HOW TO PRACTICE MINDFUL EATING?

 

HOW TO PRACTICE MINDFUL EATING?

In this uncertain time, it’s important to do something that reduces stress and keeps you happy. Our all-out attention to our food, physiologically changes how we process and assimilate our food. Additionally, it gives a sense of fulfillment to the feast.

Mindful eating is a way to deal with food that centers around people’s attention to the food they eat and their experience of the same. It has little to do with calories, sugars, fat, or protein.

Mindful eating has no specific purpose. It is likely to help someone lose weight, but the main intention for mindful eating is savoring the moment, food, and giving full attention to what you are eating. It helps you control your eating habits.

Mindfulness is a type of reflection that encourages you to perceive and adapt to your feelings and actual senses.

Wondering what happens if we are not mindfully eating?

If we are not paying attention to our meals, we tend to eat more and end up feeling hungry sooner (also called false hunger). This happens because our brain sends satiety signals after eating but since we are not mindful of what we eat, this signal hasn’t reached our brain & we feel hungry within a few hours. Since we are not eating properly, we tend to gain weight.

 If you eat too quickly, the satiety signal may not show up until you have just eaten excessively. This is normal in binge-eating while watching TV. If you are eating while watching a movie/series/ chit-chatting you must have a pleasant environment around, because every morsel of your food sends a signal just like the environment you are eating in.

If we focus as we eat, we are probably going to eat less and are even more likely to digest what we eat. Mindful eating can help you acknowledge the texture, flavor, the nutritive value of food. Having a positive relationship with our food is as important as breathing air for a healthy lifestyle.

Here are a few ways to mindful eating:

1. Eat slowly, chew your food. (Remember your digestion starts in your mouth. If you chew properly the digestion burden on your gut would be quite less.)
2. Pay attention to how your food feels and give gratitude for your food.
3. Cook your own meal.
4. Minimize all the distractions around you and enjoy your meal.
5. Prepare an area where you are going to eat your meal. The ambiance has great power over your mind.
6. Do not eat if you are not hungry.

Mindful eating is very important in today’s fast world where everything is so unpredictable and where mental health has slowly started gaining importance. Mindful eating will help you lose weight and help in treating all the eating disorders one faces. Let’s make food our best friend.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” –Hippocrates

I hope this article was quite informative. Please comment below what more would you like to read about. You can always connect with me on my Facebook and Instagram Page called FitbiteByShreyaSalian.

SHREYA SALIAN

Shreya is a Clinical Nutritionist & the founder of FitBite; which is focused on Nutrition, Dietetics, and Fitness. She has completed a Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Dietetics and a Diploma in Physical Fitness and Weight Management. She is currently pursuing a Masters's in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics.

She has been practicing for almost the past 2 years. A strong believer in ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. I also believe in healthy and mindful eating. She can be reached on her Instagram Page @_fitbite_ and on the Facebook page “FitBitebyShreyaSalian.