What is mindful eating and why you need it
What is mindful eating and why you need it
Anonim

Listen to yourself to get real pleasure from food and eat as much as your body needs.

What is mindful eating and why you need it
What is mindful eating and why you need it

Journalist Claire Gillespie spoke about how to change your attitude towards food and why it is needed.

I have been addicted to awareness for a long time. Every week I can be found doing yoga in the downward dog pose. Mindfulness for me is a normal topic of conversation with friends over a cup of coffee. I even breathe alternately with different nostrils when I'm nervous. But I only recently began to apply it to nutrition.

I used to refuse dishes that I wanted to eat, considering them harmful. I ate when I was bored, sad, or lonely. I ate everything on my plate out of courtesy, not because I was hungry.

In other words, I relied on external cues and confusing cultural norms in my handling of food. This is terribly tiring. But things could be different. Imagine that you have forgotten all the rules of good nutrition and decide what to eat based only on your feelings. Imagine enjoying every bite of your meal without distraction. This is mindful eating.

The key to this approach is to focus on the eating process and notice how the food looks, smells, and feels in the mouth. And also more flexible approach to nutrition and not divide food into "bad" and "good".

Mindful eating involves the inclusion of all senses while eating. And to understand what and when to eat, listen to your inner signals - hunger and satiety.

Having started to eat consciously, many people note that they have stopped overeating or eating out of boredom. Nutritionist Rebecca Scritchfield has seen this happen with many clients. “It teaches you to notice when it's time to stop,” she explains. "Not when you should stop eating, but when you feel like it." While it may help some people lose weight, mindful eating is not about losing weight. Those who have restricted their calorie intake may even gain weight by listening to the body's needs.

“Diets are very tough. For example, no sugar,”says Susan Albers, clinical psychologist and author of Eating Mindfully. - Mindful eating helps to be flexible. You can afford a slice of cake and deliberately enjoy it. And then you don't want too much."

Of course, it will not always be possible to fit such an approach into life. It's okay if you can't concentrate on every bite of food at a noisy family dinner or business lunch. Sometimes you even have to eat in front of your computer at work. On such days, the main thing is to eat slowly, chew thoroughly and monitor your body.

Adjust mindful eating for yourself.

Don't make it just another set of hard-and-fast rules. Otherwise, you will experience stress and blame yourself, forgetting about the urge to eat consciously. It will only hurt. In mindful eating, the main thing is not to rush. Here everything is just like with the downward-facing dog pose - it takes time to learn. But once you try it, you will not be disappointed.

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