What is mindful eating and how to practice it?

Multitasking while eating has evolved into the new standard. It’s customary to spend the time while eating by watching TV, browsing social media, or using your computer. However, this typically leads to decreased meal satisfaction, decreased food awareness, and even overeating.

A practice called mindful eating can help you slow down, become more conscious of what you’re eating, and encourage healthy eating routines while also fostering a positive relationship with food. This article talks about the advantages of mindful eating and how you can start doing it right away.

What is mindful eating, exactly?

Mindful eating is a type of mindfulness practice. You can increase your awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in the present moment by practicing mindfulness, a form of meditation. According to research, practicing mindfulness meditation can aid in the treatment of mental health issues like as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and others (Behan, 2020).

In order to properly focus on your food, mindful eating encourages you to take your time during meals. You can continuously using mindfulness when eating to improve control over your eating habits and stop mindless snacking by swapping automatic acts for more intentional ones.

Dietitians that specialize in intuitive eating frequently use the technique of mindful eating to teach people how to recognize their hunger and fullness cues.

Positive Effects of Mindful Eating

The following are seven benefits of mindful eating:

1. A stronger feeling of hunger and satiety

By practicing mindful eating techniques, you can learn how your hunger and fullness cues feel when you eat without distractions. Slowing down allows your body time to let you know when it has had enough because it can take some time for your stomach to recognize that you are full.

You won’t eat everything on your plate in one sitting; instead, you’ll know how much of it you genuinely want to eat, as opposed to eating emotionally or just because it’s there.

Hunger can result in agitation, fatigue, and an upset stomach. Reduced enjoyment of meals, a comfortably full stomach with some pressure in the area, and loss of appetite are all signs of being full.

2. Weight reduction

You may control your food choices on purpose, quit eating when you’re full, and minimize mindless eating by practicing mindful eating. Since it reduces overeating, mindful eating may lead to weight loss and help regulate body weight (Michail Mantzios, 2015). 

One study found that mindful eating, even without calorie counting, aids in weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.

3. Reduction of tension

The stress hormone cortisol, often known as the “flight-or-fight” reaction, is involved in the body’s “flight-or-fight” response. When stress levels are high, cortisol levels are frequently raised. Exercises based in mindfulness, such as mindful eating, have been shown to lower cortisol levels in studies. 

4. Better digestive system

Digestive issues including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are affected by stress. By reducing stress, limiting overeating, and slowing down meals, mindful eating may improve digestion (Christine E Cherpak , 2019).

5. Less overeating and bingeing

People can pause and consider their eating behaviors using the framework that mindful eating offers. This halt helps to break the cycle of overeating and binge-eating by allowing them to calm down.

Research has shown that mindful eating lowers emotional and binge-eating (Katterman, 2014). This may be connected to the advantages of mindfulness-based practices for lowering anxiety and depression (Behan, 2020).

6. More satisfied with food

You are more prone to overeat when you are preoccupied than when you are eating on purpose (Robinson, 2013). Research suggests that mindful eating practices help you become more conscious of your enjoyment cues (Cherpak, 2019). Over time, this might reduce the tendency to overeat while still feeling full after a meal, making it simpler to maintain a healthy diet.

7. More nourishing food options

If you are more aware of how eating makes you feel, you might choose healthier foods. To stop overeating emotionally and concentrate on energizing foods, you can also practice self-compassion. So, instead of feeling overstuffed, bloated, and lethargic after meals, you can choose foods that will make you feel better.