Three Simple Mindful Eating Practices for Busy Women.

Monks learn to savor each bite, chewing every piece of food until it is fully macerated before swallowing. Taking time to really enjoy the food through all the senses.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the time to savor every meal….I know I don’t.

Understanding that mindful eating helps us connect with our body, actually feeling the fullness cues our body sends us, bringing awareness to how we feel after we eat, and overall benefiting our health.

Approaching forty, my body has changed how it reacts to food and I have less time some days to concentrate on eating well rounded meals. Having coffee for breakfast is more the norm than sitting down and enjoying a colorful meal. Knowing this, but also being aware that if we change nothing, nothing changes. I wanted to find a way to bring mindfulness to the way I eat.

Being mindful about eating is about bringing awareness to your body and mind.

I had some awareness to how food was effecting my body. Like when you’re about to eat a meal and you know you’re not going to feel well later, but you eat that meal anyway. Dairy is my big trigger, not only do I have digestive issues after eating dairy, my back breaks out, and I’m sluggish the next day. I still eat dairy on occasion, but I’ve changed how I make my decision on how much and when to eat dairy.

When I was only partially mindful about the way food made me feel, I would simply have the thought “this is going to make me feel bad.” That’s it. I would just accept it and eat the meal, regretting it later. Bringing more awareness I started to notice if I truly even enjoyed eating it in the first place, how my body reacts, and what my attitude was towards food.

I started with 3 simple mindful eating practices that I could incorporate into my lifestyle, whether I was eating on the go or having a sit down meal.

Simple Mindful Eating Practice 1

Bring awareness to how the food actually makes you feel while you’re eating it.

Taking a cue from the monks here, try to pay attention to if you even enjoy the food you’re eating. For me ice cream is great for a few bites and then I don’t find joy in it anymore. Knowing this means I can have a couple bites of my daughters ice cream and enjoy it without feeling horrible later. Maybe your body feels just fine eating your favorite food, but guilt kicks in immediately because you don’t consider it healthy and you think it will cause you to gain weight. This is something I struggle with immensely. Sometimes I feel guilt about food while I’m eating it (and a lot more later.) I’m going to do a blog post about guilt around food later, but for now, being aware that food can cause and emotional response is a start.

Bringing awareness to the food while your eating, doesn’t mean you have to chew each piece of food 30 times or savor every morsel. Even noticing how it makes you feel physically and mentally can help bring healthier decisions.

Simple Mindful Eating Practice 2

Get real honest about how your body is handling the food you give it.

Being constantly bloated is not fun. Stomach pains- not fun. Constipation- not fun. All these things are uncomfortable and a message that your body is sending you. Getting real and honest with yourself about how you physically feel hours or even the next day after eating what you usually do, is a wonderful step in the right direction. I get migraines if I eat too much soy and not enough of an array of nutrients. I dealt with my migraines for years, taking medication when they hit and basically not being able to live my life for three days straight. I finally made the connection to what I ate and decided I didn’t want to live like that anymore and made changes.

Ignoring our symptoms or taking things to mask them is not going to solve the root of the problem. Bringing awareness and getting honest with what is happening with your body can lead you to make the right decisions about food.

Simple Mindful Eating Practice 3

Figure out what your attitude towards food is.

We get thrown so much information about food and diets that it can get overwhelming. Are carbs bad? Should I get more protein? Which fats are the good fats? There is contradicting information, there’s things that have been instilled in us since childhood, there’s feelings around food. All of this can lead to a bad attitude about food and anxiety can come with it. Food is supposed to be nourishing and enjoyable. Having too many food rules or being afraid to enjoy some birthday cake is simple not healthy. Discovering how I felt about food and deciding to change my attitude about it, made getting healthier easier. So ask yourself if you have a positive attitude towards food…and if you don’t ask yourself why?

Every body is different. Sometimes the world can make us confused about food and give us a bad attitude towards what we eat. Changing our attitude and deciding to choose food based on how YOU feel and what YOU like can be very freeing.

Navigating food choices has always been difficult for me. Choosing to be more mindful and bringing awareness to my body and mind while eating, helped me understand what was best for me and I make better choices today because of it.

Photo by Clark Douglas on Unsplash