Are you Eating Mindfully? Learn The Skill Of Mindful Eating
Today’s world is a little bit weird, isn’t it? Like, we attend meetings while eating, we organize our day while exercising, we use social media while traveling or commuting, we schedule meetings in the bathroom, and we take updates while making coffee!
Are we doing anything mindfully? No, right!
We are not even sleeping peacefully; we always worry about tomorrow or the pending work!
Being mindful is an art to live in the present moment. We have already discussed various ways to live mindfully like:
- Mindful Parenting
- Mindfulness activities
- The Mindful Pause
- Mindful Morning Routine
- Taking a mindful coffee break
- Mindful calligraphy
- Mindful Dating
In this segment, we are going to talk about mindful eating. Mindful eating is a technique that helps people gain control over their eating habits. In simple words, it is an act of being present in the moment while eating.
When eating becomes the second priority in your schedule, mindful eating can be used for prioritizing your overall health with the hint of mindfulness.
If you feel like you are too busy to take a break, it’s time to take a break to eat your food securely without any kind of interruption or distraction. It’s time to savor the food you eat without going on an auto-pilot mode of chewing and gulping without any attention.
Do you know when you eat food without paying attention to the taste; it can impact your brain and body? This modern era definitely needs to learn the skill of mindful eating. It allows us to slow down and pay attention to the taste, flavor, aroma, and everything!
The Relation between Food and Mental Health
There are various studies published to describe the connection between food and mental health. Some of the studies even described this connection as “gut-brain romance.”
Additionally, proper nutrition not only benefits our physical well-being but also benefits our mental well-being. Nutritional psychiatry is a newly evolved study that shows how food helps us in treating symptoms of mental health issues.
Like there is a study named SMILES which shows that proper food helps in reducing symptoms of depression. However, when I say, you must evolve in mindful eating; it does not mean that you start eating anything.
The research is focused on eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish oils, and other meat products. Moreover, if you wish to read more about the connection between nutrition and mental health, read from here.
Finding the Importance and Relationship of Food with Brain
As I mentioned above, it is important to eat the right food. We must avoid foods that might harm our overall well-being. Foods like fried foods can harm our physical health.
Therefore, we must be involved in eating proper nutritious food that is beneficial for our mental health as well. Mindful eating is based on two major things, what you eat and how you eat!
Therefore, while selecting your food make sure you’re choosing the right foods like raw foods, legumes, pulses, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and more.
Next, how do you eat? If you’re eating in a hurry, eating at the counter of the kitchen, or eating while traveling, it can impact your mental health and physical health.
Therefore, to practice mindful eating, make sure you eat in a calming and peaceful area wherein you can enjoy your food and can sense the taste of the mood. It will provide relaxation and a calming sense to your brain which directly benefits your mental health.
Ways to Practice Mindful Eating
As I said, the modern era is weird, we are moving so quickly and not stopping anywhere! It is important to eat our food without any interruption or distraction. Here are some quick ways to practice mindful eating:
- While eating your food, activateyour consciousness and pay attention to everything related to food. Pay attention to the smell, appearance, flavor, and taste of the food.
- While eating or chewing the food recognize the signals passed on by your body. Identify what you want to eat, if you’re actually hungry or not, and recognize your cravings. Do not get involved in binge eating or overeating, focus on how much you need and what you want.
- Keep sharing your mealswith others, it will provide a more mindful eating sensation.
- Eat your food in a calming and peaceful space,some people tend to eat their food while traveling, sitting at the workstation, or eating at the kitchen counter. Avoid such places and search for a calming place so that you can focus on the food.
- Practice mindfulness in every activity, mindful eating is not only limited to eating but we should practice mindfulness everywhere like exercising, meditating, walking, and more.
8 Best Mindful Eating Tips and Exercises
Here are some best mindful eating tips and exercises:
- Avoid multitasking
- Check the level of your stress before eating
- Acknowledge and show gratitude to the food
- Eat slowly and focus on the taste
- Be mindful of the portions
- Be mindful of your calories budget
- Practice reflection
- Avoid digital deviceswhile eating
I hope this blog helps you with mindful eating. Comment down and share your views on mindful eating. For more such content, connect with us on all social media platforms.
Thanks for reading!