Is Mindful Eating the Answer to a Healthier Lifestyle?

Sitting on the couch, binging on your favorite show, and mindlessly eating a sandwich with a pack of chips is something that we all have done and might still be doing on a regular basis. In fact, many people do this on a regular basis and think nothing of it. The trouble is that this type of eating becomes mindless and can be detrimental to your health and wellness over time. Let’s explore the notion of ‘mindful eating’ and why it is more than a buzzword that is here to stay.

If you watch tv, listen to the news, watch podcasts, or see the latest bestsellers bookshelves in your local market, you have certainly heard of the word ‘mindful’, for instance, being mindful about what you are doing? Being mindful simply means being completely conscious about your current actions, the surrounding environment, and the impact that the present moment has on you.

But what is mindful eating?

Mindful eating is when you are enjoying your meal cognizantly at the moment, and you are savoring every morsel of the food in your mouth. To take the description a step further, you are treating the act of eating like meditation. You are utilizing your food to help to relax your mind, rather than treating it just like another daily chore that needs to be done. In fact, the US National Library of Medicine (NCBI) mentions that mindful eating promotes healthy eating habits by keeping the emotional triggers and external cues under control.

Further still, the University of Michigan Comprehensive Diabetes Center says that we associate food with comfort and not as much with nutrition. But if we focus on all the vitamins and nutrients that it is providing to our body, it might make eating more enjoyable and satisfying to know how it is benefiting our body. Eating mindfully helps to control uncontrolled urges and mindless munching triggered by both external and internal cues.

How to Practice Mindful Eating?

Mayoclinic mentions using the senses to enjoy every aspect of eating, slowing down, and paying attention to food rather than to the external environment to help a person lose weight. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) says that the purpose of mindful eating is not weight loss but in being present whilst the act of eating, makes you more conscious about your food habits. It is more process-oriented than results-oriented. It is proven that when an individual is in the moment and relishes every bite that they are taking, automatically his portion size becomes regulated. This is because you become more mindful of how much you are consuming, and you realize that you are feeling satiated faster when you are noticing how your body is responding to food instead of paying attention to other factors that are taking place in the surrounding environment while you eat your meal. Ultimately, mindful eating helps in achieving many health goals.

An article in AARP says that to get to the depth of mindful eating it is imperative to understand how weight gain has more to do with your brain than your tummy.

This brings us to the question; how does one practice mindful eating? Here is a beginner’s guide to mindful eating. It is important to keep in mind that this is simply a guide and that mindful eating is something that will take time to get used to.

• Listen to your tummy rather than to your mind. Ask whether you are really hungry before sitting down to enjoy a plate of food. Often, we think that we are hungry, but we might not be. Most of the time we just end up eating for our emotional satisfaction or because it is “that time of day,” rather than gut satisfaction. Binge eating is mostly associated with stress, anxiety, or boredom. If you do not feel hungry, turn to a light snack and hydrate with water instead of consuming a full meal.
• Become dedicated to a proper mealtime. For most of us, eating is something that we do while doing something else, whether it is watching tv or reading the newspaper. Dedicating time for meals, sitting down with the family, and setting up a nice ambiance to eat, adds to the overall feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment of your meal.
• Minimizing distractions can improve your meal. Watching television or being on the phone while eating is often a regular habit but that can easily take out the satisfaction quotient from the moment of enjoying your meal and can also cause you to overeat or eat in a hurry. We tend to focus more on the activities around eating rather than the eating itself. This leads to mindless eating which could result in overeating, eating quickly, or eating food that is less healthy than if mindfully planned out.
• Drink water before a meal. Drinking water before meals curbs the hunger pain which prevents overeating and overindulging on food the moment you lay your hands on it. When you drink a glass of water prior to a meal, you are helping to hydrate your body and prepare yourself to enjoy a nice meal.
• Use smaller plates. Serving food on smaller plates helps reduce portion sizes and lets you focus on what you have on the existing plate. A smaller plate also makes you consider what food you put on the plate and forces you to portion control and eat within reason.
• Take time to eat. Harvard Medical School shared in one of their publications that it takes 20 minutes for the brain to understand that your stomach is full. Hence, it is important to take time to eat so you should provide yourself with at least 20 minutes to indulge in a meal. The reason for this is that the digestive system goes through a complex cycle which leads to the delay in the information transfer from the gut to the brain. Taking time to eat and slowing down allows the brain to receive the signal that it is full. Putting your cutlery down also helps to slow the eating process down a bit. It is also important to ensure that you hydrate your body with water or a beverage of choice in between bites throughout your meal.
• Chew 30 times when eating. We have all heard this at some point in our lives. Yes! Chew 30 times. This ensures that not only are you savoring every moment and acknowledging the taste that is in every chew, but it also helps in effectively breaking down the food so that the body can better digest what you are eating. Breaking down food for the digestive process is important to gut health.
• Sitting at a distance from your food during meals. Controlling oneself can get tough when you are sitting right in front of your food. Your olfactory senses can get the better of you. But when you sit at a distance from your food, the time that you take to walk to the food is the moment when you realize that you may not need the second serving that you think you desire. This is also due to the lag of information between the tummy and the brain. This technique also prevents overeating, because it gives time for the body to realize that it is satiated.
• Being grateful. Appreciating the food and the nutrients that it is provided to your body is easier when you eat slower. Using all your senses to enjoy the food, how it looks, how it smells, how it feels, and just taking in every element of the meal helps you to appreciate the food more.
• Focus on the feeling: Feelings are very important. Not only focusing on how you feel while you have the food in your mouth but also how you feel after, is important. Going through the complete chakra of food appreciation is a key to mindful eating.
• Listen to your body. We often ignore what our body tells us and get carried away. Listen to it when it tells you that it is full. Trying to finish the plate off even when you are full, takes away the feel-good factor because at that point you are just pushing the food down into your system.
• Make your own food and avoid takeout.  Cooking your food at home not only ensures that you are eating healthier but also re-establishes a healthier relationship with the eating process. You are more aware and appreciative of your meal because you know the effort that went into preparing it.

Dr. Albers, in an article in the Cleveland clinic, said that mindful eating helps to develop a better relationship with food, and it makes you feel free since you are not restricting yourself. Though savoring every bite is a major part of mindful eating, it is not the only part. Exercising, meditating, and tracking your progress along with eating mindfully is the complete cycle.

Mindful eating is a process that needs practice and before you know it, it becomes a habit that makes the benefits last longer. By eating mindfully, you are transforming your automatic eating habits into well-thought-out activities that make a difference. It also teaches you to appreciate little things in life and encourages self-love by bringing the focus to your well-being.

The DishQuo diabetic meal planning app has created a new, revolutionary approach to meal planning which is not only scientific but enjoyable. With us, you can savor delicious meals and track your progress to see how well you are doing on your journey. Our flavorful meal plans are nutritious and are not restrictive to any type of diet because they are conducive to all types of lifestyles choices. Most of all, we focus on food enjoyment because it’s not fun otherwise and the results are not long-term if you are not loving the process, enjoying the food that you eat, and learning how the impact of the decisions that you make will influence your overall health and wellness.

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