5 Tips for Mindful Eating

We know how important mindfulness can be in our daily lives and that it provides many wonderful benefits, but how about being mindful at mealtime? Yes, you guessed it, being mindful while eating has powerful benefits! This is especially true for a person who may be experiencing and struggling with unhealthy eating patterns, such as mindlessly overeating or eating unhealthy foods. 

The idea of mindfulness is being fully present and in the moment with your thoughts, sights, sounds, and experience. Therefore, mindful eating means being fully in tune with your eating experience, including being aware of the food you are eating, the taste, texture, flavor, and the experience while also paying close attention to your feelings and emotional state. This allows us to slow down while eating, be fully aware of the present moment with ourselves and the food we are putting into our bodies as well have a better overall relationship with food. 

A mindful eating practice can help with particular challenges, such as binge eating or overeating and it can also help anyone wanting to begin a more healthful eating habit. By slowing down and being more mindful while eating, this reduces overeating and creates more awareness of healthy eating.

Here are a few strategies to get you started with a mindful eating practice.

5 Tips for Mindful Eating:

1. Take the time: 

We live in a fast-paced and stressful culture and tend to rush through tasks during the day. One of those tasks is eating and mealtime, which is especially true during the busy workday. Most people will rush through their mealtime and not pay attention to what they are eating, how fast or how they are feeling. This type of situation often encourages people to eat more rapidly, rather than slowing down and actually enjoying their meal in the moment. This can encourage overeating since you are mindlessly rushing through so quickly that your brain and stomach do not have time to sufficiently communicate when you are full. 

Another common example of not taking the time to eat is snacking on the go or in front of the television. Again, these are situations that can encourage overeating as well as not being fully present in the moment. I know it can be difficult to always sit down for a meal, but when you can, try it! This is an important step to slowing down, being more aware of what you are doing in the moment and engaging in more mindful eating.

2. Breathe beforehand: 

Before you even begin to take a bite of your meal, sit still, and just breathe. This could be 5 deep breathes to slow yourself down and be fully present with the activity. By focusing on breath, this allows you to better connect to the moment. Remember mindfulness is about being fully aware of the present moment and in tune with how you are feeling. So take that time to take 5 deep breaths before beginning to eat and get yourself in a calm, connected, and mindful state.

3. Slow down: 

Once you start eating, slow down. We often become rushed and want to speed through the experience, which can actually increase overindulgence and the amount of food that we are taking in. Slow down and savor each bite. Similar to the breathing exercise before you began eating, you also want to slow down between bites and while chewing. You could even try taking a few deep breathes in between bites to really slow down take notice of your experience. During this time, be sure to connect to how you are feeling and everything that is happening in the moment.

4. Enjoy & savor: 

During this step, it’s important that you are aware of the moment and experience and actually enjoy the food that you are eating. Be sure to really take time to notice everything your current experience. It’s important to really savor each bite of food. This means that you will observe what the food looks like on your plate, take note of the colors, the shape, and size. Also, notice if the food has any smell and sit for a moment as you breathe them in. Then as you eat your meal, really savor the flavors in each bite. Notice how the food tastes, what flavors you taste, what the texture is like in your mouth and how the food feels as you eat. This step will allow you to be very aware, present and mindful of the food you are eating, which really encourages a more healthy eating pattern. 

5. Repeat: 

Like most new activities, it takes continued practice to really get the hang of it. Repeat this exercise many times until it becomes more of a habit during your mealtime routine. When you are beginning a new habit, it is easy to fall back into your same old routine. It really does take time, effort and practice. So try these techniques often and remember that if you get off track for a few days, that is completely normal. The key here is to get back on a healthy and more mindful path. It will take work and practice, but you are worth it.

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Online Mindful Eating Class

For more information on mindful eating, check out our self-guided online class: Mindful Eating: A Healthy Relationship With Food. This class provides a workbook complete with information on emotional eating, mindful eating tips and homework assignments to guide you through the material as well as an hour and half of video series content. The class also comes with a guided mindful eating exercise.

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ONLINE SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE

If you are needing support, virtual services are available, see Online Coaching with Dr. Shelley. Services are provided by telephone or online through a HIPAA-compliant telehealth portal, which allows you to be in the comfort of your own home during sessions & have increased privacy. Sessions are available for individuals or couples. Appointments can be booked online or simply email Dr. Shelley with any questions or appointment requests.

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Blog written by: Dr. Shelley Sommerfeldt, Clinical Psychologist, Relationship Coach & Founder of the Loving Roots Project, an online wellness practice specializing in personal growth, mental wellness, & relationship betterment.

Follow the Loving Roots Project on social media for weekly blogs & videos:

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Worried About Overindulging This Holiday Season? Here Are 6 Mindful Eating Tips to Help:

This year has been incredibly challenging for most, if not all of us. With a pandemic, quarantines, social distancing, isolation, etc., it’s hard just to function day-to-day. When we add on holidays, it can be even more challenging. Many people are choosing to avoid holiday gatherings, in general, or to join in online or zoom calls to “see” friends and family. While this may reduce the chances of overindulging, for some, they are still faced with struggles in their own home. It is important to remember that balance and healthy eating are still essential to our overall wellbeing. The key here is balance This means that while we can absolutely indulge in celebration and enjoy a slice of our favorite pie, we must also maintain good self-awareness of our food intake and emotional process while eating and get back on track after the celebration ends. 

The number of individuals struggling with eating disorders in this country has been quoted as high as 30 million by the National Eating Disorder Association. Therefore, many people may be dealing with the challenges of be triggered by food during the holidays. Emotional eating occurs when one’s emotional state causes them to binge eat or repeatedly overindulge. This can be particularly difficult to manage during this season as we tend to have more food available as well as lots of sugary treats to entice. If you find yourself struggling to control emotional eating episodes or urges to overindulge this holiday season, here are some tips that may be helpful. 

6 Tips to Reduce Emotional Eating:

1. Prepare for mealtimes.

It is important to think ahead. This could include bringing some healthier snacks along with you where you know healthy food options may be limited or preparing a side dish that is a healthier option for you. Also, be sure that your good decisions begin while grocery shopping. If you limit your unhealthy options to begin with, this can help you fair better when it comes to mealtimes.

2. Manage stress.

The holidays can be stressful. When our stress levels are high, it has been noted that we tend to have higher episodes of emotional eating. It is important that you are managing your stress levels before and during the season to ensure that you do not engage in unhealthy eating as a poor coping mechanism. Some healthy ways to manage stress include: exercising, journaling, laughing, and engaging in distracting hobbies. 

3. Get emotions under control.

Emotional eating is triggered by experiencing difficult or unhealthy emotions as well as challenging cognitions that impact the way that we think. One way to reduce emotional eating is to feel more in control of your emotions. This may include engaging in mindfulness or meditation. Mindfulness is a state of being fully in tune and aware of your present moment, including your thoughts, feelings and body experiences. Mindfulness can help you to feel very present and engaged in the moment as well as more in control to how you are feeling. Another way to get emotions under control is to express them. This could be to briefly write in a journal or call up a friend to talk about how you are feeling. The point here is that you are walking into a situation with a better overall mental and emotional state.

4. Engage in mindful eating.

Mindfulness is a state of being fully aware and in tune with your present moment; therefore, when we eat mindfully, this means we are being fully aware of ourselves and our experience with food. Mindful eating means taking a pause prior to eating to calm and center yourself. You can take a few deep breaths to really get yourself grounded. Then prior to eating, pay full attention to your food, how it looks and if there are any smells. Then as you take your first bite, really focus on the experience of chewing the food, what the food tastes like, what the texture is like and how it feels to eat the food. Continue this exercise throughout your eating experience to really help you slow down and focus on the present moment.

5. Manage alcohol consumption.

One critical piece of food intake that people often forget, is consuming alcohol. During the holiday season, many people may enjoy an alcoholic beverage here and there. It’s important to be mindful of your alcohol intake as this can impact your food consumption. When people do not monitor their alcohol intake they can often over eat without even realizing. Alcohol can lower our inhibitions and impact our judgment and thought process.

6. Get in the right mindset.

While emotions obviously play a huge role in emotional eating episodes, your mindset and the way that you think are equally important. Get into a good mindset! This could be engaging in positive affirmations before you go and speaking to yourself in a positive way like, “I can do this,” “I have my relationship with food under control,” “I can have a healthier relationship with food.” The purpose here is to utilize positive self-talk to impact the way that you think about yourself and your situation. This will set you up for entering the holidays with both your emotional and mental state in a more positive frame. 

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ONLINE MINDFUL EATING CLASS

For more information on mindful eating, check out our self-guided online class: Mindful Eating: A Healthy Relationship With Food. This class provides a workbook complete with information on emotional eating, mindful eating tips and homework assignments to guide you through the material as well as an hour and half of video series content. The class also comes with a guided mindful eating exercise.

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ONLINE SESSIONS AVAILABLE

If you are needing support, virtual services are available, see Online Coaching with Dr. Shelley. Services are provided by telephone or online through a HIPAA-compliant telehealth portal, which allows you to be in the comfort of your own home during sessions & have increased privacy. Appointments can be booked online or simply email Dr. Shelley with any questions or appointment requests.

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Blog written by: Dr. Shelley Sommerfeldt, Clinical Psychologist, Relationship Coach & Founder of the Loving Roots Project, an online wellness practice specializing in personal growth, mental wellness, & relationship betterment.

Follow the Loving Roots Project on social media for weekly blogs & video posts:

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