Clients often come to me with the desire to modify their eating habits or to lose weight. One of the most important changes they can adopt to reach these goals is to start eating mindfully. Mindful eating means that you are actively paying attention to what you are putting into your body and heeding the hunger and satiety cues your body is sending as you are eating. Two important parts of eating mindful are:
- Eating with Intention: Eating with intention means you are eating because you are actually hungry not because it 3 o’clock, the time you normally have a snack or because someone sets a big bowl of chips and salsa down in front of you. To help with eating with intention ask yourself if you are really hungry, have you experienced any hunger cues like a growling stomach or are you eating just because the clock says it is time?
- Eating with Attention: Eating with attention means that you are focused solely on the meal at hand. To make paying attention easier- put away all electronics, and reading material, turn off the tv, sit at a table and take the time to notice the smell and appearance of your food before you start to chow down.
Adding these two simple changes to your daily routine will help slow down your food consumption, giving you more time to notice when you are becoming full. This slower pace can also help you eat fewer calories and make more conscious decisions about the types of food you are putting into your body. All of these mindful eating benefits make it easier to accomplish your goals.
