There’s more to mindful eating than just simply consuming foods slowly without any distractions.
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally”. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society.
Applying this saying requires us to be fully aware of food and the process of eating, which impacts our attitudes and behaviours towards food. Mindfulness encompasses every element related to eating from food preparation, recognising physical hunger, acknowledging food preferences to eating for satisfaction and satiety.
If you're ready to embark on this mindfulness journey, here are a few tips to get your started:
Be present in your body and Identify internal cues
A starting point would be to recognise hunger and satiety by using a scale from 0 -10 to rate your hunger and feeling of fullness. 0 = Most hungry/”Starving” and 10 = least hungry / “Stuffed or extremely full”. The goal pre-meals is to get to a point where you are “ready to eat” so think of a rating of around 4. After a meal, the goal here is to get to a point of “satisfaction”, which perhaps implies a rating of 7/8. Being at “0” can cause you to feel irritable, tired, shaky and “hangry”, which may lead to mindless eating and can also cause you to jump straight to a “10”. Being at the other end of scale, you may then feel bloated, extremely uncomfortable, tired and some may even feel guilt. Using this scale can help you reconnect with your internal hunger and satiety cues and understand your eating behaviours a little better.
And finally, remember to take a breath.