Eating Mindfully – Why and How to Make it a Daily Practice

Be honest…

How often do you eat while you’re working, on your phone, watching TV, or distracted in other ways (doing anything other than focusing on your food)? We all do it at some point.

If you don’t already know, I’m currently finishing my bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition online. This past semester I presented a lesson for my nutrition education class, and I chose to teach about mindful eating. Eating mindfully (and mindfulness in general) is a topic I love, so I thought I’d talk about it here as well!

What is mindful eating?

When we eat while we’re distracted, we’re not paying attention to the food we’re consuming and eating turns into an automatic behavior instead of a conscious, mindful one. When this happens, we aren’t tuned in to our body’s cues of hunger and satiety, which often causes us to eat more than our body needs (and miss out on enjoying our food in the first place!).

Mindful eating is simply paying attention to your food while you’re eating. It sounds so simple, but how many of us consistently practice it? The behaviors that promote mind-less eating have become social norms. Next time you eat in a public place or with family and friends, observe the behaviors you see. It has become commonplace to sit on our phones, watch TV, and simply distract ourselves while we’re eating. Most of the time we don’t even realize we’re doing it because it has become an automatic, thoughtless behavior that everyone around us is engaging in.

Why should we care?

We need food to live, but it’s also meant to be enjoyed! Eating mindfully strengthens our relationship with the food we eat by making it a pleasure instead of a task. If we take the time to eat our food mindfully, we can increase our satiety and decrease cravings. When we pay full attention to our food and eat it slowly, we notice when we become full and stop instead of overeating.

How do I eat mindfully?

Mindful eating is a skill that takes practice, but there are some things we can do to start incorporating it into our daily lives.

1. Notice your behaviors

When I presented my lesson, I had the audience identify situations where they are most likely to eat mindlessly. Common answers were: at work, at family gatherings, when watching TV, while cooking, at restaurants, and while on the phone. The situations will be different for everyone, but becoming aware of when you tend to engage in the behavior will help you notice it in the moment and remember to be more mindful when the situation arises.

2. Come up with a strategy

Next, I had my audience brainstorm strategies they can use to eat more mindfully. Do this yourself – what do you think would work for you?

Here are some examples that I use myself:

• Mix it up! If you’re bored with the foods you’re eating or having the same meal over and over again, it’s a lot easier to fall into autopilot and forget to give your food a second thought.
• Eat the foods you love. Like I said, food is meant to be enjoyed. And when we’re eating something we love, we’re a lot more likely to pay attention to and take pleasure in what we’re eating.
• Slow down. Put your fork down in between bites and take the time to savor what’s in your mouth. What’s the rush? Meals are a lot more enjoyable when we actually take the time to appreciate our food. Slowing down also helps us feel when we’re full and avoid becoming uncomfortably stuffed.

3. Be Present

The practice of mindful eating is a lot like meditation. When you’re first starting out, it might be hard to remember or to keep your mind focused on the food you’re eating. Don’t beat yourself up when you catch yourself on your phone at breakfast. Like meditation, simply notice when you’re distracted and bring your attention back to your food. It might take time, but eventually it will get easier and mindful eating will become a habit.

4. Practice gratitude

This is honestly just good advice that helps with anything and everything in life.

Express gratitude for your food, for the pleasure it gives you, for the nourishment and energy it provides, and for the privilege it is to have it in the first place. It’s a lot harder to eat mindlessly when we’re truly grateful for each meal. Take a moment to slow down and express gratitude for your food before you eat, either silently or aloud, and you’ll be more likely to give your meal the attention it deserves.

Remember:

Nobody is perfect. I am so conscious of whether I’m eating mindfully or not (especially since spending a whole semester putting together a lesson plan on it), and I still have moments where I eat lunch while I’m working or check my phone while I’m eating breakfast. We’re human and we have busy lives (and even busier minds). Like anything, mindful eating is a practice. I think the biggest hurdle is realizing when we’re not eating mindfully and remembering to turn the behavior around. Just keep practicing without being hard on yourself and it will become part of your daily life.