7 Tips to Help You Become a Mindful Eater
Would you say that you are a mindful eater?
Eating mindfully is the ability to be aware of what you put in your mouth when you put it in there, and in some cases why you eat when you do. It is about building healthy eating habits that one can sustain for a lifetime to improve their well-being.
Emotional eating when one is under any type of stress is not a good thing.
These people pay no attention to what they put in their mouths; they just know they need something to go in there to help them destress, like comfort food. However, if they were more mindful eaters, they would change such behavior. They would choose foods that are healthy and beneficial to their overall well-being.
7 Tips to Help You Become A More Mindful Eater
1) Prepare Meals at home
a) Make meals at home helps to control what goes in your family's body. You are in control of what you allow in your kitchen. You can make sure to keep processed foods out and healthy foods inside. You can eat slowly savor every bite of the food you consume. Eating slowly helps the digestive system work optimally and makes the food more enjoyable.
b) When you become full, stop eating and start packing it up. It is O.K to have left overs for later in the week, there is no need to overeat or stuff yourself.
2) Consume fiber every day
a) Make sure to consume more than 25 grams of fiber every day to keep the GI tract and internal channels running optimally.
b) The more fiber you intake, the less constipation you will have. A fiber-filled diet helps keep your pipes clean and disease away.
Fiber may also help one maintain or lose excess weight.
3) Eat organic whenever possible.
a) Eating foods that are free of most synthetic additives like pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and dyes, as well as GMOs, industrial solvents, and irradiation.
4) Avoid processed foods and sugars
a) Processed foods and sweeteners with added sugars that fall in this category often cause excess inflammation in the body. Avoid them as much as possible.
5) Watch out for emotionally eating during stressful times
a) Eating during times of worry, grief, or any stressful situation tends to have people overeat. They tend to eat even when they are not even hungry. However, finding ways to cope is essential to one's overall health. Going for a walk, screaming into a pillow, squeezing a massage ball are a few ways to cope during these times.
6) Beware of fat intake
a) Select more unsaturated fat sources such as avocado, nuts, seeds, salmon, sardines, trout, and halibut and try to limit the use of saturated-fat consumption from land animals, dairy, fried foods, and baked goods which are high in unhealthy fats.
7) Be Mindful of the time you eat
a) The time of day you eat may impact your overall mood. Tracking the time you eat can explain mood swings. , In addition, watch how various foods affect your energy level. Do you feel sluggish after eating a certain meal or a certain time of the day?
Mindful eating is not very hard to do; one has to want to be more aware of their thoughts, emotions, and temperaments before indulging in certain foods. People must be more cognizant of the foods they surround themselves with during times of stress. Hence, they must decide if they will go processed or not, organic or not, plant-based or not, etc.
Are you ready to be a more mindful eater? If so, contact one of our health and wellness coaches to help you on your well-being journey.