Have you tried everything from vegetarian meal choices to the latest new keto diet and it still hasn’t worked? Or you feel like it’s just not addressing the real issue. Then you might want to check this out.
Mindfulness is a form of meditation that could help you recognize and cope with your emotional /physical sensation as well as recognize the cues associated with them.
Mindful Eating
Mindfulness as well as mindful eating are Buddhist concept that incorporates a meditation like state to your eating practices. Mindful eating is about using the concepts and practices of mindfulness to reach a trans like state while eating, where you are able to pay full attention to the experiences of eating, as well as your cravings and physical cues associated with them.
It also helps you distinguish between when you’re really hungry, and that non-hunger outside triggers, that engage your senses by noticing the smell of food. The colors of fruit sometimes, or even the sounds associated with places that remind you of food are enough to trigger hunger.
Many have guilty feelings associated with foods they crave or craving foods all together. Mindful eating can help teach you to cope with guilt and anxiety about food. As well as help you notice the effects foods have on your feelings and show you how to appreciate food. These things in return will help allow you to replace those automatic thoughts and reactions with more conscience in healthy approach
Diet Yo Yo
It’s a fact that most weight loss programs don’t work for short or long terms. 85% of people with weight issues who actually dose lose weight return to the exact habits that they had prior to losing weight and many times they return to or exceed the initial weight within a few years.
Today we have a lot of food choices sometimes, it’s overwhelming. We live in a fast-paced society where everything is at the tip of our fingers and could be delivered to our door at any moment. If there is no check on the system it could be detrimental to our health.
Many people are skeptical just like I was when I was introduced to this concept. If you have tried everything else and it hasn’t worked, why not give this a try?
Mindful eating adds a whole new element to the traditional style of eating. By forcing you to reevaluate the way you think about food and the negative feelings and habits that might be associated with eating. With this understanding, you’re then challenged to replace those unhealthy eating habits that you had with a positive more attuned state.
Stress & Unhealthy Eating
Many of us have set ourselves into unhealthy routines when it comes to our eating habits. We often binge eat mindlessly. Many times while watching.
- TV
- Computers
- Phones
Studies have shown that chronic exposure to stress plays a direct role in overeating and obesity. This combined creates a situation where you are eating mindlessly not paying attention to hunger cues. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to realize it’s full. That is very problematic since eating it’s often done quickly and mindlessly. Eating too fast could cause the fullness signals of your body to not arrive too active after you have already eaten too much. This is a common occurrence with binge eating.
Eating out of emotional distress or because we have a craving for a certain kind of food. While ignoring whether or not the body is telling you it’s actually hungry. These unhealthy eating habits have been shown to be a common factor in weight gain as well as weight regained in an individual who has successfully lost weight.
Mindful eating helps you lose weight by changing your eating behaviors and reducing stress. A majority of studies agree with this concept.
Eating Slowly
As strange as it may seem many people do not take the time to sit down, relax, and actually enjoy their food. We mindlessly go from one task to another. We treat dinner in the same fashion.
Mindful eating takes practice. It forces you to try to eat more slowly and thoroughly and remove distractions from your view that could possibly distract you while you’re eating. It also forces you to stop eating when you’re full.
By eating more slowly you will restore your attention and slow down while you’re eating, making your eating habits a bit more intentional instead of an automatic one. You will also increase the awareness of certain triggers that are associated with the eating behavior that could either cause you to eat or be caused by what you’re eating. By knowing these feelings and triggers you can also create a buffer between you and plan your response ahead giving you the freedom in time to choose how you react to your situation.
It’s not about dodging or suppressing your cravings, it’s about understanding where they derive from and addressing them. Making a conscious choice to proceed further and enjoy it, or simply choose that it’s not the right time for this choice.
Binge Eating
Binge eating, as well as emotional eating and external eating, can all be reduced by applying mindful eating techniques.
- Emotional eating ( when a person eats in response to a certain emotion)
- External eating ( when you eat in response to an external food-related cue such as sight or smell of a certain food)
- Binge eating ( eating a large amount of food in a short time mindlessly and without control)
Binge eating has been linked to weight gain and eating disorders. Studies have shown that 70% of people who binge eat have eating disorders and or obesity.
Mindful eating can reduce not only the frequency but the severity of binge eating episodes. Eating mindfully will give you the skills needed to deal with the impulses that are associated with your eating habits. It puts you in charge of your eating habits. As you’re supposed to be.
Tri Mindful Eating
If you’re seriously thinking about trying mindful eating there’s no need 2 pay for expensive online courses and workshops on mindfulness in mindful eating and there’s no need to attend expensive seminars. All these things are helpful and worth looking into and investing in if you are serious about it. To begin the practice mindfulness helps you and you do a series of exercises and meditations just to get accustomed to the act of mindful eating.
For now just remember these facts
- Take your time to eat more slowly( don’t rush your meals)
- Two more thoroughly ( take your time to enjoy The Taste the texture the smell in the field of your food)
- Turn down the noise ( start by turning off your TV cell phones and laptops just eat in silence)
- Focus on how the food makes you feel ( what memories are associated with this meal)
- Notice your internal gauge ( stop eating when you’re full) ( ask yourself am I truly hungry and what am I eating for)
You don’t have to jump in but on both your feet you can dip your toe and choose one meal per day to focus T’s points on and once you feel like you got it down packed, mindfulness and mindful eating will become a natural occurrence. Then you can focus when implementing these habits into more meals. Mindful eating is a powerful tool to help regain control of your eating habits your mindsets about eating habits and your diet so with conventional diet have not to work for you this has to be worth considering
