What’s Mindful Eating & Why Should I Do It?

Mindful Eating refers to eating while being fully present with the food in front of you, savoring your meal and truly enjoying every moment of the dining experience. 

Why bother? Because it’s the exact opposite of mindless eating. Imagine the moments of mindlessly eating snacks in front of the TV when you’re not hungry or when you’re bored.

Of course, this is easier said than done when we’re always on the go. But instead of being on autopilot, we encourage you to truly experience the flavors of delicious food.

While food is a necessity and it’s wonderful to enjoy the foods you love, it’s also great to have a healthy relationship with the food you eat for your physical and emotional well-being. This helps you be more satisfied with your meals and your relationship with food.

Slowing down in a fast-paced world is difficult, but mindful eating can be a great start to that. When you’re enjoying a sensory experience like eating, and really taking in everything from your breathing, to chewing, to the smell of the food, and feel of the ingredients, you’re creating a heightened awareness of your food consumption.

Mindful eating also helps slow down your eating if you eat quite quickly. This can help with both portion control, hunger cues, and weight management.

Slowing down with mindful eating also helps you to become kinder to yourself and to practice compassion when it comes to fueling yourself with food and being grateful for what’s in front of you.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Mindful Eating

You can start incorporating mindful eating during your next meal! Here’s how:

Create a Relaxing Environment

If you normally eat on the couch with the TV in front of you, volume blasting, kids and dogs running around and phones ringing left and right, let’s try to shift things a bit. 

Put the pets outside or ensure they’re calm before you sit down for a meal. Turn off the TV, radio, and anything else unless it’s perhaps calming music without lyrics. 

Put your electronic devices on silent or turn them off completely, and consider putting them in a ‘cell phone basket,’ which is simply having everyone put their devices into a basket that you store in a separate room from where you’ll be eating. This way, no one’s distracted! (Of course, if there’s an emergency and you want your phone nearby, this is a different story!)

No Multi-Tasking

You can answer your work emails later. You can read the news in a bit. You can talk on the phone after you eat. Try not to multi-task while you’re eating so you actually enjoy your experience. This lets you focus all your attention solely on eating.

Engage your Senses

Keep your senses on alert for noticing colors, sounds, textures, and aromas. Chew thoroughly and enjoy every bite. You can put your utensils down between bites, because you’re not in a hurry, either.

Listen To Your Hunger Cues

Listen to your body telling you that it’s full. Stop when you get to that point, and don’t stuff yourself further. This can help prevent overeating and feeling poorly later. This is helpful to consider when you’re reaching for snacks when you’re not truly hungry but are perhaps bored or stressed.

Practice Gratitude

We have so much to be grateful for, like fresh ingredients to make nutritious meals for ourselves and our loved ones. Practicing gratitude can help boost our appreciation levels.

Now that you’re equipped with how to eat mindfully, when will you start?

As you start your mindful eating journey, consider starting with great ingredients like Primo’s olive oils, Primo’s balsamic vinegar, and Primo’s pantry staples.

Related Reading: Find easy-to-make recipes here.

To your health!