For those who have been to the office, you know that there is always a jelly bean or a snack. I do this as I know therapy takes energy and sometimes we may not all have eaten before a session or may not have a chance afterwards.
We all have our food stories and our food preferences. Sometimes stress and anxiety makes us reach for the biscuits or chips or perhaps the last thing we think about is food when our sympathetic nervous system is on alert and our digestive system is hibernating.
Whatever your version, mindful eating is a way to truly understand if we want to or need to eat and to be consciously aware of what we eat, from a sensory and connected perspective.
Let me make some sense of that for you….. it’s in between meetings or you’ve just walked in the door after running errands, you go straight to the fridge or grab your usual snack from the cupboard. But are you actually hungry? Have you stopped to consider whether you are hungry or just trying to switch off with a distraction or a “reward”?
Stop for a millisecond, breathe and check in with your body; what does it need? It may be food or it may be just to pause for a moment and reset after your activity.
Put simply:
- Does your body need or want food?
- What sort of food?
- Prepare it- Wash it, cut it, put it in a bowl, add a little something to it?
- Where will you eat it? Your favourite chair, outside, standing?
- Explore the food-
- How does it smell? Allow your olfactory senses to take it all in.
- What does it feel like- in your hands, as you cut it?
- What does it look like- bright, mottled?
- Can you hear it? Does it make any sound or what’s the packaging sound?
- And finally what does it taste like? Really taste it!
You may start this process with just an apple and move up to your evening meal, but each time you practice mindful eating you are creating a new healthy habit.
Mindful eating is not about what you eat, it is about how you eat….so next time you are sitting in front of the tv or scrolling as you gobble up the evening meal, consider a simple stop, pause and reset and practice mindful eating, even for just a minute or two.
There are a number of Mindful Eating tips and tricks as well as meditations on line. Headspace is a good place to start.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIX7RphOtG0
https://www.headspace.com/mindfulness/mindful-eating
I also like this Mindful Eating Script written by Christine Milovani, LCSW and accessed through the US Veterans website. See what you think.
https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/docs/Script-Mindful-Eating.pdf