Everything is fast-paced; we live in a fast-paced world, and eating has become a mindless activity. It’s like we tend to devour our meals on the go without feeling the whole experience, which is what makes mindful eating a necessary part of our daily life. We just cook, dish the food, and eat, while neglecting the sensory experience, and ignoring our body’s hunger, and fullness cues. Mindless eating has contributed to excess weight gain, and difficulty losing weight.
However, mindful eating challenges this norm, and is here to encourage a more conscious and intentional approach to food. You just gotta be ready to change, it may not be easy at first, but in a short time, you’ll get it.
By cultivating mindfulness, you will be able to transform your relationship with food, improve your digestion, and achieve a healthier weight.
Key takeaway
Mindful eating habits can help transform your relationship with food, reduce your stress levels, prevent emotional eating, aid in weight loss, and improve your overall health. It’s all about being intentional with the way you eat, being aware of what you’re eating, feeling the experience, and enjoying the taste of your food.
What is mindful eating?
It is simply eating with attention and awareness. It’s about paying attention to your food, noticing how it looks, smells, and tastes, eating slowly, and enjoying each bite. Listening to your body when it tells you it’s full, and enjoying your meals without distractions.
When you’re eating, just eat. Don’t watch TV, and don’t scroll through your phone, because they just ruin it. But focus on the food, and your body and watch things change.
How does it feel when you eat without practicing mindful eating?
When you eat food mindlessly, it just seems like you ate but didn’t eat. It’s like “Yeah I feel full, but didn’t feel/experience the process of feeling full”. You also get bloated when you don’t eat mindfully because you tend to not chew enough, and gulp it all.
Or it’s like driving through a beautiful road, you drove through, you do know it’s a beautiful road, but you can’t relive it nor can you visualize it after you’re gone. Because you were driving, you wouldn’t be able to collect memories than someone who sat in the passenger seat viewing it. There are so many instances to use, but you do get the idea by now.
The Benefits Of Mindful Eating
Research has shown that mindful eating does the following things:
- Reduce stress and anxiety related to food
- Chew slowly (15 -20 chews per bite)
- Improves digestion and reduces symptoms of IBS
- Helps manage emotional eating
- Helps you stay fuller for longer and increase the enjoyment of meals
- Supports weight loss and maintenance
- Stop between bites (pause, breathe, reflect)
Practical Tips For Mindful eating (while eating)
When comes to eating mindfully, doing a few simple things can help you master the habit. Helpful things to leave the mindless eating era are:
- Eating slowly and savoring each bite
- Removing distractions such as TV, phone, laptop, video games, iPad, etc.
- Using all senses (sight, smell, taste, texture)
- Listening to your body for hunger cues and satisfaction cues.
- Not creating or having small talk during
They might seem boring now, but in the long run, you’ll see just how valuable it is to eat mindfully.
Incorporating mindful eating into your daily life ( introducing it)
You don’t have to become a mindful eater at once you can start small with one meal a day. Additionally, schedule mindful eating sessions, explore new flavors and textures, and make mealtime a ritual. If you do find yourself rushing through your food or finding it hard to do without electronics, it’s okay. Correct yourself and go on with your meal, chew slowly, and remember that you can always continue that episode after you’re done eating. Overall, all you need to do is take one step at a time till it becomes a part of you.
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