Mindful eating techniques and how it can help you

By Bio Island Nutrition Team

Mindful eating is about reaching a state of full attention to your experiences, cravings and physical cues when eating. It includes techniques that help you gain control over your eating habits. By implementing mindful eating, it has shown to promote sustainable weight loss, reduce binge eating and help you feel better.

Mindful eating is all about paying attention to your body and when those hunger signals start. When our bodies have burned up all the food in our bellies, our blood sugar levels start to drop. Our stomachs then secrete a hormone called ghrelin. Ghrelin is in charge of sending signals to our brain to indicate when we are hungry and also helps stimulate our appetite. Once we’ve eaten and our bellies are full, we then release a hormone called leptin which sends a signal to the brain to let us know our bellies are full again. The only glitch with this hormone is that it can take 20 minutes before that message is received.

This is why when we sometimes eat on autopilot, we don’t seem to register that we are full until it’s too late. This can then lead to indigestion, reflux, bloating and long terms affects can include binge eating, and obesity. So, this is where mindfulness comes into play as it allows us to focus on our meal, so we then get a chance to register when our tummies are full and educate ourselves on portion sizes and what is right for our bodies.

Key mindful eating techniques include;

• Eating slowly and chewing thoroughly without distraction. By paying attention to how we chew and eat our food, we then make it easier on our stomachs to digestion the food, as they are not working as hard to break it down.
  
  
• Making sure we listen to when our body is hungry and only eating until you are full. Often when we are distracted it is harder to listen to our body’s signals and continue to eat until we are about to pop. So, distinguishing between true hunger and non-hunger triggers when going to eat. This means eliminating distraction by turning off the tv and putting down your phone and enjoying your meal outside in the sun or with a friend or family member.
  
  
• Appreciating your food such as engaging your sense by noticing colours, smells, sounds, textures and flavour are going to make you more excited about mealtime and slow down to take it all in.
  
  
• Acknowledging guilt and anxiety related to food, rather than just eating when we get emotional signals, which can differ for each person, but can present as stress, sadness, frustration, loneliness or even just boredom. Once we acknowledge these feelings we can then eat when our bodies are hunger and not our minds.
  
  
• Eating to maintain overall health and well-being as we practice eating healthier and a greater variety food, we are less inclined to binge on our comfort foods, and more inclined to enjoy healthy foods, ultimately finding many foods mentally and physically satisfying as opposed to just a few.

This information does not take into account your personal situation and is general in nature. You should consider whether the information is appropriate for your needs and seek professional medical advice.

Always consult your healthcare professional before taking any supplements or if any concerns arise.