Mindful Eating is a non-diet approach to lose weight. Is learning to be aware of physical hunger and satiety cues to guide your decision to begin eating and to stop eating.
Being mindful of the food you eat can promote better digestion, keep you full with less food, and influence wiser choices about what you eat in the future. It can also help you free yourself from unhealthy habits around food and eating.
By paying close attention to how you feel as you eat—the texture and tastes of each mouthful, your body’s hunger and fullness signals, how different foods affect your energy and mood—you can learn to savor both your food and the experience of eating.
The Mindful Eating Cycle is based on 6 decision points we go through EVERY SINGLE TIME we eat, even just one bite. It help us develop consciousness around the decision we made with our eating. (From “Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat” by Michelle May, M.D.)
Some people have been yo-yo dieting for years, they go in and out different types of diets. Getting ready for the summer, for a cruise, for their best friend wedding. But they can’t stick to diets indefinitely.
They think they diet doesn’t work because they are not well organized, but they are very successful in other areas of their life so that is not the problem.
On the other hand, some people never diet, they just eat whatever they want. They don’t even think about food unless they are hungry, and they don’t gain weight.
The reason why many diets don’t work is because there is a disconnection from the reason why people are eating. They just follow instructions, a certain set of rules from the diet they are doing. They only eat what is allowed and deprive themselves from the food they really like. So when the diet is over they run back to eat the old foods and they gain the same weight back, or sometimes even more.
Every time we eat we should ask ourselves the following questions:
Let’s go back for a moment to those people that eat whatever they want, whenever they want, and don’t gain any weight.
Why do they eat? They eat because their body need fuel.
When do they eat? Whenever they get hungry.
What do they eat? Whatever they want, they don’t have any restrictions.
How do they eat? They eat with the intention of feeling better when they are done than they did when they started.
How much do they eat? They eat until they are satisfied.
Where do their energy go? Living their lives, they work, they play, and they might exercise or not.
The good news is that each and every one of us are born with the instinct ability to eat this way!!!
But many of us have forgotten how to do it. And we end up eating for triggers like thirst or fatigue. We eat if there is food around us, for food we have paid for, or Free food. We eat when we are stressed, when we are bored, when we are mad, when we are sad. We eat when we are celebrating, when we are rewarding ourselves. We basically eat for every emotion.
But we are disconnected from the reason Why we need to it on the first place.
And When do we eat? ALL THE TIME!
What do we eat? Chocolate, Potato chips, Pizza, Brownies, Hamburgers
How do we eat? Fast, as if we have something more important to do than to eat. When we are distracted, while we are working, while we are watching TV, while we are on the phone. So eating goes on autopilot and we will eat until the plate is clean, until all the food is gone, until we feel miserable.
So What does your body do with fuel it didn’t ask for? It stores it.
So if we eat when we are bored, when you stop eating… you are bored again and you have to eat again.
So we lose the ability to know when food is really needed by the body.
When we are dieting, we eat according to the rules. They tell us When to eat, What to eat and How to eat. And those rules control the emotional triggers.
But when you finish the diet you don’t have to follow the rules anymore and you go back to eating based on your emotions. Diets don’t always work because they are an external rule that we never internalize.
What do we eat? We eat what they tell us to eat. But we restrict ourselves from certain food we love and end up craving those foods even more. So when the diet is over we overeat. Dr. May says “How many rice cakes does it takes to satisfy a craving for chocolate cake?… Seven, and a snickers bar” and that is so true.
And when we overeat, we feel guilty and overeat some more.
Most people don’t have enough time, energy or will power to stick to a diet indefinitely. So they go in and out of diets. On and out of control of their eating.
But is not about being in control or out of control of our eating, is about Being In Charge!
Because when you eat instinctively to meet your body’s needs you can eat what you love but you also are aware enough to love what you eat. To eat according to your body’s needs.
And when you learn how to eat more mindfully it helps you learn how to live more vibrantly.
It all goes back to the Why. When you know your Why, everything else falls into place.
If you are eating triggered by emotions you will tend to eat more comfort food and make food choices that are not the best ones for your bodies.
But If you are eating to fuel your body, you will have plenty of energy to do the things that you love. Then you are more likely to eat instinctively and make better food choices.
So When are you going to eat? We need to trust our body’s instinct. So Dr. May recommends that when we feel like eating we pause, check with our bodies and ask the question: Am I actually hungry?
When we ask this question is like checking the body’s fuel level, same as you check the gas level in your car before going to the gas station.
What do you eat? Eat what you love and trust your body. Because when Guilt is no longer a factor common sense will prevail.
How do you eat? You eat with awareness and purpose. Putting your fork down between bites and focusing your attention on the food that you are chewing. Because if you keep loading that fork your attention is always going to be on the next bite and you will not stop until the plate is clean. Instead, pay attention to your body signs and stop when you are satisfied, even if there is still food on your plate.
When we eat to fuel the vibrant life we crave, food doesn’t have any power over us, Dr. May says. We can “Eat what we love and Love what we eat”. And eating is no longer punishment, depravation or guilt. Is the way we fuel our body, heart, mind and spirit.
