Mindful Eating
You’re eating a banana while working. You suddenly notice an email from your boss that you haven’t replied to. You shove the banana down your throat and your fingers swiftly start typing a reply, while you struggle to chew the banana. You are done typing a few seconds later, but notice that your banana is gone! You check under your desk, maybe you’ve dropped it? Then it hits you. You’ve eaten it, but it doesn’t feel like it at all!
Could you relate to the above?
When was the last time you really had a look at what was on your plate and enjoyed a meal? With technology entering every aspect of our lives in addition to ‘hustling’ (read: being busy) 24 x 7, we seldom pay attention to the food we eat. We mindlessly eat what is within our reach, not realising the consequences. We wolf down our food without chewing, phone in hand and rush to our laptops to send out emails. What can be a good 10-15 minutes spent on just eating is now a 5 minute hastily done job!
Mindfulness is defined as being aware or conscious of something. Mindful eating involves being aware of the food you eat and getting rid of distractions that might interfere with your eating experience. It also involves noticing the texture, the colour and flavor of the food. Mindful eating primarily relies on hunger and satiety cues, to initiate eating. Further, it incorporates the practice of not being critical or judgemental of the food you are eating . For example, if you really want a doughnut, by all means eat it. Do not label it as a ‘bad’ food. By looking at the first few principles, it is clear that we do not adhere to it,considering our busy lives.
But how do we incorporate mindful eating on a daily basis? This is very simple:
- Eat when you are hungry
- Differentiate between actual hunger, boredom, stress and other emotions
- Ensure that when you eat a meal, you do not have any distractions. This means, no screens
- Try and eat in silence
- Chew your food thoroughly
- Notice the texture, flavour and smell of what is in front of you
- Eat until you are nearly full
These can be used as starting points to slowly adopt mindful eating as a habit. Start by applying these principles to one meal a day, and then gradually increasing the frequency. Mindless eating habits often takes a toll on our health. Being aware of what we eat and how we eat also matters.
