What is Mindful Eating?

Food is something we all have in common. The human body needs food to survive. It provides us with nutrients, energy, and essential calories we need to get through our day-to-day lives, making it a valuable resource! 

So tapping into this resource through eating, should be an enjoyable task, right?! We are replenishing our bodies with an essential need after all...

...Instead, many of us feel guilty after eating a good meal. Why is that? Perhaps we over-indulged, or our calories were less-than nutritious?

Wasting a valuable resource, or fueling our bodies with cheap calories can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction. Not to mention that tired, bloated, over-stuffed feeling we get from eating more than our body needs.

Mindful Eating is about paying attention to what we eat and how much we eat by appreciating all it has to offer our senses and the value it is providing to our bodies.  

 

 

Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention to a moment in time and being aware of your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in that moment. 

Eating Mindfully therefore centers around expanding these 3 key values during meals.

Thoughts:

Where did the ingredients come from? How, and by whom was it prepared? What are the colors, smells, and textures? 

Emotions:

What kind of emotions does this food evoke?  Happiness? Distaste? Guilt? Satisfaction? Do the smells bring back any memories?

Physical Sensations:

Are you really hungry right now? How hungry are you? What are the feelings of satisfaction vs fullness?