Mindful eating habits

You may have heard of mindfulness when it comes to meditation. But did you know the same principles can transfer over to our eating habits?

Mindful eating habits aims to help you feel ‘in the moment’, improve your eating experience and promote healthier habits. Whilst it’s popular for those looking to improve their fitness, there are also a multitude of mental wellbeing benefits you can derive from mindful eating. Discover more about mindful eating, the challenges and barriers people face, mindful eating benefits and how to build healthy mindful eating habits.

What is mindful eating?

In its simplest form, mindful eating is an approach to food consumption that focuses on being in the moment or ‘being present’. It allows you to feel more aware of your thoughts, feelings and sense whilst you eat.

You might be wondering why mindful eating would be worth the effort. From a mental wellbeing perspective, it can foster positive associations with food such as gratitude and joy.

What is mindful vs. intuitive eating? 

While mindful and intuitive eating share similar principles, there are some differences.

Mindful eating is all about practicing awareness and intention when it comes to eating. Intuitive eating is more focused on trusting your body’s cues for hunger and/or fullness and promoting a balanced approach to food (as opposed to diet culture).

While they aren’t mutually exclusive, mindful and intuitive eating can go hand in hand, as they may both address our mind’s approach to how and what we eat. They may be able to address our mental state when we consume food and help us identify triggering emotions that cause us to eat certain foods.

What are the 3 R's of mindful eating?

Building mindful eating habits requires small steps to become fully formed habits. There are three principles to be aware of whilst you’re habit building:

1. Recognise

This step is all about recognising physiological symptoms of hunger and fullness, and getting in touch with your emotions before eating. For example, do you crave certain foods based on your emotional state?

2. Respond

Respond by listening to your body’s needs and take the time to eat slowly and mindfully. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s very easy to use devices or eat quickly (sometimes both!), without really taking the time to enjoy your meal.

3. Reflect

How has a particular food or meal helped you feel. Does your emotional state feel better after consuming it? Or do you feel it’s a cue to replace a particular food with something more nutritionally balanced and/or filling?

What are the challenges of mindful eating?

Building healthy and mindful eating habits are no easy feat. In fact, there may be barriers when you first start out:

1. Prone to distractions

As we previously mentioned, it’s all too easy to scroll through our devices whilst we eat. This can take us out of the present moment and even cause us to eat too fast. It can also disrupt hunger and fullness cues, which can lead to under or overeating.

2. Emotional eating

It’s common to consume ‘feel good’ foods when we are feeling a certain way, rather than eating when we are actually hungry. Whilst there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, feelings like stress, boredom and sadness can cause us to consume food, rather than deal with why we may be feeling this way.

3. Time

Many of us lead very busy lifestyles or are going through particularly busy periods in our lives. This can cause us to want quick solutions for mealtimes such as takeaways. Again, whilst there’s nothing wrong with this, a hurried approach to food may impact some people physically (such as causing poor digestion), and consuming food too quickly and stops us from really enjoying it.

4. Social pressure

Social settings can really influence what we eat without us realising it. If you have personal health goals, it can be all too easy to give into these social pressures.

What are the Benefits of mindful eating? 

Generally speaking, mindful eating causes us to make more conscious choices when it comes to picking food. In time, this can improve our physical and emotional wellbeing. Here are just a handful of benefits of building mindful eating habits.

1. Promotes an appreciation for food

That first bite is always the best, isn’t it? This is mindful eating! It can help you get that positive feeling when you consume food. It allows you to enjoy your food more rather than just seeing it as a means for sustenance.

2. May help curb cravings

While there’s nothing wrong with the occasional craving for your favourite snack, if you’re wanting to build healthier habits for the body and mind, then mindful eating can really help. You may start to respond differently to your hunger cues by opting for foods that are more nutrient dense and support your wellbeing goals.

3. Supports positive attitudes towards food

Gone are the days of labelling food as ‘bad’ or ‘good’. Mindful eating focuses on how you feel in the moment when consuming foods. Some days, you may want something a bit more indulgent, whilst on others, you’ll want to consume more nutrient-dense foods. It’s all about balance and truly being present to enjoy your food!

4. May improve self esteem

Mindful eating habits can reinforce a positive attitude towards food, and hence how you feel about yourself. It promotes a non-shameful approach to consumption. Plus, mindful eating can help promote a more balanced diet overall, which can aid your overall wellbeing.

5. May reduce stress and anxiety

Mindful eating encourages you to slow down and really enjoy your food. This slower approach can help you be more present and reduce anxiety and stress. Overall, this has a small yet impactful approach to your wellbeing.

Strategies for incorporating mindful eating

Building mindful eating habits takes time, so it’s important to be patient whilst working through our steps to this approach.

Here are some simple yet impactful ways you can get starting with building mindful eating habits.

• Eat slowly and try to avoid rushing your meal

• Chew your food thoroughly and enjoy the flavours

• Reduce your screen time by keeping devices away

• Reduce noise around you

• Recognise if you’re hungry or are feeling a certain way (e.g. angry, sad, anxious)

• Stop eating when you feel full to prevent feeling sick or nauseous

• Focus on how your food makes you feel

• Eat in designated spaces such as the kitchen, a canteen or dining room, rather than at your workstation.

How HA | Wisdom Wellbeing can support you with mindful eating habits

Cultivating mindful eating habits may require support from a professional, particularly if you feel you have some tough habits to nip in the bud. With HA | Wisdom Wellbeing, our counsellors can help guide you through your emotions in order to support your wellbeing, as well as provide healthy coping mechanisms for the future. These in turn can support your mission in building mindful eating habits to support your overall wellbeing.

Conclusion

Mindful eating habits have numerous benefits – particularly if you’re wanting to improve your physical and mental wellbeing. Habits take time to form, so it’s important to be patient with yourself along the way. It may be that you focus on how you feel on one of your meals in the day, then slowly build this up over time. It’s important to seek advice if you find yourself feeling hung up on whether mindful eating may be causing additional stress, as a counsellor may be able to guide you through self-compassion and ensuring you take healthy steps towards a new habit.