When you are thankful for everything happening, why not add gratitude to what you eat? As there is a perfect ancient saying, “Like Food Like You,” that means whatever you eat will make up your mind.
Thus infusing appreciation for what we eat is the best thing we can do for ourselves. It all happens with eating mindfully. Mindful eating will help you create a relationship with food and help us understand the very aspect of eating food.
What Is Mindful Eating?
Mindful Eating is the process of being present in what and when you eat. It helps transform your relationship with food by focusing on the how and why of eating. The process of Mindful Eating helps us to develop a relationship with food that will nourish us and will aid us in living a healthy life.
On the whole, it helps us to create an understanding of appreciation of food and every ingredient in that food. Research on Mindful eating shows that it allows us to make healthy choices with long-term benefits.
Steps To Mindful Eating
1. Indulge In Every Step
Mindful eating begins even before the food is cooked. It starts with a thought when you think of cooking. There is always a mental checklist for all the things that happen for you to be able to eat. You will feel instantly connected to the food when you reflect upon the process it takes before it ends up on your plate. Also, you will feel more appreciation once you understand each step.
What you need to do is thank all the people who are involved in the process of your food preparation. During cooking, remember the small miracles that deliver you quality and variety of food. Once you are aware of the efforts behind the meal you will have, you will be filled with enormous appreciation and gratitude.
2. Put Your Heart Into Cooking
Allow your positive energy to overflow in the process of cooking. Pour your heart into cooking and see the tremendous positive energy gets reflected in your food. The step is not about how you eat and how much you eat but how much you are filled with gratitude.
By looking at the food, you will feel all the love and positive energy put into food while preparing it. This will give you a feeling of having food even before eating it.
3. Setting The Dining Environment
Now that you have understood how to infuse positive energy into the food and infuse a feeling of gratitude in yourself let us begin with setting the dining environment.
Find a place where you will feel comfortable eating and can eat full of presence and no distractions. Take care of the lighting, decor, and utensils you eat in. The type of utensil you are using will put a lot of difference; for example, if you are sipping from a mug that you bought for yourself because it brings joy to you. The cup will fill you with more love and happiness.
You can also cook in a cast iron pan to infuse yourself with the Iron. It is safe and has the power to make a person healthy.
4. Actual Eating
If you have a habit of eating alone, commit to eating alone. Eliminate all the things that can cause distraction. Even if you wish to consume the content while eating, then make sure the content contributes to the feeling of gratitude and appreciation. The content should not affect you psychologically; it should help you with digestion.
You can also make your food in your company. Chew your food well, enjoy every bite, and slow your eating rate. Mindful eating will help you understand how much your body needs and signal your brain to stop eating as you are complete.
5. Dedicating The First Ten Bites
If you are not following the above four points, then follow this point, and you will jump into mindful eating. It is a simple yet soulful technique for mindful eating. What you need to do is dedicate the first ten bites of your meal. Just take a mind and remember the person you would love to show gratitude or appreciation to.
In the beginning, start eating ten bites at the normal, bring your mind to someone or something you are grateful for, and dedicate that bite accordingly. The process will allow you to infuse each taste with appreciation.
Daily Practices For Mindful Eating
Engage Your Senses
Analyze the last time you paid attention to what you were eating. Understand when you truly experienced a soulful meal. Block all the hindrances in your path of enjoying your meal. Do not just chew; feel every bite by engaging all your senses.
No Restrictions
Mindful eating is not about dieting or eliminating a few things; it is a framework that helps us to guide conscious food choices. The aim behind mindful eating is to be present while cooking or eating, to truly savour our food without judgment, guilt, or anxiety.
Listen to Your Gut
Understanding what is happening in your stomach and what your gut is trying to say is a new level of awareness. The process takes around twenty minutes; thus, we eat more in a 20-minute window. Once we are complete, a hormone a secreted that signals to the brain that we have enough food and it is time to stop.
Understand what your body needs
Ask a few questions to your body, and you will figure out what your body wants to convey. Here are a few questions you must ask yourself:
How hungry am I?
Am I satisfied halfway through the meal?
Am I enjoying my meals, so simply having them?
Is the portion enough for me?
Am I starving myself from eating something I love?
The idea is to meditate and train your mind according to your body’s needs. Understand what is best for you.
Bring Awareness To the Table
The foundation for mindful eating lies in the awareness of the table—plan what you will have in your next meal. Plan out the grocery list and maintain balanced choices; it will help you to reduce the guilt. Create a balanced and sustainable approach towards food, reeducate yourself, and enjoy the food again.
Wrapping Up
Practicing mindful eating may seem tedious to fit into our busy schedules. But one must understand how mindful eating can completely change our life and benefit us in the future. You can start by slowing down things, listening to your body, and doing one thing at a time. You must understand that making minor changes to your life and give you future benefits you are unaware of.
Try to bring informal mindfulness into your life, and you will be ready for significant changes. Here are a few pointers that will help you to start your journey with Mindful Eating:
- Jot down your plans for mindful eating
- When halfway through the meal, just pause and reflect. Understand what your body is saying.
- While eating, just eat; no need to multitask.
- Reminders are great rescuers and will help you stay conscious.
- No need to hassle; take it slow.
- Keep practicing, and you will master the art of Mindful Eating.
Hope the blog motivates you to become a MINDFUL EATER.