eating healthy is a enjoyable and natural way of satisfying our appetites.
We live in a fast-paced, diet-obsessed society surrounded by numerous food options. This has made eating a lot more mindless, guilt-inducing, and sometimes even risky.
Mindful eating can be a relaxing and simple way of helping many people to resolve their troubled relationship with food, a love-hate one. Mindful eating means eating mindfully; we pay attention to our food choices, enjoy food and we are aware of the impact food has on our bodies.
What will eating mindfully help With?
You’ll be able to identify your triggers for not being hungry and eat mindfully when you start to practice mindful eating.
Mindful eating can help prepare your body for digestion. It is possible to eat mindfully while not multitasking. This will allow you to taste the food, which allows your brain to send the right messages to your digestive system , so it can get started on its process.
Your other needs will be addressed with greater efficiency than just eating. This is particularly beneficial during those food go-to times that we tend to head to the snack cupboard rather than perhaps out for a walk.
Mindful eating lets you make conscious choices about what food you eat. Once you are able to tune in to and listen to your body, you will begin to make conscious choices to feed yourself healthier, energising food items.
As a result, you will feel less guilty about food, as there’s less internal struggle going on and you can now enjoy your food with complete satisfaction.
Am I hungry?
Many people who struggle with food have a tendency to react in a trance-like manner to triggers, which are the thoughts and feelings that are a part of our daily routine that are unrecognized or unexamined. Repetition of previous eating patterns again and again leads us to feel ineffective to alter the way we eat. Mindfulness helps us to be more mindful of our body, our emotions and eating patterns. It can also help us feel less critical and guilty.
We feel more in control when we are in a position to ask us “Am I hungry?” Being mindful creates a ‘pause’ or a gap between the triggers you are experiencing and your actions so that you are able to respond more positively to food, and ultimately improve your whole wellbeing.
Consider these questions for a moment.
Why do I eat?
Also, ask yourself what motivates your food choices at any particular time.
To function properly, our bodies require nourishment and fuel. This is crucial for mental, physical, and emotional health. It is also linked to emotions such as joy, sadness, boredness, or even as a distraction for a short period. For many people their eating habits are controlling their lives rather than being intuitive. Being more aware of what we eat helps us to understand the reason why we habitually eat. We are then able to begin to alter those well-worn neural pathways, and let go of those food restrictions by letting our thoughts about food disappear.
Therefore, you should take charge rather than trying to stay in control or feeling as if you’re going off the rails. You’re in the position of having the freedom and flexibility to be able to think about fueling yourself in the way you really want to. The ability to do this is within your. It’s about reconnecting with your body and believing that you can achieve this!
The Body Scan can be a wonderful method to look at your body and make connections with it. It is crucial to keep in mind that our bodies are a part of our minds. We tend to confuse our bodies with what we would like or think is the perfect. We can become more connected to our bodies and become more mindful, accepting, and kind to them.
Life’s Unhelpful Eating Moments…
Mindful eating isn’t about judgment, but awareness. Humans aren’t perfect, and sometimes eating a cupcake on a certain level may help us feel a bit more relaxed. It is essential to be aware of what you feel (i.e. Being mindful is about being aware of the way we feel (i.e. happiness or sadness, fatigue and sadness, loneliness) throughout, before and after eating these meals. It is more important to be kind to our self when we indulge in fries rather than new potatoes or tiramisu, rather than reprimand ourselves for falling into the slippery slopes guilt.
Being mindful helps us to become less critical of ourselves and less inclined to give into. It’s easier to comprehend the reasons and triggers for our food choices. We can choose an alternative that is healthier without judgement or pressure to eat a perfect meal.
HALT, initially developed for children by Dr Christopher Willard, is an acronym that is used to examine the way we feel.
Ask yourself…
H – Am I feeling hungry?
A – Am I feeling angry?
L – Am I lonely?
T – Am I feeling tired?
For a start, a gentle one I suggest making the back of a post-it note and place it at the door of your fridge or your desk as an encouragement that food may not always be the antidote to the way you feel.
Walking outside to breathe in fresh air, while meditating or Belly Breathing are great alternatives.
Be aware of your body
Dieting for a long time can be emotionally, mentally as well as physically exhausting. It is time consuming, consumes energy, and it is costly.
So, why don’t we trust that we can learn to rebuild and restore our own instinctive eating habits and be our own personal expert in meeting our own eating needs for our wonderful hardworking bodies?
This awareness can be developed by assisting yourself in becoming more mindful. It will allow you to better serve your true needs. You are the only person to understand your body. It would be fantastic if you could re-establish eating habits that are based on your body’s appetite, not on your feelings or habitual eating thoughts.
This is the first step towards…
Taking Back Control of Your Life!
Although food can be one the most enjoyable moments in our lives it can be a source of anxiety and feelings of deprivation. Becoming aware of and responding more attentively to hunger may assist us to determine whether there are other desires we’ve been trying to satisfy through eating.
The practice of mindful eating can help you be more aware and learn to satisfy your needs in positive and constructive ways, so that food serves its intended purpose, which is to nourish you and fuel your life to live a full and satisfying one.
This Mindfulness eating exercise is enjoyable and can be done alone as well as with children or with the whole family, possibly at a dinner once a week or once a month. This food experiment is fantastic at helping us reconnect with our senses , which are stimulated as we prepare and eat our food.
As you learn to manage your eating by listening to your instincts and observing your body’s signals, you’ll be able to trust your ability to take charge of other areas of your life as well. You’ll be more confident to pick the right foods and activities that are right for you rather than trying to control them.
You will gradually let go of your obsession with food and weight, and you’ll discover new tools and energy to lead a healthy active, satisfying and healthy lifestyle.
