Mindful Eating: Explore How Your Food Makes You Feel

Have you ever found yourself eating on autopilot? One moment, you are watching a movie, and the next thing you know, you have finished a whole bag of chips. It’s like you are not even aware of what you are eating!

Well, that phenomenon of not being conscious of what and how much food you consume is known as Mindless Eating, which results in weight gain, unhealthy eating behaviors, and a negative relationship with food.

While the exact opposite of this phenomenon is the practice of Mindful Eating, it is a small step toward maintaining a healthy relationship with food and, in turn, improving the quality of your life. And you don’t even have to take any drastic measures or make a significant lifestyle change for it. You just have to become aware of what you are eating and pay attention to your body’s cues when it tells you to stop eating.

Being present in the moment has proven to eliminate unhealthy eating behaviors and promote better food habits. In this article, we will see some scientifically proven benefits of mindful eating and how you can incorporate mindful eating into your daily life.

Scientific Backing for Mindful Eating

Many kinds of research have been conducted to see whether mindful eating is effective or not. Lasta, a psychology-based weight loss app, has even compiled a list of data on mindful eating research that has proven the benefits of mindful eating. So, let’s look at these benefits.

1. It helps reduce weight

According to some studies, it has been found that mindfulness-based weight loss has significantly helped in losing weight sustainably. In addition, it has proven to have reduced calorie consumption, decreased impulsive eating, and helped individuals manage their weight by opting for healthier snack options.

2. It can be used to treat eating disorders

Researchers have concluded that mindful eating can help reduce binge and emotional eating, along with reducing the symptoms of depression in individuals with binge-eating disorders. In addition, it has also been proven to improve self-control concerning food.

3. It can help curb digestion problems

Studies have shown that mindful eating can help slow down and take a break from the daily hustle and bustle, reducing stress and anxiety. Along with eating slowly, this phenomenon allows your body to create an environment where digestion becomes effortless. It means that when we are calm, digestion becomes efficient.

Thus, mindful eating helps create a positive relationship with food and supports your mental state and the inner functioning of your body.

Does this make you want to practice becoming more aware of your food? Then, let’s see how you can incorporate mindful eating into your daily life.

How To Blend Mindful Eating Into Your Routine

For practicing mindful eating, first of all, you need to become aware and pay attention to your food. This means only focusing on the food and letting go of other thoughts. It can be a difficult process, so for starters, you can start practicing mindful eating for a short period, say 5 minutes, and then gradually build up.

Below listed are 8 steps that can help you in the process of successfully incorporating mindful eating into your day-to-day routine.

• Eat without distractions to honor the food and be conscious of the eating experience.
• Employ all your senses by noticing the sounds around you along with the color, smell, and texture of the food you consume.
• While eating, keep checking in with yourself to introspect how and what you feel when you eat.
• Dish out small portions to avoid overeating or wasting any food.
• Take small bites, chew thoroughly, and notice how it makes you feel to savor the taste of the food.
• Eat slowly and try to stay present while eating so you can catch your body’s causes and avoid overeating when you are full.
• Make a schedule of eating at the same time every day and stick to it, so you don’t skip meals.
• Decrease the risk of chronic diseases and step towards a healthy life by switching to a plant-based diet and letting go of processed food and saturated fat.

Bottom Line

Incorporating mindful eating in your life is not just eating healthy or letting go of your comfort foods. It is much more than that; it is listening to your body’s needs and focusing on your food to experience the process of eating. It affects your mood dramatically and boosts your energy, which is why it is essential to have a positive relationship with what you eat.

And to start improving that relationship along with exploring how it makes you feel, you can talk to the experts at Lasta. They dedicate themselves to making their weight loss app a place that paves the way for your physical, emotional, and mental growth.