Mindful eating

To me, being fully recovered will be when I can comfortabely eat mindfully or intuitively while staying healthy. I found the following article on the Recovery Warriors website and thought I would post it for you all to read as it explains the basics of mindful eating well.

Just out of curiosity, is being able to eat mindfully a goal most people recovering from Anorexia have or do some of you have other recovery plans?




BY CAITLIN GAYNOR MIND JULY 29, 2015

THE POWER OF MINDFUL EATING


According to Oxford Dictionary, mindfulness is “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations.”

Dr. Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, states that the average person makes around 250 decisions about food every day. However, most of the decisions we make, we cannot explain.

How does mindfulness relate to eating?

Mindful eating is an increased awareness of eating choices and their effect on hunger/fullness rather than calorie content. It requires asking questions before making choices, and during eating:
Where is my hunger level?
Am I making balanced choices and including all food groups?
Am I choosing food based on a specific emotion (ie. need for comfort) or physiological hunger?
Am I choosing foods based on a diet mentality (ie. lowest calorie option, or “lightest” option)?
Am I eating at a moderate pace and enjoying and noticing the taste of the food?
Am I distracted while eating?

Mindful eating helps individuals to let go of “good foods” and “bad foods” and focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle while enjoying food and nourishing the body.


There is no such thing as failing at mindful eating, each meal and snack presents an opportunity to practice and increase awareness.

https://www.recoverywarriors.com/the-power-of-mindful-eating/