- Food nourishes us in physical and non-physical way
- With busy lifestyles and a “diet” culture we’ve disconnected from eating
- Mindfulness helps us become aware of our experience in the moment
- Mindful eating supports a healthy relationship to food guided by internal cues such as hunger and satisfaction
- Get started with the BASICS of mindful eating in part 2 of this blog post
Eating is essential for life. Food is one of the earliest
and most important connections to the world around us. Children are naturally aware eaters, knowing
when they’re hungry and when they’re not. However, as adults with busy
schedules and a multi-tasking lifestyle it’s easier to eat “mindlessly”.
Think about your last
meal or snack today. Do you remember
what and how much you ate? To go
further, did you enjoy and savor your food? If you have only a foggy memory you’re
not alone. “Mindless” or distracted eating is common in part because we eat
foods in many locations (away from the table) and while doing other things
(driving, watching TV, texting etc.). This can contribute to feeling unsatisfied
(missing our internal fullness signals) as well as prompt us to want to eat
more making overeating more likely.
On the flip side of overeating, “dieting” is another type of
mindless eating. Following a set of rigid eating rules based on external
sources of information can lead to food fears, weight “cycling”, and
potentially longer lasting disordered eating patterns1. Diets (and other restrictive eating
approaches) are not sustainable because they require using “willpower” to
follow someone else’s rules rather than tuning into our own inner wisdom
regarding food and what nourishes us.
So what can we do to bring awareness and enjoyment to eating
as well as create a healthier relationship to food informed by our own
experience? Mindfulness is one strategy
that has been getting more attention as a way to connect back to our eating
experience.
So what is mindfulness? Mindfulness is commonly defined as
paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.2
Mindfulness has gotten a lot of “buzz” lately and for good reason. There’s a
growing amount of research that supports its physical and mental health
benefits3 (such as stress reduction, reduction of anxiety and
depression, and improvement in overall well-being).
So mindful eating could be thought of paying attention
non-judgmentally while we’re eating so that we tune into our experience of
eating. This helps us turn towards our own answers about what and how much to
eat (and turn down the volume on the external food messages). When we do that there’s more of a chance that
we can really hear what’s going on in our body before, during, and after eating.
The good news is you don’t have to do this all at once—there’s
not really a destination or final goal where you’ll be the perfect mindful
eater. Like many things in life, starting
with small practices that you can build on and keeping a sense of fun to explore
and discover on your own time in your own way is a good way to start.
In the Part 2 of this blog post we’ll start exploring some
of the BASICs of mindful eating, cover some of the frequently asked questions,
and dispel common myths about mindful eating.
Until then you can begin by limiting distractions (such as
TV, phones etc.) while eating and tune into your experience during meals. You
might be surprised by what you discover! You can also learn more about Mindful
Eating at The Center for Mindful Eating’s web site
www.TCME.org.
Sources:
- Mann T, Tomiyama AJ, Westling E, et al. Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: diets are not the answer. Am Psychol, 2007; 62:220-233.
- Kabat-Zinn J. Wherever You Go, There You Are. New York, NY: Hyperion: 1994.
- Grossman P, Niemann L, Schmidt S, Walach H. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: a meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res. 2004; 57:35-43.
First image courtesy of
Maggie Smith at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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