What is mindful eating?
Mindful eating is a non-dieting approach to weight management. It is being more aware of your eating habits, the sensations you experience when you eat, and the thoughts and emotions that you have about food. It is more about how you eat than what you eat.
The basic mindfulness bite is:
Slow down and become aware of your movements as you bring food to your mouth.
Once the food is in your mouth, clear your hands. Put silverware or remaining food down.
Chew this bite with your mind in laser-sharp focus on the process. Concentrate on the taste of the food and the act of eating. Don't do anything else while you're chewing. Simply chew and pay attention.
Keep chewing until the food is uniformly smooth. How does the food feel in your mouth? Use this consistency of the food as a signal to swallow.
After you swallow, but before you bring more food to your mouth, rest for a few seconds, thereby inserting a pause into your eating.
Mindful eating is a way for people to be aware of the nourishment available through the processes of food preparation and consumption, choosing enjoyable and nutritious foods, acknowledging food preference non-judgmentally, recognizing and honoring physical hunger and satiety cues, and using wisdom to guide decisions about eating.
What are the benefits of mindful eating?
Restricting one's diet is not a sustainable way to manage weight and may actually contribute to negative outcomes such as weight recycling (sometimes called "yo-yoing"), altered body composition (undesired shifts in body fat and muscle), decreased resting metabolism, dysfunctional relationships with food, increased risk of eating disorders, low self-esteem and an overall sense of failure.
How can we start mindful eating?
- Slow it down. Chew foods thoroughly about 15-30 times before swallowing. Make a point of pausing while eating and drink slowly.
- Downsize your packages and portions. Downsize your boxes and bowls. Repackage your jumbo box into smaller, single-serving plastic bags or containers, and serve it up in smaller dishes.
- Make overeating a hassle, not a habit. Take the "convenience" out of tempting foods. Take those foods down to a remote corner of the basement or put them in a hard to reach cupboard to require more effort to eat.
- See all you eat. Instead of eating directly out of a package or box, put your snack in a separate dish and leave the box in the kitchen.
- Make comfort foods more comforting. Rethink your comfort foods. If your comfort foods consist mainly of sweets, the key is to start pairing healthier foods with positive events.
Myths about mindful eating
Mindful eating sounds very simple, but it takes some effort to perfect it. After trying mindful eating, many people encounter a variety of problems. The most common myths about mindful eating include: "mindful eating is too long and too hard," "mindful eating seems mechanical," "mindful eating is uncomfortable" and "mindful eating is just eating with awareness." However, mindful eating doesn't have to take a long time to be effective. Mindful eating is not simply eating slowly; it is about focusing on the entire process of eating, including awareness of body cues and non-hunger triggers for eating, selection of food for enjoyment and nourishment, and eating for optimal satisfaction and satiety.
Overall, mindful eating is an alternative way to approach weight loss when compared with other more traditional weight loss strategies. It can be very effective and joyful if you use it appropriately. Just give it a try, continue to work on it, and you will be surprised by how much more pleasurable eating foods can be!
Lu Anderson, is a clinical dietitian with a master's degree in medical nutrition from Saint Louis University. She works as a clinical dietitian at St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City and Audrain, including both inpatient and outpatient services to help people with a variety of illnesses learn how to use food to improve their symptoms and quality of life.
ALMOND CHERRY BITES
Makes: 15 cookies
1/3 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup coarsely chopped dried cherries
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large egg white
teaspoon vanilla extract
teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons chocolate chips or finely chopped dark and/or white chocolate, for decoration (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grind almonds and sugar in a food processor to desired texture. A coarser texture will give you small almond pieces in the cookie; a fine grind will give great almond flavor without any crunch from the almonds. (Be careful not to overgrind, or you will get almond paste.) Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add cherries and flour; mix to combine. Add oil, egg white, and vanilla and almond extracts; mix with a wooden spoon until well incorporated. Shape the dough into walnut-size balls with your hands or a small cookie scoop (about 1 rounded tablespoon each) and place 1 inches apart on a large, ungreased baking sheet. Bake until the bottoms are golden (the top will stay white), 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Melt chocolate and drizzle or pipe onto each cooled cookie, if desired. Let stand until the chocolate sets.
Nutrition (per cookie): 101 calories, 4 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 2 grams monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 15 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams protein, 1 gram fiber, 4 milligrams sodium, 15 milligrams potassium.
Source: www.eatingwell.com