Mindful Eating: Why It’s Important

There are several methods out there for helping to eat more healthy, lose weight and the like. However, one concept that is easy to adapt to your lifestyle is mindful eating.

What is mindful eating?

Mindful eating is where you are aware of every bite that goes into your mouth. It is defined as savoring the food that you eat, resulting in smaller portions and eating more slowly, which aids in digestion.

The idea is that you are fully aware of every bite that you take. Those who use mindful eating often even take this a step further by ensuring that they are paying attention to the preparation, buying and serving of this food.

Mindful eating tips

There are several tips that can help you to adopt mindful eating into your lifestyle. Here are many that can help you to get started:

1. Reflect on how you are feeling as you are eating. Are you eating because you are truly hungry or are just eating because there is food around? It is believe that if you reflect on why you are eating that you can cut down on a lot of calories because you may be eating just because others are.
2. Be sure that you practice portion control. You will find that this can be challenging, especially during the holidays. One tip is to pick a smaller plate so that you cannot fit as much on the plate, which is a great way to manage the intake.
3. Slow down your eating, and chew more thoroughly. It is recommended that you chew each bite at least 30 times. This is not only to help you enjoy your food but it also helps you to feel full when you are actually full. Instead of getting that overly full feeling that happens when you eat too much, too fast.
4. Don’t abide by the finish your plate rule. Too many people think that they have to clean their plate and this results in overeating. Instead, with mindful eating you are going to find that you are paying attention with every bite, which may result in not eating everything that is on your plate.
5. Don’t eat on the go, as this is going to make it harder for you to really pay attention to each bite. Sit down, and try to avoid eating while watching a screen, as this too will affect your ability to mindfully eat.