How does mindful eating help you in growing popularity? Mindful eating is a practice that has grown in popularity for the past few years. It’s not just another fad but a technique that can be used to your benefit. Mindful eating is not about restricting yourself; instead, it’s about being more intentional with your food.
Nearly ideal bodies come to some people genetically, but the rest must battle an everlasting struggle to maintain a flawless look. Counting calories, a strict diet plan, and exercising for hours daily can be effective to some extent… But is it the best way?
Here’s the deal:
Making small, seemingly insignificant changes in your daily eating routine can greatly impact your weight. If you are like us and prefer a long-term improvement strategy instead of the short-lived effects of strict diets, mindful eating may be the method you’ve been looking for.
5 ways mindful eating
1. You learn only to eat when you’re hungry
Learning to eat when your body tells you to eat ― not your mind ― is a game changer. How does mindful eating help? Think about how often eating responds to not physical but emotional needs! Frustration, stress, and boredom are, unfortunately, great appetizers. Mindful eating is about finding ways to slow down, think twice, and eat intentionally. Caught yourself munching on a sweet treat? Ask yourself: Why am I eating this? Does my body need it, or just my mind?
Learning to listen deeply to our bodies lets us base our meals on physical cues (growling stomach, lowered energy, dizziness) instead of emotional cravings.
2. You learn to stop eating when you’re sated
For too many of us, eating fast means eating more. Slowing down and listening deeply to your body will enable you to recognize subtle signals for hunger and satisfaction. You will learn to savor and enjoy your meals and to notice when you are full and should no longer keep eating.
This is admittedly one of the healthiest habits you can develop: gradual and careful reductions in portion size have been linked to longer, more active lives in some mammals, and human bodies may work by the same rules, according to some compelling scientific studies.
3. You learn to enjoy the taste of healthy food
The best thing about mindful eating is that this practice is about adding, not limiting. It’s not a diet! It’s quite the opposite. To eat mindfully means to experience food more intensely and get more pleasure from cooking and eating. This means that no matter what you choose to eat, you will enjoy it much more!
Shifting the focus from what you eat to how you eat it, and making a conscious effort to appreciate and respect the food in front of you, will make it infinitely easier for you to savor simple, natural, whole foods.
4. You realize that unhealthy food isn’t as tasty as you thought
Regarding weight loss or healthy eating, one of the biggest struggles is staying away from foods you know are bad for your body. Somehow it always turns out that our favorite, tastiest foods are exactly the ones we should be cut from our diets!
Eating intentionally teaches you to pay attention to how the food tastes and how it makes you feel as you eat it, digest it, and later throughout the day. You will learn to stop your autopilot of reaching out to that pack of nachos or maybe realize only halfway through the pack that your body has had enough and that you’re craving some greens.
5. You learn to make a tiny ceremony out of every meal
The art of mindfulness offers us an incredible opportunity to connect more deeply to everyone and everything involved in creating our meal, from those who planted and harvested the ingredients to those who stocked the shelves to those who cooked and served the dish.
We encourage you to work mindfulness into your daily food habits, one small step at a time. And remember…
Simple as.
Here’s to your healthy and joyful relationship with food!
Rick Kaselj MS, is a leading kinesiologist and injury specialist as well as co-creator of the best-selling Unlock Your Hip Flexors program. Rick creates exercise programs that help people heal injuries and eliminate pain, so they can go back to living a full, active, healthy life.
