Eating UN-mindfully is akin to stress eating, emotional eating, and even binge eating. This is why many people who exercise regularly cannot seem to lose weight. The top reasons for UN-mindful eating include:
1. Eating too little during the day, waiting until starved, and grabbing the quickest, easiest thing in sight.
2. Eating meals in front of the tv, computer, or while reading.
3. Eating as a distraction for a negative emotion, i.e. boredom, frustration, sadness, anxiety.
4. Eating while drinking alcohol (always impairs judgement).
When you eat mindfully, you tune in to your food. Focusing on what is in front of you will help you understand your hunger level, understand what you want to eat, and help you know when you are full.
Here's a short exercise you can do the next time you sit down to a meal:
1. Prepare your food and spend a little time on presentation. Serve it the way you would a highly respected person, boss, parent, etc.
2. Sit down at a table. Turn off any tv, radio, computer. Push aside any reading material for the moment.
3. If you are with another person, enjoy the conversation while eating as slowly as you can.
4. As you take each bite, chew the food thoroughly. What flavors are present on your tongue? Can you taste the grain, the sugar, the acid? Think about where the food has come from and how it reached your table.
5. About halfway through your meal, determine whether you are still hungry, satisfied, or full. The ideal is to feel satisfied.
6. If you are satisfied but there is still food left on your plate, you can decide what to do. However, DO NOT continue eating if you are truly satisfied. Rather, you can save it for later, give it to someone else (or the dog!), or throw it away.
If you can begin to incorporate this practice into your life, you will likely find that you are satisfied with less food than you thought. And if weight is an issue, following your body's hunger signals more closely will help you reach a desirable weight.
