating mindfully over a period of time, allows you to replace impulsive choices with more conscious, healthier responses towards food.

How to stop unhealthy eating habits

One can positively impact unwanted eating patterns by:

• Recognizing emotions associated with food and bringing awareness to the triggers that may be leading to unhealthy eating habits. Mindful eating helps cope with anxiety and guilt around food and also noticing the effects food has on one’s feelings.
• Managing cravings: Being mindful of the craving is to be aware when a craving kicks in and then choosing what /what not to consume. The next time you feel a craving for something unhealthy, take a pause and ask yourself: Do I need the chocolate or maybe a handful of nuts would be better for me right now? Having made that choice, even if it is the bar of chocolate you choose to go with, eat the chocolate with awareness, relish it, enjoy it, without regret and without mindlessly gobbling it up!

Over the next day, pick one meal to practice mindful eating. It might just be the best meal you ever have.?