What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is a way to bring awareness to your experiences with food. Practice helps your brain and body communicate so you know when you’re hungry, satisfied, or full. When eating mindfully, you pay attention to what your body is trying to say and take notice of the smaller actions you might not normally notice. This means taking your time to be fully aware of what you’re consuming, only eating when you’re hungry, and stopping when you’re full try our 4 simple tips on mindful eating and see if it helps.
Mindless eating is often associated with obesity. When curbing mindless habits, you can eliminate bloating and indigestion – plus potentially be at a healthier weight.
4 Simple Ways to Start Today
- Am I hungry?
When reaching for a snack, try asking yourself that question.
If you answer no, then ask, “Why am I hungry?”
Are you bored? Thirsty? Tired? Upset? These can often be confused for hunger.
If you answer yes, then ask, “How hungry am I?”
Assess how much food you really need and stop eating when you’re not hungry…not when you’re full!
Helpful tip! Take 5
Can’t figure out your level of hunger, take five minutes and distract yourself before turning to food.
Try this hunger scale to see how hungry you really are.
- Stop with the distractions
Are you using a phone, computer, or TV while eating, if you are not listening to your body telingl you when it’s full. During your next meal, take a break from the electronics and only focus on the food you’re consuming. Notice the look, texture, smell, and tastes!
- TrySlowing down
It takes 20 minutes for our stomach to receive the signal that we’re full. Putting down your fork between bites and drinking a glass of water as you’re eating helps with mindful eating.
- Help Manage your environment
Controlling food temptations around you can be another easy way to create a mindful eating habit.
- Put away part of a meal before you start eating – this will help you prevent overeating, and leaves you with leftovers for the next day!
- Take out a portion of the food, instead of eating right out of the container
- Use different sized dishes to appropriately match a meal
- Salad plate for dinner
- Smaller dish for ice cream
Try Mindful Extras
Switch things up by adding these mindful eating hacks to your next meal:
- Use a fork with your non-dominant hand
- Scrap the fork and knife altogether…give chopsticks a shot instead!
- When socializing around a table of food, hold your drink in your dominant hand so you can’t easily grab food
- Why not try your new found tips with our super nutritious seaweed recipies….
