Tips for More Mindful Eating

Have you ever eaten until you are so crazy stuffed that you swear you’ll never eat again? Ever found yourself at the bottom of a bag of chips or popcorn and wonder how the heck you polished it off without even tasting it? Yeah, me neither! Kidding! This blog will walk you through a practice of mindful eating that was created by Dr. Michelle May, MD and author. Once you’ve practiced this exercise regularly, you will begin to understand how the eating experience can be even more pleasurable and you will want to continue it with every bite. 

First, take a deep breath. As you breathe deeply, scan your body. Place your fist on your upper abdomen.  Notice if you’re hungry. Rate yourself from 1-10 on a hunger scale: 1 is famished, 10 is stuffed, 5 is neutral. 

If you’re ready to eat, decide what to eat. What are you in the mood for? What do you crave? What does your body need? What do you have? Then, set an intention for where you want your hunger/fullness number to be after you’ve eaten. This will help you decide how much food you think you need to reach your intended level of fullness.

Once you are ready to begin eating, here are the tips to follow for eating more mindfully:

Create a pleasant environment when eating. Sit at a table. Minimize distractions. Designate your table as a “tech-free.” Eating is often a social activity, but consciously choose to alternate your attention between your company and your meal. 

Center yourself and take a few breaths. Are you feeling anxious, excited, or any other emotion that may affect how you eat? Stress and anxiety often cause us to eat too quickly. Postpone eating until you feel calm. 

Look at your food and appreciate the colors, aromas and textures. Pause for gratitude for those who got this food to your table. Appreciate the nourishment and enjoyment it provides.

Visually determine ahead of time how much food on the plate you think you will need to feel satisfied, then move or remove the excess. 

Divide the remaining food in half to create a “speed bump.” This is where you will pause in the middle of your meal and check back in with yourself. 

Think which bite you want to take first and why. If you typically “save the best for last,” you may not get to really enjoy it because you are actually too full to eat it! Decide what looks the most appetizing and take a bite of that food first.

Prepare a small bite. Big bites get wasted because much of it never touches your taste buds. It gets wasted in your teeth or on the roof of your mouth. 

Pause and take in the aroma of each bite. Your tongue only tastes sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami (savory). Everything else comes from the aroma.

Put your fork down between bites. Remember, we can’t focus on two things like, building a bite and tasting a bite.

At your speedbump, pause for a moment. Take notice of your hunger and fullness level. Look at how much you have left and how much you think you will need to become fully satisfied. Does the food tastes as good as you had hoped it would? If not, stop and choose something else if you can. When you eat food you don’t like, you are not really getting satisfied and can end up eating more- crazy right? Food doesn’t taste as good near the end of the meal.

When you are satisfied, think how you can signal to yourself and others that you are done? You can push your plate away, cover it with a napkin, or leave the table. Be aware of the tendency to keep picking at food on your plate, and nibbling at leftovers while cleaning. Remind yourself you will eat again when you are hungry. 

When you are finished, reassess your hunger and fullness level on the 1-10 scale. Ask yourself how you feel and how you feel compared to when you started eating. If you are close to your intention, give yourself a high five! If not, no big deal, you get to try it again at your next meal.

Follow eating with a pleasant activity. A walk outside, a family game, a book, or some gentle stretching may be nice. This gives you another reason to stop eating. 

Do one more check in about 20-30 minutes later. Ask if you met your fullness intention. Think about how you got to what you’re feeling now. If you overate, consider why and what you could do differently next time. Do NOT feel guilty if you overate. Be gentle with yourself. 

Identify what eating habits may be getting in the way of being mindful when you eat. With practice, mindful eating will become natural. Practice using this cycle to create a more satisfying and pleasurable way of eating.

If you feel like you could use more help around learning practices and developing skills to make you a more intuitive and mindful eater, email dodidarrow@gmail.com to join an Intuitive Eating Health Coaching Program soon!