What is it?
Mindful eating is about paying attention to your eating experience with curiosity and non-judgement. It encourages using your senses to wholly experience food and drink. To put it simply, mindful eating is being aware of each bite or sip.
While it might sound simple, many of us eat without awareness, distracted by things such as electronic devices, work, surroundings and people. Mindful eating helps us to retrain ourselves to be present at every eating occasion.
What are its benefits?
Increased awareness of hunger and fullness
Better digestion
Reduced overeating and binge eating
Increased satisfaction with food
Healthier food choices
Improved relationship with food
Greater enjoyment in food
How to eat mindfully
Remove all distractions.
Notice how you are feeling. Consider things like your hunger levels, emotions (stress, irritability, happiness, anxiety etc), and physical wellness (fatigue/exhaustion, energy levels, aches/pains etc). Your feelings can directly influence your experience of food.
Choose a bite-sized amount of a food that you like the taste of. (As a chocolate-lover, I recommend trialling this first with an individually wrapped chocolate such as a Lindt ball or a Roses chocolate).
Engage your 5 senses:
Touch: what does the food feel like between your fingers?
Sight: what does the food look like? How would you describe it?
Smell: what does it smell like? Are there any ingredients that stand out?
Taste: what does it taste like? What flavours are your experiencing? What is the mouth-feel?
Sound: what does it sound like when you chew it? Is it loud and crunchy or quiet and "swishy"?
Bring awareness to how you feel after eating the food. Are you satisfied? Are you still hungry? Did you enjoy the food? Did it taste as you expected?
Once you have tried mindful eating with a small amount of food, practice it with normal quantities of food. Be sure to remain non-judgemental throughout the process. The more you practice it, the more it will become second nature.
If you would like to learn more about mindful eating and other skills that can improve your relationship with food, book a free introductory phone call here.
You may also find it helpful to read some of my other blog articles, such as:
