Mindful Eating: Change Your Relationship With Food

In today’s fast-paced world, the lack of time has become a major issue with everyone. We do everything in a hurry and that includes eating. You must have seen people eating while working, driving, or scrolling through phones. Getting involved in other activities while eating does not let us truly connect with the food.

The result is overeating, emotional eating, or an unhealthy relationship with food. However, you can change this scenario by being more present and aware while having food. And this is known as mindful eating.

In this article, we will learn about mindful eating, how you can practice it, and how this can create a healthier and more enjoyable eating experience.

What is Mindful Eating?

Basically, it is a practice of focusing on eating and drinking without any distractions. With this practice, you develop a sense of being aware of the texture, taste, and aroma of the food. You learn how the food brings a positive impact on your body; physically and emotionally. Basically, it teaches you to involve all your senses while eating and listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues.

Mindful Eating Practices

In our fast lives, we all have lost the art of mindful eating. However, you can learn again and develop it by practicing it every day. It’s all about engaging all your senses, slowing down, and paying attention to each aspect of food. Here are some mindful eating tips and practices that you must incorporate into your daily routine:

Set Aside All Your Distractions While Eating

When you sit to eat food, set aside all your distractions be it your phone, TV laptop, or anything else. Eat in a quiet focused environment where you can entirely focus on your food. Allow you to be fully present while having meals, no matter if you are alone or with others. Don’t try to multitask, just experience what you are doing.

Though it’s not essential to always eat in silence, it is better if you stay away from external noises and conversations and focus completely on your food and body’s signals.

Keep It Slow And Savor Each Bite

Don’t rush through your meals. Take small bites and chew them properly. Slow chewing allows you to experience the full flavors, aromas, and texture of the food. While eating, put your fork or spoon down to appreciate your food before you take the next bite. Doing this will eventually encourage mindful eating practices within you.

Listen To Your Hunger Cues

Don’t just eat because it's time for lunch or dinner. Your body always gives clear hunger signals. So, try to eat only when you are really hungry, not because of boredom or stress. This will help you develop the difference between physical eating and emotional eating. Also, before you start eating, analyze how hungry you are and accordingly take food on your plate.

Pay Attention To Fullness Signals

Like hunger cues, you also get fullness signals from your body. Pause in between your meals to realize whether you are hungrier or not. Learn to stop when you feel you are no longer hungry. A mindfully eating exercise involves listening to your body signals. Don’t just rush up to finish everything on your plate.

Engage All Your Senses

Before you take the first bite, engage all your senses to appreciate the food. See how it looks and smells. Feel the texture; whether it's crunchy, smooth, creamy, etc. With this, you can set a deep connection with your meals.

Be Aware Of Emotional Eating

Sometimes, when you feel stressed, bored, or are under emotional discomfort, you tend to suppress those feelings by eating unnecessarily. If you feel you are eating because of emotions, pause for a minute. Think of alternatives to beat your stress. Instead, go for a walk, talk to someone, practice deep breathing, or try journaling.

Control Your Portions

Mindful eating encourages you to take multiple smaller meals rather than one big meal. With this, you can prevent overeating. When you take less food and eat slowly, you can realize when you are full and stop you from eating beyond your needs. Also, eating smaller meals prevents food wastage.

Practice Gratitude

It is very important to express gratitude towards whatever is there in front of you for eating. Recognize the effort it took to bring this food to your table. Remember each person’s effort in growing and preparing this meal for you. With this, you foster a deep sense of appreciation.  Also, pay thanks to your body which can nourish itself with the food you are having. All this will help you set a deep connection between your body, mind, and soul.

Consider Food As A Nourishing Experience

Don’t ever consider eating as a task or a way to satiate your taste buds. Take it as an experience that nourishes your body, that makes you feel good, and supports your health. With this, you will start looking at food from a different perspective. Considering food as a nourishing thing will help you stay away from junk or unhealthy food. You will also stop eating mindlessly larger quantities of food.

If you feel it is challenging to inculcate these practices in your daily life, it would be good to get in touch with some wellness speakers, nutritionists, or therapists as they can better analyze your personal situation and help you adopt these practices in a much better way.

Benefits of Mindful Eating

If you follow the above mindful eating practices in your everyday routine, you will be able to witness the following changes in your life:

• Less overeating: When you pay attention to hunger and fullness cures, you tend to eat rationally, eventually, you will realize that you have stopped unnecessary snacking and emotional eating.
• Better digestion: Slowly eating healthy, nutritious, and proportionate food allows your body to absorb nutrients more effectively and supports digestion.
• Develop a healthy relationship with food: Instead of overeating or practicing dieting, you go on developing a healthy relationship with your food. While eating mindfully, you start enjoying every bite and feel it as a nourishing factor for your body.
• Increased enjoyment of meals: Sitting peacefully and eating without distractions let you savor your food and make it more satisfying and pleasurable.

Conclusion

Incorporating mindful eating into your routine fosters a healthier, more balanced eating approach that lasts a lifetime. So, start it today; start small and make your food an opportunity to nourish your mind and body.