Mindful and Intuitive Eating: Tips for Building a Lasting Mindful Eating Habit
Mindful eating, intuitive eating, and mindful eating are terms used to describe a way of eating that uses internal cues about hunger, appetite, and satiety to guide our relationship with food. Being in tune with our body and being able to listen to it allows us to know what and when we need to eat. The goal is to learn to eat mindfully that helps our bodies feel and function well. Dieting, restricting, counting calories or fat grams, and focusing on weight are NOT components of mindful eating. Conscious eaters eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. They eat the food they are hungry for. There is no list of “good” and “bad” foods.
In short, mindful eating is the way that people who have a healthy relationship with food, who don’t struggle with weight, and who don’t diet have been eating all the time.
When mindful eating is introduced to them, people often freak out. “If there are no rules, I will eat all day.” In the short term, some people make eat more, but eating mindfully is not eating with abandon. Eating mindfully is eating mindfully, being aware of the present moment; be aware of hunger and satiety; Be aware of your appetite and what you are really hungry for. Mindful or intuitive eating involves learning to be aware of the difference between hunger and other food cues, such as painful emotions, boredom, or tiredness.
The secret:
The secret to success with mindful or intuitive eating is this: You must remember or relearn how to eat mindfully, without shame, guilt, fear, and with careful attention to your body and what it needs and wants. Doing this also requires learning what to do when what your body and mind need and want are not food. You must learn to listen respectfully to your body and learn to nurture your body and spirit without eating when food is not what is needed.
The essential:
Since 1995, I have worked with people to help them break unhealthy cycles of dieting, restricting, bingeing, and overeating by establishing mindful or mindful eating habits. There are two essential components to creating a lasting mindful eating habit.
1. A conscious registration practice
The goal of mindful eating is to stop obsessing over food / diet and stop going on autopilot with food / eating. To be successful, you will need to create a consistent method of control: staying connected to yourself and what you feel and need in order to respond to these needs and wants and avoid emotional eating. You will need to find a practice that works for you and that suits your personality and strengths. If the practice you choose does not suit you, you will not follow it.
This can be something you do every day when you get up in the morning or before a meal or when you get home from work. The only requirements are that it be done consistently and that it be something that helps you focus within yourself, without distractions. It is often helpful to have a few ways to do conscious checks at various times of the day.
Examples of possible mindfulness checks: Mindfulness meditation, journaling or free writing, walking or running, prayer, or contemplative time.
People often start by writing. It might be helpful to write about whatever you have in mind for fifteen minutes every morning. Especially in the beginning, it helps to keep an emotion / food log, noting how you feel and how hungry you are before eating. The writing process slows you down and forces you to think, to be aware of your diet.
2. A support system
It is very important to have people (or a person) who support and encourage your belief system about not dieting. Your support system should respect your goals, celebrate your successes, and help you take responsibility for being the person you want to be. Your support system can help you stay consistent with your mindful practice. Your followers know that you are not your weight or your clothing size. They are there for you when you doubt yourself or your path and when you encounter obstacles or find yourself in a place or with the feeling that you do not know what to do. They can help you discover what What to do when you know you are not hungry but feel like eating.
People create this support system in a variety of places. Your support may be available from friends you already have. Sometimes, however, the dieting mindset is so ingrained in our families or our social circle that it might be helpful to step outside of your current life for support. A group, an online message board, or an intuitive food class can go a long way.
Sometimes people choose to work with someone individually. As a personal coach, I work with people to help them successfully emerge from a diet mindset, to develop mindfulness management strategies that respect and utilize their particular strengths. We work together to get over the scary parts of giving up calorie counting and weighing in. In some situations, a therapist can help you go beyond emotional eating. If you find the emotions behind your eating overwhelming or the diet feels out of control, you should consider working with a therapist who specializes in these issues.
Remember: Mindful eating is about putting your relationship with food into perspective. When we do it successfully, we discover that it means developing new ways of caring for ourselves. without resorting to food or diet. It’s challenging, but the rewards are tremendous. Developing mindful registration practices and a strong support system will create a firm foundation for success.