5 Simple Ways to Eat More Mindfully
Have you heard the term mindful eating? Well, mindful eating is just what it sounds like: eating in a more thoughtful or mindful way. So often we rush through our meals, barely tasting our food. Today I’ll discuss the benefits of mindful eating as well as 5 tips to help you get started.
What is mindful eating?
Eating mindfully means being more aware of the foods we are eating and how we are feeling while eating. It is all too common to rush through breakfast while stuck in traffic on your way to work, eat lunch while sitting at your desk answering emails, or eat dinner while watching TV. Not paying attention to what we eat can cause us to eat more than we should because we are less in tune with feelings of hunger and satiety. We may end up feeling too full after scarfing down a meal, which can impact the activities we have planned for the day.
Benefits of mindful eating
There are numerous benefits to mindful eating, including:
Increased enjoyment of the foods you are eating
Increased feelings of satisfaction after the meal
Overall decreased food intake
Weight loss or weight management due to decreased food intake
Improved blood glucose and cholesterol
Improved sleep due to not feeling as full after eating too large of a meal
5 tips for mindful eating
Sit down at a table for your meal. Sometimes setting the table can help. Sitting on the couch or standing can be distracting and lead you to not pay as much attention to what you are eating.
Avoid reading, scrolling on your phone, or watching TV while eating. Sit at the table with eating as your only objective.
Put your utensils down between bites and chew your food well. Chewing your food well can improve digestion.
Take a sip of water in between bites to further slow your eating. It takes your brain 20 minutes to realize you’ve eaten anything so eating a meal more quickly than this can leave you still feeling hungry even though your brain just hasn’t caught up with your stomach yet.
Listen to your body and stop eating when you are full. Remind yourself that you can eat again at your next meal or snack so there’s no need to eat more than necessary.
As you can see, there are numerous benefits to mindful eating. It can take time to adjust your way of eating, so pick one to two of the above tips to start with and go from there. Do you have other tips or tricks for eating mindfully?
