10 Steps To Mindful Eating
Obesity is a growing cause of concern in the world, especially in children and younger adults. Obesity can be defined as a chronic disease caused by excessive fat gain which increases the risks of other physical health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, digestive problems, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and in severe cases death. There is no cure but making dietary or lifestyle changes helps to regulate your weight which helps to prevent its complications. Log on to https://bariatricbrooklyn.com/ to know more about weight loss.
Many people fail to manage their weight due to a lack of motivation, but still, some people successfully lose weight by following weight management plans and changing eating habits. Eating habits can make quite a difference in the way you eat and what you eat. This allows you to eat less and effectively manage your weight by improving digestion, reducing stress, and making healthy eating choices.
In this article, we talk about mindful eating habits, how effective this exercise is, and its steps.
What is mindful eating?
In today’s world, we don’t enjoy our meals without getting distracted. We eat mindlessly while watching TV, laptops, or smartphones without caring whether we are hungry or not. This not only leads to overeating or binge eating but also causes digestive problems as well.
Mindful eating eliminates all these things because during this exercise we focus on what we eat and feel its taste, texture, and color. It changes our eating choices and makes us eat enough that will satisfy our hunger. It also extends to the process where you must buy, prepare, and serve your food yourself to connect yourself with the food you consume. It also changes your feelings, thoughts, and body sensations when you follow this exercise.
By practicing mindful eating, people can lose weight more quickly. As it connects your mind and body with the food you eat. Even researchers believe that people who follow mindful eating don’t need to count their calories as the diet they follow allows them to only eat that many calories which is enough to satisfy their hunger to reach fullness.
So, mindful eating helps to lose weight, improve well-being, and make it easy for you to make better dietary habits.
Steps to mindful eating
- Start with a shopping list: Buying your food yourself allows you to choose the best food item. Fill your cart with healthy fruits and vegetables and avoid processed foods that are easily found at the check-out counter.
- Employ your senses: Increase your awareness by focusing on the food when you buy, cook, or eat it. It takes time to develop this habit, so start by doing it for only one meal at a time.
- Come to the table with an appetite: You should eat because you feel hungry, not bored or looking for a stress release. Your priority is to enjoy your food, and not to fill the void created by emotional/physical stress.
- Take a few moments to pause before eating: This will allow you to clear your mind of all the distractions and tension you carry. After doing that, you can concentrate on your eating and enjoy your meal.
- Start with one meal: It is not easy to apply all the steps at once so start with one meal or limit the size of the plate to nine inches or less so that you can easily apply the exercise.
- Avoid distractions: Mindful eating is only possible when you avoid all your distractions and eat in silence to concentrate on your eating.
- Chew properly and thoroughly: Chew your food properly and thoroughly until the food becomes liquid before swallowing. This way food becomes easy to digest and prevents digestive problems.
- Eat in small bites: To avoid mouthfuls, eat slowly and take small bites of food.
- Concentrate on your eating: When you take a bite of your meal feel its taste, texture, crunch, creaminess, color, etc. Take your time to enjoy your meal and experience every bite. Note its ingredients and all the different flavors. Take your time, don’t rush things.
- Show Gratitude: After finishing your meal, thank God/Universe for providing you with such a tasty meal. Also thank the plants, animals, and people who bring the food to your plate. This will make you wiser and allow you to make healthy food choices.
Mindful eating is greatly beneficial, especially for people who are overweight and have obesity problems. This improves their digestion, reduces stress, increases satisfaction, and makes healthier food choices. All these benefits lead to weight loss. Make sure to follow all the steps of mindful eating properly with your weight management plan to see the best results.
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