Mindful eating
First of all, be kind to yourself, if this was easy, it wouldn’t be such a widespread, worsening, health problem. The modern lifestyle is not encouraging of the habits necessary for making positive healthy changes to our metabolic health.
Our lives frequently rely on multitasking to keep ahead of all of our responsibilities. In contrast, mindfulness requires that we focus on the present moment. Only in settling our thoughts and focusing on our feelings and bodily sensations can we identify the habits that are holding us back from our health goals.
Meal prepping.
Mindful eating starts before we even step foot in the kitchen. The first step is having a plan. We have previously discussed different eating plans and focusing on whole, less-processed foods. Go check out the What to Eat blog first if you haven’t already. Create a grocery list with this plan in mind. The general advice at the grocery store is to stay out of the middle isles. Most of the whole vegetables, dairy, meats are along the outer walls. Of course there will be some exceptions to this. Beware ‘health food’ isles as these often contain highly processed products with loose health claims that can be misleading. Always go with a list and never go hungry. When you do buy products in a package, be sure to review the nutrition label and ingredient list. Reading nutrition labels will be a blog of its own.
Determine if you are meal planning for the week, or if you are preparing your meal for immediate consumption. Picking one day a week, like Sunday afternoon, to cook in bulk and portion out day-to-day servings can make it easy to grab and go during a busy week. This was a very common practice for medical students, and many of us continue this practice as physicians.
Cooking your meal.
When you start cooking, focus on the sight and smell of the ingredients. Pay attention to your emotional and physical responses to this food. The cephalic phase of digestion has begun and you may notice increased salvation. Your body will also begin creating gastric secretions and you may feel the response of your stomach ‘growling’. Tasting your food while cooking is often a necessary part of the process, but be especially mindful that you are not engaging in anything beyond a small taste test to adjust seasoning and determine doneness. Mindlessly snacking while cooking can be a slippery slope adding on more calories than we realize.
Before eating, always ask yourself if you are hungry. It can be easy to find ourselves over consuming because we eat for reasons other than hunger. Are you actually thirsty, bored, tired, stressed, lonely, procrastinating or just wanting a reward? Look for cues of hunger like stomach growling, fatigue, crankiness, ‘hanger’. Is it logically an appropriate time to eat for fuel based on when you last consumed a meal and on how active you have been?
Ask yourself if you are willing to eat something boring like an apple or plain dry chicken breast? If you would rather not, then you might not actually be hungry. If this is the case, then what could solve the problem? Drink some water and distract yourself for 20 minutes by reading, call a friend, go for a walk, complete a chore. If you are still hungry, then go ahead and eat. It is okay to be boring. Eating the same foods on a regular basis can make it easier to track your food. It can also be helpful to see food as fuel. I often hear the recommendation to eat healthy 80-90% of the time and to allow the other 10-20% to be for fun and enjoyment. If you eat three times a day this would mean that up to four meals a week could be geared more toward enjoyment. This typically helps keep you on tract without being too restrictive. However, be aware that just a few large unrestricted meals on the weekend can be enough to sabotage your efforts during the week.
Meal time.
When it comes to eating your meal there are a few things to consider. Eliminate distractions by turning off the TV, put away your phone, stop working. When possible, sit at a table or other dedicated eating space. Eating with friends or family to enjoy a social experience of eating is actually an appropriate distraction and can naturally slow down eating and encourage eating cues, while improving your relationship with food (this doesn’t mean eating chicken wings and pizza with friends is now health 😉).
Put your food on a smaller plate or bowl. Don’t eat directly from a larger bag or container as this makes it impossible to portion out your food for awareness of how much you are eating. While eating take your time and enjoy each bite. Focus on the sight, taste, sound, smell, touch and your associated feelings and thoughts. After eating what you feel was an appropriate amount of food reassess how your body is feeling. If you think you are still hungry take 20 minutes before getting the next plate. It can take that long for the stretch of your stomach to provide feedback to your brain that you are full. Forget the clean plate club and don’t worry about waste. You can save food for later. I try to put a few portions of my meal prep in the freezer right from the beginning to limit food waste. If food goes bad, is unappealing, or no longer serves your body as fuel, it is ok to throw it away. Your body is not a garbage can.
Hunger/Fullness scale.
Think about your hunger and fullness on a scale from 1 - could eat anything famished - to 10 - so full you feel sick. Aim for staying between a 4 -starting to think about eating- and 6 -I could eat more, but am satisfied and don’t want to. Avoid getting too hungry because it can lead to poorer choices and over eating. Also avoid eating until you are uncomfortable as this means you are likely consuming more calories than your body needs as fuel. Repeated calorie surplus leads to weight gain. Mindfulness eating will help you determine your area on the scale. This can take practice and please don’t expect to be perfect. Creating a food log and adding a few comments about how you are feeling can help.
Trigger foods.
Because none of us live in a vacuum, you can find yourself exposed to trigger foods or away from home when hunger hits. Some foods are designed to be hard to resist or stop eating (chips, cookies, etc). Improve your chances at work by keeping healthy foods on hand. Bring a small bag of ready-to-eat fruits or vegetables that you washed, cut, and portioned out with meal prepping so that you always have a healthy snack option. A small bag of nuts and seeds or a hardboiled egg can also work. Sometimes protein bars and shakes can be a balanced, filling option. A lot of people learn to use food as a way to show support and can unintentionally make you feel guilty about turning down their offer. Acknowledge this feeling and know that it is not your responsibility to do what is against your own self-interest and metabolic health to make someone else feel validated. It does get easier to turn down office snacks the more you do this and your coworkers will learn to stop asking. They may even start bringing healthier options. Everyone is on their own journey. What are your triggering foods?
What about late-night snacking? This is a common time to find yourself making poorer choices and overeating. Are you eating enough protein and fiber during the day? Helpful tips include drinking a sparking water or tea instead of going to food, choose a specific end time for eating, brush your teeth after dinner, limit alcohol, don’t eat in front of the tv, and put away food after dinner so there are no desirable snacks sitting out as a temptation.
There is no right or wrong way to eat. Everyone will have their own varying awareness and experiences with food. Accept that your experiences are unique. Every meal is a new opportunity to enhance your awareness and relationship with food. Focus on your own metabolic goals and let go of judgments about certain foods and instead focus on how you feel.
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