How mindful eating can improve your diet

Mindful eating is the practice of creating a mind and body connection with food. It focuses on drawing your attention to how you can connect with your meals, which is something we rarely do.

The common eating culture hasn’t always encouraged us to actually have a healthy relationship with our eating habits.

There are also so many outside influences that subconsciously dictate our food choices which is the complete opposite of what mindful eating is about.

And with that said, we can all learn on how to be more present when it comes to our food through these mindful eating tips:

A major emphasis of this technique is letting your body guide you. You’re specifically encouraged to pay attention to when you need to eat and when you need to stop eating.

Practically, if you’re only slightly hungry, you can take a glass of water instead of snacking on something unhealthy and when you’re satisfied but not too full after a meal, you can pause until your next meal.

Knowing how to balance these aspects of mindful eating will help you nurture self-discipline when it comes to your eating habits.

Although mindful eating has a lot of emphasis on your emotional connection with food, it’s nothing like stress eating. While stress eating has an unhealthy dependence on food like eating to suppress feelings of stress or anxiety, mindful eating comes from a place of gladness and gratitude.

This is a powerful source of motivation while you’re on a diet because you get to think about all the health benefits you’re getting from intentionally choosing to eat healthy.

Even when the food isn’t necessarily as tasty as your favorite comfort meal, you get to appreciate the fact that you’re working towards a better quality of life.

Having the TV during dinner or eating while you’re multitasking has become the new norm. Gone are the days where families would gather around the table and enjoy each other’s company during meal times with a strict ‘no phone at the table’ policy.

Times have clearly changed and we are missing out on the benefits of eliminating distractions. When you’re distracted, you’re more likely to binge eat and that could block you from your goal to live healthy.

Learn to be more present when eating so you can enjoy the full experience of mindful eating and get all the benefits too.

Eating food in a rush is never a good idea. It makes it harder for you to gauge how much you’re consuming and it’s bad for digestion because you’re swallowing more air and bigger bits of food.

Taking smaller bites and chewing thoroughly are all habits you need to become a pro at when it comes to mindful eating. You can even pause in between every few bites to allow your mind and body to process everything.

Slowing down has some therapeutic benefits because you’re simply enjoying every moment and you’re able to listen to the signals your brain is telling your body like how your food is making you feel and when you’re satisfied.