Why Mindful Eating Means You Never Have To Diet Again In Your Life
Struggling to find the right balance in your diet? Science shows us that maybe it’s not what you eat, it’s how you eat it.
Restricting your calories and food choices and eating mindlessly will leave you hungry and unsatisfied. Dieting can lead to a negative relationship with food, as you program yourself to associate healthier meals with negative connotations of restriction and resentment. While it can be doable in the short-term, it’s not a long term solution to a healthy, happy balanced lifestyle.
When you eat mindlessly, you aren’t asking yourself if you are truly hungry or truly full – or even if your food tastes good. Mindless eating can often lead to overeating no matter what you decide to exclude from your diet, as you risk overeating and filling up on extra calories without even thinking about it.
This is where mindful and intuitive eating comes in.
What is mindful eating?
Mindful eating is the answer to never having to diet again in your life. Instead of inhaling your meals without body signals, you will learn to eat using internal cues. You are in touch with the meal you are having, and are aware of triggers and signals from your body telling you to start eating when you are hungry, and stop when you are full.
Instead of eating with our emotions, we learn to eat when our body needs it. This means you’re much less likely to overindulge and funnel in the calories when it’s not even necessary. You savour every bite and enjoy every moment.
Mindful eating helps build a healthier relationship with our food. Here’s how to have your cake and eat it, without having to diet:
- Eat with no distractions: Avoid eating in front of the television, or as you are running to the office. Try to fit in some time to eat at the table, where the meal has your full attention.
- Slowly chew your food: It takes 20 minutes for your brain to tell you you’re full. Slowly chew each bite, taking in all the flavours.
- Stop when you’re full: Even if you’ve got extra food on your plate, save it for later. Once your body gives you the cue to stop eating, push the plate away.
- Only eat when you’re hungry: This is absolutely key to intuitive eating. If it comes near your lunch time and you’re still full from breakfast, don’t eat just yet. Wait until your body is ready for another meal. That way, you’ll enjoy eating a lot more – and save any calories from mindless or emotional eating.
- Make conscious choices: Remember, mindful eating doesn’t mean you can indulge on high-fat, high-sugar foods in every meal. Practicing mindful eating also means filling up on wholesome foods that are rich in nutrients, without compromising on flavour and enjoyment – with the odd treat from time to time.
