There’s some really good evidence to show that eating mindfully can assist with improved dietary behaviour as well as be a successful mechanism for weight loss. It is also an effective and free way to develop a healthier, happier and more positive relationship with food. It can assist towards weight loss by encouraging healthier food choices and discourage overeating.
What is mindful eating?
Essentially mindful eating is paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, to what we are eating and our overall eating experience. It’s mindfulness but in relation to food! See my earlier post for more on general mindfulness principles here.
How often do you actually sit down and really give your full attention to the sensations and tastes in your mouth as you eat? We are usually too busy and end up eating on the go, in front of the TV or our desks as we do something else.
In their book What to Eat When: A Strategic Plan to Improve Your Health and Life
Michael Roizen, Michael Crupain and Ted Spiker talk about how we have lost touch with food as a sensory experience. We tend to shovel food down without taking the time to really appreciate and savour it. It means we are probably overeating without really realising. We are also missing out on the joy food brings. Think about how many people continue working whilst mindlessly eating their lunch without even properly registering what they are doing. I am sure we’ve all done this.
The science of mindful eating for successful weight loss
Roizen, Crupaina and Spiker refer to a 2018 analysis in the Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. This study assessed 19 other studies on mindful eating and concluded that it successfully produced effective weight loss and improved dietary behaviour. Other studies have shown that participants who ate mindfully lost more weight than those who ate normally. A literature review published in 2018 in the journal Nutritional Research Reviews, which assessed 68 studies on weight loss interventions, found that “Mindfulness-based approaches appear most effective in addressing binge eating, emotional eating and eating in response to external cues” and “Encouraging a mindful eating approach would seem to be a positive message to be included in general weight management advice to the public.”
Studies have also shown that mindful eating can also aid digestion and help encourage a healthy gut.
Why does mindful eating work?
There are several reasons:
- By specifically focusing on each bite it naturally encourages slower eating. This helps avoid weight gain as it gives the body time to register whether it is actually full or not. The hormone leptin is released which signals to the brain that the body is full but this usually takes up to 20 minutes. It’s not surprising that eating slowly aids this. As Brian Wansink notes in Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think, a lot of extra cookies or portions of ice cream can be consumed in 20 minutes.
- Eating more slowly encourages us to eat smaller portions as we are more likely to avoid second helpings as we have already registered feeling full.
- It also makes it less likely we’ll be craving sweet food after our main dish as we will be more satisfied and fuller.
- By focusing on the food we are eating it more likely encourages healthier choices as we become more conscious of what we are putting in our bodies. Eating becomes an act of self-care. By starting to eat mindfully you are more likely to begin to retrain your brain to be much more in tune with your food choices. You may opt for a balanced meal based on fresh, wholegrain food ensuring you are getting the right amount of protein to nourish your body.
- It also encourages us to have a more ethical outlook to food and to really think about where the food has come from and how it is connected to the world.
- In Mindless Eating Brian Wansink discusses how we rely on social cues to tell us to stop eating rather than listening to our bodies. Finishing what’s on our plates may be drummed into as from an early age so starting with a smaller plate may be a good idea. When you are eating with a group of friends how often do you keep eating until the last person has finished?
“When practiced to its fullest, mindful eating turns a simple meal into a spiritual experience, giving us a deep appreciation of all that went into the meal’s creation as well a deep understanding of the relationship between the food on our table, our own health, and our planet’s health”.
Thich Nhat Hanh Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
How to try mindful eating?
Here are eight simple ways you can try to embrace mindful eating in your every day life:
1. Plan your food ahead of time
Spend time looking for recipes and bring in mindfulness techniques when you are shopping for your food and preparing it. Take time to notice how you are preparing the food – carefully paying attention to each chop of the knife and how the food feels in your hands.
2. Start with a smaller plate…
to encourage more modest portion sizes. If you eat a small plate of food mindfully you are giving yourself the chance to register your fullness. After 20 minutes you can always have another small portion if you are really still hungry.
3. Put your fork or spoon down between each bite
This will encourage slowing down and enable your body to properly digest the food.
4. Eat your meals without distraction
Sit at a table without the TV on or your phone and see what difference that makes. If you focus your full attention on the food you are eating you will find that you naturally develop gratitude towards the food on your plate. You will appreciate the amazing textures, smells and feelings food evokes in each mouthful.
5. Really listen to your body
Before you eat concentrate on how you really feel. Are you genuinely hungry? Once you have eaten then concentrate on how it feels. Do you really need that second helping or snack a few hours after?
6. Reflect on your thoughts
Before your meal think about how you feel so you can start to recognise your emotions and what might be driving you to eat when you might not be hungry. We all do this and it is completely normal. It’s good practice to start recognising this so you can learn how your body and mind are interacting. After your meal try not to rush to get up and do the dishes or move on to your next chore really savour the feelings the food has evoked.
7. Chew your food for longer than you normally do
We often do not chew our food properly which can result in damaging consequences for our jaws. It’s also a lot better for the digestive system to chew food properly.
8. Try the eating a raisin mindfulness exercise
There’s a well known practice you can do with a raisin, or another small edible item, which is used in many mindfulness training programmes. This teaches us to really focus on each aspect of eating using well known mindfulness principles.
If your mind starts to wander this is completely normal. You simply bring yourself back to the exercise. There’s a script on this website here which is useful for this exercise.
Note, if you are suffering from an eating disorder mindful eating may not be appropriate for you. Please seek advice from a health professional.
