MINDFUL EATING or MINDLESS EATING?
Mindful eating = more satisfaction, more pleasure and more control
Mindless eating = unconsciousness, lack of control, eating just to satiate hunger
Mindful eating leads to weight management and stress reduction.
Mindless eating leads to more stress and weight gain.
Mindfulness involves slowing down to savor all of life’s details, to notice small things and appreciate every sensation.
As applied to eating, mindfulness offers a means of making the most of every calorie you choose to ingest and can help you make healthy choices. The first step is to slow down.
Slow eating cuts your calories by 30% without any effort. The slower you eat, the faster you metabolize. It takes 20 min for your brain to receive the message that you’ve had enough food. Try to make each meal last at least 20 minutes. Just slowing down your eating will do a lot to reduce stress.
Mindful vs. mindless eating PDF download
Mindful Eating Exercise
- Before digging in, sit for a moment, even as those around you start eating, and take in all the sights, scents and sounds of the table and your environment
- Lift your fork and before placing the food in your mouth notice how it smells, how it looks
- Take the bite and use your tongue to feel the texture, the temperature
- Chew 3 times, savor the bite and ask yourself “What does it really taste like?”, “Is this something I really want?” “Does it satisfy my taste buds?”
- Put your fork down
- Continue chewing slowly, letting your saliva begin to liquefy the food
- Swallow
- Take a sip of water or liquid and allow 15 seconds to pass from the time you swallow to the time you take the next bite (if you’re eating with others, pay attention to what someone is saying or contribute to the conversation)
By the end of the meal — which you are the last to finish — you are not just full but truly satisfied. You will have probably not eaten as much but gained all the nutrition available from each bite because the body will be able to digest more thoroughly when the food is not swallowed practically whole. Saliva is the first step of the digestive process. When we swallow quickly, we do not allow saliva to begin the process.
