In case you aren’t familiar with the term, mindfulness is the practice of being aware of the present moment. Even though it’s based on ancient wisdom advocated by religions such as Buddhism, recent research showed that it isn’t just a spiritual practice. In fact, it’s grounded in science, which makes it extremely helpful and relevant to all of us. When it comes to mindful eating, it’s all about paying attention to the way we eat. Some people even claim that eating mindfully can regulate our appetite, improve our digestion, and help us enjoy the food even more, so keep on reading to learn how to eat mindfully. Here are four useful tips you should bear in mind, so check them out and enjoy!
Eat only when hunger strikes
Eating only when you’re hungry is the first step you should take towards embracing the habit of mindful eating. When you realize that you’re hungry, just slow down a little bit, take a few deep breaths, and become more aware of your body. All you need to do is to spend a couple of minutes like that, becoming aware of the feeling of hunger and identifying it. When you learn to listen to your body, you’ll know the difference between being really hungry and craving certain types of foods because of other reasons. Once you learn to recognize and accept the feeling of hunger, you’ll be one step closer to mastering mindful eating.
Carefully choose the foods you’ll eat
Yes, we know that being too picky isn’t an option when you’re very hungry, but you know what? Thinking about the choices you have at your disposal and becoming aware of what’s available at a given moment is extremely important, so try not to skip this step. Some of the factors you should take into consideration are the following: all kinds of different foods you have in your kitchen, the ingredients those foods are made of, how they smell, the way they’re prepared, and similar ones. Of course, the final choice is 100% up to you, so don’t rush too much, give it another thought, and you’ll gradually become a mindful eater.
Prepare your meals all by yourself
Being mindful when you eat is much easier when you’re preparing meals all by yourself, and that’s because you’ll be there throughout the entire process. From standing by your countertop, peeling and chopping the veggies to marinating the meat and getting ready to eat once it’s done, all of these are the moments to be mindful as you prepare your meals. Of course, your cookware also matters a lot, so make sure to buy quality Scanpan cookware which is both energy-friendly and safe for use with all energy sources, including induction. Don’t forget to pay attention to the smells, textures, sounds, and everything else that happens while you’re preparing the food, as this is essential when it comes to mindful eating.
Take your time during meals and make them enjoyable
Eating slowly and taking your time can be a true challenge in the modern world – especially when you rush from one place to another, forgetting that you need food that gives you energy for the day. Well, mindful eating is there to teach you that enjoying your meals and being aware of every single bite you take is vital, so don’t think that eating wastes your time and embrace new habits instead. Besides that, you need to avoid distractions as soon as possible, so turn off your TV, stay away from your smartphone, and you’ll do a great job. This will allow you to focus on your meal and eat the amount of food you actually need, without overeating. That’s the key to success if you ask us.
As you can tell, there are so many useful tips that can help you embrace the habit of mindful eating, and these four are certainly the best ones out there. Apart from eating only when hunger strikes and carefully choosing the foods you’ll eat, you should also start to prepare meals all by yourself and take your time to eat them and enjoy them to the fullest. Once you take all these steps, you’ll see a huge improvement, without a shadow of a doubt!
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This is such good things to remember especially before the holidays. I’m guilty of eating when I’m bored or stressed.
Eating mindfully is so important for good health and digestion. I like to eat slowly and savour every bite.
I’ve never really thought about eating in this way before. I mean, literally. I’ve never thought this much through the process of eating. This was a really interesting read!
This is great! This is something that I need to work on for myself.
Aaaahhhhh…I need to periodically do away with technology as I have my meals. They are a huge distraction for me. Besides, I take so much longer eating than I should,
I have seen a feature documentary on mindful eating and it does make sense. If we focus on preparing the food we are going to eat and making sure that it has the essential nutrients to sustain us, then we’d be on our way to better health.
Since I have cut down on portions I have lost a lot of weigt. It has really helped my mental health too!
I need to eat mindfully more. These are such great tips to keep in mind.
I really love this post! I’m guilty of just shoving food down and sometimes overeating. I want to eat mindfully now!
As much as I want to prepare all of my meals for myself, I don’t always have the time :< But thanks for sharing this, you just remind me to eat healthy as often as I can 😀
This is great! How much time would you say to spend preparing a meal? What about eating it?
i have not eaten ramen since college. man, i need to get out there and have some ramen. would it be mindful eating though if i go out to eat?
Mindful eating is so lovely! It’s like meditation with food really. And I can’t think of anything better than that! Thanks for sharing ♡
I enjoy a good bowl of ramen. I agree, taking time to think about choices and what you really need to satisfy hunger matters. Then prepare something mindful that you will also enjoy. With so many options available, it’s not so hard to do.
Those are some great tips! One should be more mindful of the foods that we eat on a regular basis. It’s been a while since I last ate ramen, I should get one soon.
I found this on the perfect day! I actually decided today that I will be more conscious of my eating and I started by trying to better recognize real hunger and not ‘psychological hunger’ in my body.
Loving this post. It is so useful and interesting. It has thought me a lot about not being wasteful
I do over-eat when I am stressed, and what’s worse is I indulge in food that I am not allowed to have. I should try your tips and start loving my body more through mindful eating.
Always eat in moderation,I recommend the doctor, suffer from hypertension, read you gives me health, thank you
My wife and I have been working on being more mindful when our family eats. Kids like to shovel their food it seems. We encourage them to slow down and enjoy it.
These are some suggestions that we can implement into our daily eating. It all makes perfect sense, and it’ll teach our kids to enjoy the moment while enjoying their food.
I would love to do this more. I think that our bodies are our Temple and we should take care of it.
These are excellent tips. I think the best one is to eat when you feel hungry. I had to learn to recognize hunger rather than boredom.
Some great tips here! I try to only ever eat when I’m hungry, but it can be hard!
It is always good to be mindful of what you eat. It is so much more satisfying when I actually grow my own food in my garden and when it is ready finally eating it. Of course I am pretty satisfied when I eat that Snickers bar too..lol
This makes perfect sense. I have to be careful of the eating when hungry idea. I was always taught to eat when my mom put food on the table and to finish what she served me. I am really retraining myself.
I’m trying on being more mindful of what I feed my family. It’s important to eat slowly.
Taking your time when you eat is key to enjoying your meal. It helps you appreciate the flavors.
So true that eating slowly can be a true challenge in the modern world, but for me making meal enjoyable is the key!
i wish i had the strength to do all the prep work and cooking you mention. unfortunately it is a chore to just write comments 😉
It’s so important to be mindful and keep a check on the amount of food we consume. Not that we do not gorge at times. Great reminder.
It think it’s important or be mindful in all aspects of life. Especially with your food intake to be mindful is to really care about your health and soul.
great tips. i def try to prepare most of my meals myself. i have health issues so i have to be really careful.
This is a good read. I like the part: ” Take time…make every meal enjoyable”. At times we fail to do this and forget that having something to eat is a blessing and must be enjoyed.