Tag Archive for: food satisfaction

Mindful Eating: It’s More Than Just a Way to Eat

How familiar are you with the term “mindfulness”?

Mindfulness, and mindful eating, are terms that seems to be thrown around by many doctors, social media influencers and maybe even your friends these days!

But what exactly is mindful eating and where did it come from?

What is Mindful Eating? 

Mindful eating is rooted in the Buddhist concept of mindfulness and is a form of meditation that helps you recognize and cope with emotions and physical sensations.

In order to properly shift into the mindset of mindful eating one must use, or adopt, the concept of mindfulness in order to reach a state of full attention to the eating experience, cravings, and physical hunger and fullness cues.

It can be more clearly defined as—paying attention to your eating experience by utilizing all of the 5 senses (seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling and feeling), while also observing and taking in the emotional and physical responses that take place before, during and after the eating experience.

Mindful eating is NOT a diet, or just a way to eat—but it is mindset. It has nothing to do with calories and macronutrients nor does it focus on weight loss. The intention is to help savor the eating experience and encourage full presence during a meal.

Mindful eating is process oriented verses outcome driven. It focuses on the journey, or process of the eating experience, which is better understood as process oriented. This is compared to dieting or following a meal plan which focuses on meeting objectives, or meeting a goal (realistic or not), also known as outcome driven.

The overall goal of mindful eating is to shift your focus away from thinking about food externally, or unconsciously, to exploring, enjoying and remaining present with food and the eating experience. It’s all about bringing awareness to each plate or bite of food.

Five Fundamental Concepts of Mindful Eating:

  1. Eat slowly with no distraction.
  2. Look inward to hear hunger/fullness signals.
  3. Learn to differentiate between the different types of hunger (biological hunger and emotional hunger) and act on those feelings appropriately.
  4. Consistently engage all five senses.
  5. Learn strategies to cope with any guilt, shame, anxiety (any negative feelings) around food and eating.
  6. Take stalk of how foods make you feel.
  7. Have a real appreciation for food and the eating experience.

Although these concepts may seem totally out of reach, mindful eating is something everyone can benefit from and get involved in!

The Benefits of Mindful Eating: 

  • Reduces stress
  • Increases enjoyment and appreciation for eating and food.
  • Improves digestion
  • Aids in decreasing disordered eating behaviors (binge eating, emotional eating, etc.)
  • Allows you to take charge of your food, instead of feeling that food “controls” you!

4 Ways to Get Started

  1. Prioritize mealtimes. Give yourself plenty of time to organize, prepare and eat your meals. Rushing mealtime can not only hinder your ability to hear what your body is telling you (i.e., hunger/fullness), but also doesn’t give you time to appreciate and be present with your meal. And plus—no one likes to be rushed!
  2. Check in & ask yourself questions. Don’t be afraid to set your fork aside and ask yourself—
    • How am I feeling at this point in my meal?
    • Are there feelings of pleasure, regret, stress, anxiety, disappointment?
    • Are there any memories being brought up while I’m eating this meal?
    • Where is my hunger/fullness level at?
    • How is my body feeling right now?
  3. Use your five senses. As mentioned, mindful eating encourages to utilize your five senses.
  • Before eating your meal, really look at your food. Take note of the color, the smell, the look, overall appeal, etc.
  • During the meal, check in with the textures, tastes, temperatures, etc. What is sticking out to you? What do you like? What do you not like?
  • After the meal, reflect on your experience. What do you like? What did you not like?
  1. Be aware of your desire or intention. Although this will take some practice, being able to identify your desire or intention for eating is very important. Believe it or not, there are many different types of hunger or reasons for eating! We eat because we are hungry (of course) but also when we feel happy, sad, bored, excited, anxious, nerves, and so much more! Try to identify your desire to eat and act on it appropriately.

 

Beware of The Mindful Eating Diet 

Many people begin the process of mindful eating and turn it into another diet of rules. And when they “break” the rules, they spiral into the guilt-shame cycle. This is especially true of those who’ve dieted for quite some time. This is why it’s so important to shift out of the diet mentality and change your beliefs around food, eating and your body. Otherwise, a beautiful practice such as mindful eating, becomes yet another diet.

 

Need help breaking the spell of diets so you can truly enjoy mindful eating? Pop your name and email below and get started in my free 3 day break the spell of diets online experience.

 

 

How to Eat Intuitively While Traveling

I don’t know about you…but I am ready to go on vacation! Like most people, I haven’t traveled since the pandemic hit! While I know there are some people who’ve resumed their vacation travels, I haven’t been ready – until NOW!

I am itching to get away! And many of my clients are as well! With traveling opening again and vacationing returning to normal, eating intuitively while on vacation is a thought lingering in many of my client’s minds. And it may be on your mind too.

For many people, this may seem like an impossible task, especially if you’re a dieter or working on breaking free of dieting.

Typically, a vacation or traveling usually means “a break” from the routines of your regular life.

A break from your routine can mean—indulging in foods you don’t normally eat, experiencing new foods, and being spontaneous and flexible with your eating.

This “lack of routine”, especially for those just beginning their Intuitive Eating journey, can bring up a lot of difficult emotions surrounding eating, making food decisions, and being in a new, unfamiliar environment while vacationing. These emotions include shame, fear, guilt, and anxiety, and loads of “what if’s”.

What If…

There is often a lot of food fear and food worry when it comes to going on vacation, wondering if there will be food you can eat. The “what if’s” can fill your head leaving you anxious about the vacation that you really want to be looking forward to.

  • What if I go overboard?
  • What if they don’t have “healthy” foods for me to eat?
  • What if I can’t control myself?
  • What if my body lets me down?
  • What if I stop hearing my hunger/fullness signals?

To help combat some of these negative emotions and overwhelming “what if’s”, here are 4 KEY POINTS to keep in mind:

1.Eating is eating no matter where you are.

 Many people glorify and place unnecessary pressures on eating and making food choices while traveling. However, nothing has to change or look different from a usual day of eating. Eating can still be “normal” even while vacationing. This is a powerful mindset shift that will help take the pressure off eating while vacationing.

Think about it—if you are currently eating without rules and restriction, honoring your hunger and eating until satisfied… why should your eating look any different while you are traveling?

2.Intuitive Eating is not only about honoring your hunger and fullness.

Traveling opens the door to a whole host of great experiences. From trying new foods to learning about a new culture or cuisine—the experiences are endless, and you shouldn’t be denying yourself from having these experiences. Although it’s important to honor your hunger and fullness signals, there are times in which this shouldn’t be the only thing you’re focused on.

For example, while vacationing there may be a time you get the opportunity to try a new food that is incredible, and you notice that you ate past comfortable fullness. Or, while engaging in a fun activity, time gets away from you and you suddenly realize you’re way hungrier than feels comfortable.

In both scenarios, these are temporary moments of discomfort—they don’t last forever and it is absolutely OKAY! Avoid hyper focusing on those moments. Fixating on those moments (like beating yourself up, restricting, etc.) will cause you to miss out on experiences you may not get to experience again.

Remember, there is no perfection in Intuitive Eating!

3.Focus on satisfaction.

An important part of Intuitive Eating is the feeling of satisfaction. Intuitive Eating allows you to give yourself permission to eat what sounds and feels good for you without any conditions attached to it—and believe it or not, this permission is still present while vacationing!

Don’t be “conditional” with your permission. Eat what sounds good to you, allow yourself to eat everything on your plate or leave some behind, eat when others aren’t but you feel the need to, and say no when something doesn’t appeal to you.

You are in charge!

4.Remember compensating is not necessary.

There is no need to threaten yourself with an intense workout regimen or a “cleanse”, or “detox” while traveling or vacationing. Movement is great but if the intention is to “punish yourself” for eating a little out of “routine” or because you ate until a little bit overfull- I think it’s best if you hit the brakes to remind yourself that those are old dieting behaviors, and you don’t need them anymore!

You got this! Happy travels!!