Mindful Eating and Your Relationship with Food

We all have to eat, and for a lot of us that comes with a fair amount of confusion and guilt. Mindful eating can help with that. The idea is simple. You pay attention to what your body is telling you about hunger and fullness, and you notice how you feel about food without beating yourself up over it.

Listen for Hunger

Most of us eat because it’s noon, or because there’s food in front of us. Try checking in with your body instead. Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re comfortably full. That means not eating until you’re stuffed. It also means not making yourself go hungry when you really do need to eat.

Notice Without Judging

This part is harder. When thoughts or feelings about food come up, try to just notice them. You don’t have to argue with them or scold yourself. Over time you’ll start to see your patterns, like the times of day or the moods that send you to the pantry, and once you can see them it gets a lot easier to be kind to yourself about them.

A Few Things to Try

• Eat without the TV on or your phone in your hand.
• Slow down and actually taste your food.
• Keep checking in with your body while you eat, and stop when you’re comfortably full.

There aren’t any strict rules here, and you don’t have to cut anything out. If you end up eating lunch in front of your laptop tomorrow, fine. Try again at dinner.