Crystal Pace Research shows mindful eating may help us cut back on portions, limit stress eating, realize when we feel full, and stop eating when we are no longer hungry. It can help us slow down our eating pace, which can assist with balancing energy consumption. Practicing mindful eating can even help us digest foods better!
Think about the last time you ate in front of your computer, while on your phone, while reading, or during watching TV. How simple was it to eat an entire meal or snack without even realizing it? Mindful eating is all about being conscious of our eating experience. Mindful eating will help you tune into your hunger and fullness levels when eating, gain more satisfaction from your food, and overall enjoy your food more.
Eating For Emotions
Emotional eating is a normal part of the human eating experience. You are not “bad” for eating for emotional reasons; we all do! During this stressful time we may find ourselves eating more frequently to soothe our “emotional hunger” than before.
The key is finding other ways to cope with emotions without always turning to food. Also, we must learn to practice self-compassion when we eat for emotional reasons versus wallowing in feelings of guilt, shame, and failure. It is important to keep in mind eating won’t fix any of these feelings. It may help comfort us for the short term, distract us from the pain, or even numb us. At the end of the day food won’t solve the problem, though. It may only make you feel worse in the long run and you’ll ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion.
Below you will find some tips to practice eating more mindfully.
Tips for Mindful Eating:
- Check in during the eating experience to assess: taste, hunger, fullness, satisfaction levels.
- Eat without distractions, when possible
- Adequately chew your food
- Slow down your eating pace during meals
- Focus on how you feel when you’re eating
- Make space in your schedule for mealtime as an activity, when possible, to avoid being distracted while eating and allow adequate time to eat
Try Our Mindful Eating Exercise
Try the Anticancer Lifestyle Program guided mindful eating exercise to help you get started.
To sign up with Crystal for 1:1 coaching, please feel free to contact her or any of our other Anticancer Lifestyle Health Approved Coaches.
