How to Practice Mindful Eating
- Listen to your body. In our frenetically paced culture, we often lose track of the fundamentals of eating. Pay attention to your physical hunger signals, and observe when your body feels full. Often, we eat too rapidly and ignore when our bodies say it’s time to stop. Slowing down is the best way to ensure our bodies have the chance to express nutritional needs, and it also makes eating more enjoyable.
- Turn off the phone and TV. Make your personal and family meals as distraction-free as possible. Try to eat at the same established times each day. Make space for some quiet time at the dinner table. Keep conversation as gentle, joyful, and stress-free as you can. If you do decide to have movie nights with dinner in front of the TV, do so consciously, and perhaps only on weekends.
- Savor your food. Pay attention to all the things you love about your meal — the textures, colors, and flavors. Allow yourself to focus t0tally on the experience. Slow down, breathe, and give yourself the time to fully enjoy your food. Not only will your pleasure in eating increase, you will digest and assimilate your meal better
- Know your food and where it comes from. Choose the highest quality fresh and natural foods you can afford. Engage yourself in the meal-making process. Do you know who grew your food and where it originated? Maybe you can find a local market or bakery where you interact with the people who supply your ingredients. A simple appreciation for the food you eat can increase your enjoyment exponentially. And the more mindful you are about the quality of foods you and your family eat (and where they come from), the more likely you are to make better choices.
- Balance food as comfort with nutritional needs. Sometimes we eat to fulfill emotional needs, rather than considering the quality or nutritional value of our meal. Healthy, natural foods can be prepared in ways that provide plenty of enjoyment and comfort without sacrificing nutrition. Mindful eating leads you to eat what you want, but in a higher quality and cleaner way. The more fresh foods you eat, the better they will taste to you.