We have evolved into a society that is either constantly talking while we are eating, busy with our gadgets or in front of the TV. We are never paying attention to our food. We don’t know what we are consuming as long as we eat. Instead of being unaware of the food we are eating, how about trying Mindful eating. Many people think that mindful eating is about eating slowly or about chewing your food for a long time because they don’t really know what mindful eating is.
Many people who struggle with food react mindlessly to their unrecognized or unexamined triggers, thoughts, and feelings. Mindfulness increases your awareness of these patterns without judgment and creates space between your triggers and your actions.
How Does Mindful Eating Help You?
Mindful eating allows you to become aware of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food selection and preparation by respecting your own inner wisdom. It also uses all your senses in choosing to eat food that is both satisfying to you and nourishing to your body. You become aware of physical hunger and satiety cues to guide your decisions to begin and end eating.
How to Eat Mindfully
Slowing down is one of the best ways we can get our mind and body to communicate what we really need for nutrition. The body actually sends its satiation signal about 20 minutes after the brain, which is why we often unconsciously overeat. But, if we slow down, we can give our body a chance to catch up to our brain and hear the signals to eat the right amount. Another way that we eat mindlessly is by wandering around looking through cabinets, eating at random times and places, rather than just thinking proactively about our meals and snacks. This slows us down for one thing but prevents us from developing healthy environmental cues about what and how much to eat and wires our brains for new cues for eating that are not always ideal.
Before you eat anything, think of how this food or choice will help you. Your eating is a natural, healthy, and pleasurable activity for satisfying hunger. However, in our food-abundant, diet-obsessed culture, eating is often mindless, consuming, and guilt-inducing instead. Mindful eating is an ancient mindfulness practice with profound modern implications and applications for resolving this troubled love-hate relationship with food.
Transform your life with mindful eating. Consult a mindfulness expert at any noted wellness clinic to gain insights into how easily and effectively you can shift to mindful eating and gain health.
