Mindful eating is about paying complete attention to the experience of eating and drinking for a variety of reasons, including weight loss
Giving complete attention to the food on your plate can help you lose weight, say experts, based on results from studies on the subject. Eating without the distractions of computer, television or the smartphone is believed to be a motivation in weight loss.
Even high calorie food, when eaten mindfully, is known to have positive effect on health and the long term goals of weight loss. Best of all, mindfulness is about completely enjoying the meal and categorise it as an experience. This is especially important for people who binge eat or eat when stressed.
To get started on the mindful eating route, time your meals – set the timer to 20 minutes for a normal-sized meal.
- Reflect on your feelings and your emotions and try to assess what your wants and needs are. Follow that by choosing what you want to eat and how you want to eat it.
- Turn off your television, get away from the computer and your phone. Now sit down for your meal.
- Even if it is only a snack break, do not eat on the go; you will lose track of the food eaten or the calories consumed from it.
- Do not get tempted to eat straight from the container or the bag. Place the contents in a plate so you know exactly what you are eating and how much.
- Always opt for a smaller plate to stick to the portion size required. A bigger plate can make it seem as if you are eating too little.
- Chew every mouthful slowly before you swallow. The idea is to enjoy the texture of the food, the flavours packed in it and thereby stop overeating.
- To make mindful eating easy, try to act as if you are a food critic who needs to share notes about his/her observation of the food consumed. This will slow your process of eating.
- After every morsel, keep the spoon or fork down. That itself will help signal your intent to enjoy every bite.
- Remember to put a stop to your eating when your stomach signals that you are full. Continuing only to avoid wasting food will lead you straight to the weight zone.
- While eating together with family and friends has its own benefits, indulging in silence during meal times, once in a while, could help you experience your food better. As you continue eating, acknowledge your thoughts, feelings and sensations before allowing them to pass from you. This will help you keep your focus on food.
- To sharpen your focus, eat foods that require you to put in some work – for example, foods like pistachios, oranges or even seafood that are cooked with shells.
- Contemplate on your food; act as if you are holding a magnifying glass above it to scrutinise the contents carefully. This will force you to think about every single item on your plate.
- Spread the concept of mindful eating to mindful drinking too; this will make you enjoy your morning cuppa more and also relish the flavours for a longer time.