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Using mindfulness to curb overeating, restrict emotional eating, and promote a healthier relationship with food.
When looking for sustained weight loss results, how you eat can be just as important as what you eat. Mindful eating for sustainable weight loss is an effective strategy that helps you to promote a healthier relationship with food, limit overeating, and become more aware of your body’s hunger signals.
What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is about putting your full attention on your food: how it smells, tastes, looks and how it makes you feel. It encourages you to eat slowly and without distractions, being present in that moment. Instead of thinking food choices are automatic, when eating mindfully you consider when, what, and how much you will eat.
How Mindful Eating Supports Weight Loss
- Lessens Overeating
Eating at a moderate pace and focusing on your food helps your body communicate with your brain when it feels full and reduce excess calories consumed.
- Decreases Emotional Eating
Mindfulness helps you notice emotional triggers behind unnecessary eating, like stress, boredom, or feeling sad. When you recognize your emotional triggers, you can choose healthier coping strategies.
- Enhances Digestion and Fulfillment
When you eat mindfully, you not only enjoy your food better but your digestion is often improved because you’ll feel satisfied losing the high-volume eating you may be accustomed to.
- Recodes Feeding Habits
Mindful eating helps you move away from unhealthy feeding patterns like eating while watching television or using food to reward yourself. Mindful eating will help you with the continued practice of a consistent and healthier eating lifestyle.
Basic Tips for Eating Mindfully Take time to eat
- without distractions– Turn the television off, set your phone away and focus on your meal.
- Chew slowly– Enjoy the flavor, texture, and smell of food.
- Listen to your body– Eat only when you are hungry and stop once you are comfortably full.
- Pay attention to emotional cues– Be mindful of when you feel hungry or if you are just feeling something else.
- Be thankful for your food– Pause for a moment and reflect on your food.
The Summary
Mindful eating for sustainable weight loss does not entail being on a strict diet or cutting out your enjoyable foods. It is about being more aware of your eating habits and making conscious decisions. By having the courage to slow down and pay attention, you can be supportive of weight loss as well as fostering a healthier and more pleasurable relationship with food.
