You’ve probably heard of mindful meditation, and you might even practice it on a regular basis. Mindfulness is an excellent strategy for reducing stress and learning to appreciate living in the moment. But you might be surprised to learn that mindfulness and mindful eating can also help you make healthier food choices, avoid overeating, and help with weight control. In fact, some experts believe that mindful eating is the key to weight loss and maintaining a healthy body weight.
What is Mindful Eating?
What is mindful eating? It’s focusing on what you are eating, savoring each bite, and eating slower. This approach can help you eat less, feel more satisfied, and improve digestion. Through mindful eating, you learn to appreciate the texture and taste of the food you’re eating, rather than rushing through a meal without tasting it. When you eat mindfully, you’re satisfied with less and derive more joy out of a meal.
According to Harvard Health, mindful eating helps with weight control and encourages people to make healthier food choices. When you’re mindful, you’re more likely to pause and think about your food choices. Mindfulness also helps with digestion, as you aren’t gulping down your food. You, instead, eat it with purpose, focus, and intent. Now let’s look at some ways to put mindful eating into practice.
Don’t Multi-Task When You Eat
Are you one of those people who reads a book, works on the computer, or watches television while you eat? That’s the antithesis of mindfulness. Mindful eating means tuning in to the experience of eating in a way that engages your mind and allows you to appreciate the sensory components of the food you’re consuming.
You can’t appreciate the texture, aroma, color, or fully enjoy the taste if you’re distracted by something else, whether it’s a book, a movie, or a project you’re working on. The purpose of mindful eating is to focus on your food, not a computer or television screen. Once you stop multi-tasking, you’ll appreciate what you eat more and be satisfied with less. Here’s a challenge: Try to visualize the food on your plate as if you’ve never seen or tasted it before. Guarantee you’ll eat it more mindfully!
Chew Each Bite Longer
Most people chew each bite of food 15 times or less. However, research finds that extending chewing time to 40 chews reduces calorie intake. In a study, men who chewed each bite 40 times instead of 15 consumed 12% fewer calories. Over time, that could have a significant effect on how much you eat and your body weight. Plus, chewing longer helps with digestion. Digestion begins in your mouth with enzymes like lipases that break down fats. More time in your mouth gives those enzymes a chance to do their job. At first, it takes practice to chew that many times, but it will become second nature if you keep at it.
Create a Pleasant Eating Environment
Do you eat on the run? It’s a bad practice. It’s better to eat at a table with minimal distractions. Keep extra bowls and condiment containers off the table, so you’re eating in an uncluttered environment. Never eat standing up or on sitting on the couch. Train your body to understand that eating only occurs at a table. Play soft music in the background and create a relaxing atmosphere with candles if you wish. Make eating a relaxing and unhurried experience and engage with the experience.
Listen to Your Hunger Signals
Most people are not in tune with their hunger signals, but mindful eating will increase your awareness. As you eat, ask yourself how full you are at intervals. Many people eat past the point that they’re full. In fact, you should stop when you’re 80% full. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to get the signal that you’re satiated. If you slow the pace of the meal down by chewing longer, you’ll have consumed fewer calories during the 20 minutes it takes for you to feel full.
Mindful Eating Begins with Your Shopping List
Eating mindfully shouldn’t start when you sit down to a meal, but before you even prepare it. When you make your grocery list, tune out distractions and give list making your full focus. Think about what would be the most healthful and limit the refined carbohydrates and foods with added sugar you add to your list.
Stay in close touch with nature by choosing whole foods. As you become more mindful, you’ll tune into the taste of food in a way that you don’t need heavy spices, sugar, or salt. Mindfulness can even rewire your brain to help you make a healthier food choice and appreciate the taste of even simple foods.
The Bottom Line
Mindfulness is about your food choices, but also about how you consume those foods. By eating mindfully, you change your eating experience and are satisfied with less food. Mindfulness can also help you appreciate food more in its natural state, without added sugar and salt.
Eating mindfully is the antithesis of depriving your body through calorie restriction and diet, practices you should avoid. It teaches you to have a healthy relationship with food, rather than a restrictive one. Eating mindfully can positively impact other areas of your life too, as you apply mindfulness to other aspects of living, like exercise and sleep. Mindfulness can change your eating habits but also your approach to life.
References:
- “40 chews per bite may be key to weight loss.” 10 Aug. 2011, .nbcnews.com/healthmain/40-chews-bite-may-be-key-weight-loss-1C6437172.
- Dunn C, Haubenreiser M, Johnson M, Nordby K, Aggarwal S, Myer S, Thomas C. Mindfulness Approaches and Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, and Weight Regain. Curr Obes Rep. 2018 Mar;7(1):37-49. doi: 10.1007/s13679-018-0299-6. PMID: 29446036.
- “Mindful eating may help with weight loss – Harvard Health.” 06 Jul. 2011, .health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/mindful-eating-may-help-with-weight-loss.
- Dalen J, Smith BW, Shelley BM, Sloan AL, Leahigh L, Begay D. Pilot study: Mindful Eating and Living (MEAL): weight, eating behavior, and psychological outcomes associated with a mindfulness-based intervention for people with obesity. Complement Ther Med. 2010 Dec;18(6):260-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2010.09.008. Epub 2010 Nov 11. PMID: 21130363.
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