What Is Mindful Eating?

Are you practicing mindful eating to help you achieve your weight goals?

Mindful eating is the practice of concentrating on the entire process of eating, from the foods you’re consuming to every bite you take. In essence, mindful eaters are able to become aware of the body’s hunger and satisfaction and can use these cues to make healthier choices.

Let’s explore the specifics of mindful eating and how this practice can help you reach your weight loss goals:

What is Mindful Eating?

Weight gain can become an issue for many reasons, but often it’s related to poor eating habits. Maybe it’s because you’re not aware of the nutritional value of the foods you eat. Maybe it’s because you’ve developed habits that are hard to break, such as eating when you’re bored or lonely. 

Whatever the reason, mindfulness helps you to take back control of your eating habits.

Mindful eating encourages you to focus on what you’re eating, how you’re consuming it, and what each bite means for your health. It reshapes the way you think about food’s role in your life, helping you to connect good food choices with their impact on your health. When you consider food’s big picture role, you’re better able to make the right choices that work for your health, not against it.

Benefits of Mindfulness During Mealtime

Mindfulness is all about awareness. You’re fully immersed in the moment, giving thought to what you’re doing. Applying mindfulness to meals can help you strengthen your relationship with food by making you aware of what and how you’re eating.

You may feel happier with your food choices when you think about where your food comes from (e.g. farm vs factory) and can identify and eliminate harmful eating behaviors.

As a result, you can expect to not only experience weight loss, but also develop long-term results. Your eating behaviors shift with mindfulness, giving you a better chance to keep off the weight you lose.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Mindful Eating

If you want to pursue mindful eating as part of your weight loss program, there are a few things you’ll want to prioritize or avoid for the best results:

Do’s

• Listen to your body and stop eating when you are full.
• Only eat when your body tells you to eat (e.g. low energy, stomach growling)
• Eat only nutritious foods
• Eat with others at set meal times
• When you’re eating, focus only on eating
• Create a bariatric friendly meal plan

Don’ts

• Don’t ignore your body’s signals
• Don’t try to eat everything on your plate if you’re feeling full
• Avoid foods that are emotionally comforting but offer little or no nutritional value
• Don’t eat alone at random times
• Avoid multitasking when eating
• Don’t eat out of boredom or sadness

Can mindful eating help you reach your weight loss goals? It might not be enough on its own, but it can be a valuable component to your weight loss plan that will bring you closer to your ideal weight. Try it and see how it changes your thoughts about eating.

For more healthy tips and tricks, head back to the blog.