Mindful Eating

This is part one of a series on mindful living. Mindfulness is more popular than ever, which is a wonderfully extraordinary thing, considering that the word ‘Mindful’ does not sound sexy or exciting at all! This must mean that there is a real desire to go past the superficial layer of life, and to honour our true state of being, with respect and kindness. How wonderful and powerful that is.

In this series, I want to address how mindfulness can help us become more aware of unconscious habits that may not be serving our highest intentions, and how we can healthily transform them. Shining the light of awareness on how we live our lives requires courage and kindness together, and I hope to provide tools for all of that.

The term Mindful comes out of eastern philosophy, and the word ‘Mind’ is meant to describe the heart and mind together. Mindful is also embodied – meaning that we are aware of the ‘feeling experience’ of our bodies from the inside out. So, when we are mindful, it is far from being just a mental experience, but rather it is a wholistic experience of emotion, sensation & consciousness together. For this reason, another term that is often used in place of Mindfulness is ‘Loving awareness’. Respect and love for oneself is at the base of mindfulness, and from that place, we can observe ourselves and our habits, from a less judgemental place, and kindly guide ourselves towards a more profound sense of health and wellbeing.

Mindfulness is often described as living in the present moment, but it is much more than that. I would say that an easy way to know that we are being mindful, is that we are not lost. We are not lost in memories, regrets, and grudges of the past, nor in expectations, fears, and fantasies for the future.

But nor are we lost in the present moment.

While we notice and honour our feelings, we do not lose ourselves in our anger, our impatience, our despair, or in our craving for more. We observe our patterns of thinking – our opinions, our worries, our problem solving – without becoming overwhelmed by them. When we are mindful, we relax in the eye of the storm, which is the present moment, able to feel our feelings, and think our thoughts, but we do not get carried away by them. And because of the heart quality of mindfulness, we view our experience through the lens of compassion and empathy, and instead of being quick to judge ourselves or our behaviour as bad, we relax, observe, and almost like a kind parent for it’s child, we take care of ourselves.

So what does this have to do with eating?

Most people I know want to improve their relationship with food and eating. While this intention is quite wonderful and healthy, if it comes from a place of judgement, instead of from self-love, it is doubtful that any changes will be long lasting. While observation and discipline are involved  in changing or improving any long held habit, we know that sheer willpower does not work in the long term. The basis of making our relationship with food and eating more mindful has to be self love and self respect. This is no small task, especially in a culture of consumerism that promotes low self esteem in order to keep us buying ‘happiness’, but if we can make the practice itself about developing self love and self respect, through the practice, then the changes that we make to our food and eating habits can be a happy bonus.   

I know many people who will go to the moon and back for someone else, but not for themselves. They know that self care is important, and yet something in their unconscious does not let them take the time to shop for good food, prepare it, and enjoy it, and so at the end of a day of taking care of others, or of working at their job (essentially to ‘earn’ their value as a human being) they eat a bag of crackers and a jar of pickles. Of course it can be too much to shop for and prepare fresh, healthy food every day, but maybe we can pick one day a week to do it, and we can savour that experience. Every time we make a healthy choice for ourselves, even if it’s only once in a while, it is a courageous act of self love and self respect. Enjoy that moment. 

Mindfulness is developed bit by bit, over time. The practice is simple: throughout the day, and throughout the week, we take little moments to pause and notice what, and how, we are thinking, feeling, and sensing. That’s it. For example: it’s late at night, and just before we go on auto pilot to the kitchen in search of some type of salty, sugary, or processed food, we pause, and notice how we are feeling. And maybe we notice that in fact we are tired, and not actually hungry. Maybe we go for the potato chips anyway, and stay up another few hours in front of a screen. That’s a perfect first step. If we can stay with the practice of checking in, then maybe next time we will still go for the chips, but fewer, and maybe we will go to sleep 5 minutes earlier. And maybe the next time it will be 10 minutes. The point is to not judge harshly what we do or don’t do, or feel bad about ourselves. The point is to just keep practicing with kindness, and notice how it affects our choices over time. Some days may be a disaster, other days may be more successful, but we keep at it. This is the practice of self love in action.

I do want to state a few very practical habits that we can slowly bring  into our lives, bit by bit,  to help us take good care of ourselves, make better food choices, and help our metabolism find a better balance.

1.     Getting good rest/sleep. We are increasingly sleep deprived, especially when it’s possible to work from home around the clock, and with social media newsfeeds and netflix programs available 24/7. Lack of sleep not only lowers the metabolism, it affects the hormones that control hunger and satiety (the feeling of being full or ‘satiated’) in the exact OPPOSITE way that we want: we don’t recognize the feeling of ‘fullness’, when we are full, and we feel hungry when really we just need to rest! We make bad food choices for quick energy (sugary, processed & fast food). The practice is to notice, with kindness, if this is a pattern, and to set the aspiration to transform this. Do this kindly – we do not need to add more stress onto our already stressful lives. Set the intention to notice when tiredness has arrived, and instead of ignoring the ‘tired signal’, to listen (I also advocate for short naps to recharge throughout the day – like 20 minutes).

2.     Hydrating. The hypothalamus in the brain controls BOTH hunger and thirst, so sometimes it gets confused and we think that we are hungry when really we are thirsty. The practice is to find out what kind of non-caffeinated, low-sugar, non-processed liquid you enjoy, and have it always available.  Perhaps putting lemon, or watermelon, or cucumber in water inspires better drinking. Perhaps you are more compliant if there is a small amount of flavour or sugar in your water – start there. Perhaps herbal tea works best. Take small steps in the right direction.  Also, drink plenty of your favourite liquid first thing in the morning to get a good start to the day.

3.     Eat slowly. Mindful eating is win-win. Not only do we get to enjoy the food much more, but we tend to eat less of it. We notice when we are full, instead of being distracted and really not noticing anything until we are stuffed. It usually takes 20 minutes for the feeling of fullness to register into our awareness. Eating in the company of others helps with this, where we can enjoy conversation, and share in the deliciousness of the food. If this is not possible, try to avoid eating in front of a screen, where we can get lost in the virtual world, and not notice what we are putting into our mouths. Even taking a few bites of each meal with mindfulness will slowly but surely have an effect.

4.     Respect the power of stress on our food choices and on our metabolism. When we are in fight or flight mode (stress mode), the brain creates a signal that we need to load up on high energy food as fuel for the emergency. With chronic stress, although there is no emergency, the hungry feeling is still there. While we are not in control of all the factors in our lives that contribute to our stress levels, we can control how we respond to stress. Making our home as tranquil as possible, sharing time with dear ones, spending time in nature – these are only a few of the many ways we can de-stress. Implementing a few favorite de-stressing strategies will not only improve our mental health, it will help us make better food choices, and help stabilize our metabolism.

5.     Similar to stress, when we are anxious, we can almost feel that we are levitating off the ground, and so we may reach for comfort food to literally help us feel more grounded. Anxiety can cause us to feel butterflies in our stomachs, and so we self-soothe with food. It is a temporary remedy. The mindful practice can be to notice how we are feeling throughout the day, and when we recognize anxiety, to tend to it with some of the things mentioned above: rest, time in nature, a good visit with friends, or with just simple, mindful breathing for a few minutes. Therapy is also a very powerful tool that we should always consider, especially if anxiety is disrupting our lives, sleep, diet, or work life. Here is a short mindful body scan practice to settle deeper into the present moment.

6. When we crave comfort food, sometimes what we really want is comfort. The need for pleasure, sweetness, and comfort is innate in us, and food can be an easy way to receive it. A longing for love can often be felt as a chocolate craving, and simple, high carbohydrate comfort food, like pasta can have a sentimental or nostalgic quality. It is worthwhile to investigate our food cravings, and to use them as a sign that we are potentially lacking in some area of self -nurturing. Explore ways to satisfy that need for pleasure in other ways. A hot bath, going for a massage, stretching, or even just curling up in bed with a good book can be ways that we can feel good, relaxed, and connected to the sweetness of life.

7.     Set intentions for the day and the week, and then review them, with kindness. While mindfulness encourages staying in the present moment, setting intentions is also a very valuable practice. Setting realistic goals and expectations for the day and the week is the first step to reaching our goals. For example, first thing in the morning I look at my day, and if I see that I need to shop for groceries, and then take time to prepare some meals, I have to be realistic about what else I can accomplish that day. I set priorities for each day and for each week, and at the end I review, with much kindness, what changes need to be made for next time, in order to take good care of this creature I call ‘me’.

8.     Community: There are many groups designed to help participants stay on track with their health goals. Being part of a group can be inspiring and uplifting – we don’t have to feel like we are working all alone on our transformation. The relationship with a personal trainer, coach, or therapist is also specifically set up to support us in looking at our long held habits, and creating strategies to slowly but surely evolve them. A supportive community is worth its weight in gold.

Practicing mindfulness will not only help us achieve our health goals, but will help us feel more at home in our bodies, our minds, and in our lives. I will again emphasize that we do this in tiny moments throughout the day, from a basis of self love and self respect, and we treat it all as practice. The inner strength that we gain just by practicing, regardless of the results, is invaluable.