Mindful Eating & Weight Loss

Mindful eating is one of those buzzword that floats around the world of lifestyle change and healthy eating these days.

But, this one may be for good reason.

What is mindful eating and how can it benefit you?

Let’s start with the root of mindful eating which is mindfulness. What is mindfulness?

• Mindfulness is the practice of being more aware and more present in any given moment.

• It’s being aware of all of your senses; an open-minded recognition of one's feelings and environment.

What is mindful eating? How do we bring mindfulness into the realm of food?

Mindful eating is an awareness of how the food we choose to eat affects one’s body, feelings, mind, and all that is around us.

- Have you ever been sitting in front of the TV eating dinner and you all of a sudden look down and your plate is empty? Then, a few minutes later you feel extremely full. Maybe you don’t even remember tasting or enjoying the food you were eating.

- Have you ever opened a bag of chips, pretzels or goldfish for your kids as a snack and before you realize, you’re eating them too?

This is what it feels like to eat mindlessly. Mindless eating brings in the idea you are not paying attention to what you are eating, how you are eating, or the result mindless eating is having on your body.

Once they begin practicing mindful eating, some individuals realize they don’t even like certain foods that they thought they did or vice versa.

Imagine you’ve opened a pint of your favorite ice cream, which you usually can eat in one sitting, and you get through ¼ of it and find that you’re satisfied and decide to stop. This is why mindful eating is such a game changer!

So, how do you begin to eat mindfully?

Here are a few things you can try to start you out:

1. Slow down. Sometimes we can eat an entire meal in five minutes, before moving on to the next task. Five minutes isn’t enough for your mind to enjoy the meal and feel satisfaction in the texture, flavors, and overall experience of eating food. It may be difficult at first, but pay attention to the clock while you eat, and not so that you can rush to the next deadline, but so that you can ensure you’re taking the time to slow down and enjoy your meal. A loose guideline you can use is 20 minutes to eat your meal. I know, it seems like forever, but trust me, you’ll feel less likely to binge on food later if you remember how satisfying your lunch was.

2. Plate your food. The shape and physical presence of a plate can help your brain acknowledge that you have a start and end to your meal, and it’s a visual indicator of when you’re about halfway through with your food. This can help with the process of slowing down your meal times. It also helps to prevent finishing off an entire bag of chips or cookies. Putting three cookies on a plate helps you know when to stop, and helps you savor each bite, and feel satisfied with three cookies, because you actually tasted all three cookies! Plating your meals can also prevent you from picking chicken mindlessly out of a tupperware container until you’ve eaten half of your week’s worth of protein.

3. Ask questions.

Before eating ask yourself:

1. Where is my focus (multitasking, eating quickly to rush to the next task, etc)

2. Which food groups are represented on my plate? Look for colors, different textures, recognize protein, dairy, starch, fruits and vegetables

3. Where did this food come from?

4. Where is my hunger on a scale of 1 to 10?

5. What emotions am I feeling? (this can help your recognize stress/emotional eating habits)

While eating ask yourself:

1. How does each bite taste (sweet, savory, spicy, etc)

2. What textures are present? (crunchy, smooth, soft, rough, etc)

3. What do I enjoy about this meal?

4. What is the temperature of my food (hot, cold, warm)

Asking yourself these questions can help you be more present at your meal and focus on what, how and why you are eating.

If you’re like me and would like a daily reminder of these steps to mindful eating, I’ve created a resource for you! Click Here to download a step by step guide to mindful eating. You can print it and hang it in the kitchen to refer to when life gets busy and you get easily distracted.

I'm here for you and I believe in you!

- Miranda Castillo, RD, LD, CDE