Eating mindfully is based on the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, which involves being fully aware of what is happening within and around you at the moment.
This is termed as "being in the moment".
Eating mindfully includes noticing the colours, smell, flavours, and texture of your food, chewing slowly, getting rid of distractions like TV, reading, sending texts, using the iPad, and working on the computer. When we eat, just eat.
Modern day living and multitasking are over riding natural body cues that tell us when to eat and when to stop eating. We function a lot of the time on autopilot.
For example, we eat meal after meal, snack after snack, barely aware of what we are eating and how much we are consuming.
If we are not eating in the moment we are unable to recognise our bodies' hunger and fullness cues.
According to Ruth Wolever and Beth Reardon's book The Mindful Diet (2015) eating habits are programmed from an early age. They term this learnt behaviour as a "packaged response".
This is often automatic and entrenched into the brain.
The good news is if the packaged response needs to be changed it can be unlearned through mindful eating.
Research has shown with mindful eating you can change your eating behaviour for the rest of your life, lose weight and achieve optimal health (Wolever & Reardon, 2015).
Eating mindfully is about:
• Sitting at the table to eat without distractions.
• Waiting for body signals on when to eat and when to stop eating.
• Being aware of your five senses when you eat and focusing on your eating experience.
• Eating the foods you enjoy and eating slowly.
• Eating to support the body's natural healthy state.
Mindful eating is not about:
• Dieting.
• Measuring or weighing food.
• Counting calories.
• Worrying about body size or ideal weight.
A study in the Journal of Nutrition Education Behaviour (2012) found that participants who eat mindfully ate about 300 fewer calories a day.
As part of the study they also found the participants learned to make healthy food choices and became more aware of their emotional and binge eating.
Ask yourself these 10 mindful eating questions:
• Am I physically hungry?
• Am I sitting down at the table?
• Am I eating the foods I enjoy?
• Is this food good for my body?
• Do I taste each bite before reaching for the next one?
• Am I multitasking when eating?
• Do I recognise when I'm eating on auto pilot?
• Do I eat slowly chewing at least 15 times?
• Do I stop eating when I am full?
• Am I able to leave food on my plate?
- Dianne Arthur is a retired nurse with a degree in health science.
