Eating mindfully - a positive approach to food
What's your relationship to food?
Do you struggle to control cravings?
Have a history of restricting, or comfort eating?
Find yourself over eating or binge, then feel guilty and wish you hadn't?
Try cut out multiple foods, then eventually give in and give up?
If so, mindful intuitive eating could be a powerful tool for you to learn!
Healthy food choices, controlling our appetite, and making positive decisions around how and what we eat, are things many of us struggle with, especially if we have a difficult history with food.
And in times of stress, holidays, and even when day to day life becomes busy, this becomes even more challenging... Meaning we can fall back on habits that may not be helping our health.
Often we view food as 'good' or 'bad', or focus on counting calories or macros, and the emotions this creates can be complex - especially if you've struggled with weight or disordered eating.
And science shows us that relying on willpower doesn't work, as will power uses the part of the brain we need for other vital parts of life, such as concentration, decision making, and planning.
Our brain becomes overwhelmed and tired, the we fail, feel guilty, and give up - leading to yoyo dieting or binges and crashes.
In lifestyle medicine, we approach food differently - as something positive to nourish our bodies and minds, focusing on including rather than excluding foods, eating intuitively while listening to our body, and in the context of the whole person .
We recognise and acknowledge that lack of sleep, emotions, stress, boredom, activity level, social connections, and even medications can have an impact on appetite and food choices - and our hunger cues are often highly complex.
Plus the way we've been bought up to view food can also have an impact - dieting and being bought up to ‘clear your plate’ and eat a certain way can combine to over ride our natural ability to eat intuitively
Mindful intuitive eating is something we discuss a lot in clinic - the concept of recognising WHY we are eating or drinking, learning how to read and listen to our body, then addressing any underlying themes .
It's been shown to have a number of benefits, including better mental health, lower rates of depression, improved optimism, and better well-being and ability to manage emotions.
It helps us connect with our bodies signals, and improve our relationship with food.
Intuitive mindful eating involves a few simple steps, and can be highly effective in starting to change our eating behaviours to one's that treasure and look after our body and mind:
Think about what you eat:
View your body as precious and worthy of being cared for
Think of what foods will nourish it, and what helps you to feel well, rather than what you ‘should’or ‘shouldn't’ eat, and start to notice how you feel after eating different foods. Aim to try include more foods that make you feel energised, healthy, and vibrant.
Focus on including as many different healthful foods as possible that you enjoy, rather than on excluding certain food groups or counting macros or calories
Find foods you love that also help your health, and help you move towards your goals for well-being
Be mindful of why:
Identify WHY you are eating, is it actually hunger, or is it stress, boredom, sadness, or loneliness?
Understanding the difference between physical and psychological hunger is a key part of eating intuitively
Physical hunger will increase gradually with time and isn't for certain foods, whereas psychological hunger is often tied to a specific food or craving and can happen suddenly. It is often triggered by emotions such as feeling tired, upset, or bored.
Psychological hunger can also be a learnt response to try manage uncomfortable unresolved feelings, especially with trauma.
Learn to read your body's cues, keeping a diary of when you're struggling with cravings can give great insight as to what's going on inside
Listen to your body, and be self compassionate. You aren't a failure if you aren't perfect or 'give in', guilt backfires. Try look within and be honest about why you're eating, then forgive yourself when you ‘give in’- it's the first step to healing
Focus on the experience
If you mostly feed your body optimum fuel, it's also OK to have treats sometimes. And focusing on enjoyment (quality not quantity) often helps cravings
Eat without distractions: research shows we are far more likely to overeat or make poor food choices if we eat while watching tv/looking at our phones /working/rushing our meals
Putting time aside to slow down and enjoy food is good not just for enjoyment, it actually reduces stress hormones, means our hunger cues work better, and even improves digestion!
Try to get rid of distractions such as the TV or screens, and slow down!
Pay attention to the process of eating:
Savour the appearance of the food, the smells as you cook it, imagining how it will taste, and paying attention to the flavour and texture as you eat it.
If you crave a food you know isn't great for your health, try imagining each step of eating it, then how you'll feel after. This can actually often quell cravings, the mind is powerful!!
Take small bites, chew each mouthful properly, and don't rush your meal. This not only helps digestion, it gives your body the ability to regulate how much you eat. It takes around 20 minutes to trigger fullness hormones, and eating too quickly means you are more likely to eat too much.
Food choices also affect fullness (studies show we are far more likely to overeat high calorie low nutrient foods ie highly processed foods. Many 'junk' foods are actually deliberately designed to make you overeat!)
Focus on how you feel. Great food should make you feel great afterwards - not sluggish, achy, or bloated. If you become mindful of how different foods affect you, this can help to make better choices the next time round, and understand why your body feels different depending on what you've eaten.
Learn to use hunger and fullness cues as a guide to stop eating, rather than rules. There are great hunger and fullness scales available that help you identify how hungry or full you are, and recognise the sensations of hunger and fullness, and when it's appropriate to start and finish eating.
If you struggle with portion size, try using a smaller plate so your meal looks bigger. This reduces hunger and improves satiety, ie our mind can actually control our appetite. There is a famous milkshake experiment by Yale University that demonstrated this
Try to eat until you are only 80% full, the Japanese concept of hara hachi bu. This helps with both over and under eating, and has been linked to improved health, healthier weight, and better food choices. Again if you struggle with knowing when you're full, a hunger scale can be useful to use to help you tune in.
Most importantly - remember any sustainable changes take time, and small steady steps in the right direction is the best way to reach your goals!
Don't give up if you struggle with this initially, it can be hard to overcome a lifetime of habits.
Keeping sight of your goals, and working failure into the plan is a normal part of life ❤️
Seeing a psychologist trained in eating disorders can also be incredibly helpful if you feel overwhelmed by food and really struggle with it - seeing your GP to talk about options can be a good first step
We also teach you all about mindful eating, positive nutrition, and how to change your views of food in our nutrition focus module, as well in as our 6 week Reboot your health course - along with how to nourish your body and mind optimally, and enjoy what you eat!
We believe food and life is meant to be enjoyed, and eating to nourish body and mind is part of optimal health and well-being - and we want you to enjoy it too!!