Mindfulness is a powerful way to bring balance into every aspect of how we eat. It cultivates inner wisdom – awareness of how our body and mind are reacting; and outer wisdom – making wiser use of nutrition information to satisfy your needs and preferences.
Here are my mindful eating technique to use when you want a “snack or dessert” so bad. Not all of these tips or strategies resinate to you, but try a few and see how they work.
STOP FOR A MOMENT
Bring your awareness to your breath, slow down by taking 2-3 deeper breaths. You can close your eyes if you want. Tune your awareness into what is leading you to want to eat. Are you physically hungry?
How hungry you are?
How do you know that?
Are you just stressed? or bored?
Perhaps you just got home from work and saw a box of chocolate left out on the kitchen counter?
There might be several triggers to your urge. Simple notice what they are. Well, if you are physically hungry, give yourself full permission to have a snack or treat.
CHOOSE YOUR SNACK OR DESSERT MINDFULLYÂ
Consider what is calling you.
What would be satisfying ?
What would you enjoy, to help you relax, bring comfort, or hold you over until next meal?
Do you want something sweet, something crispy, something savoury?
Are the chocolate calling you? Or do you really want some cookies?
Give some thought to this, because you will be more satisfied and less likely to eat more than if you’d just grabbed the first thing in front of you.
USE OUTER WISDOMÂ
Thinking about how much you would eat? One good rule is to eat about 100 kcal per hour to sustain you until the next time you eat. That is about how much your body will burn during that time, and it is a way to give yourself permission to simply enjoy your snack, rather than feeling guilty about it.
COMBINE WITH INNER WISDOMÂ
Savour the food, eating it slowly and without doing anything else. Minimize distractions, such as watching TV or checking emails.
STAY AT NOWÂ
Most of the time, our thoughts wander somewhere other than where we are in the moment. Perhaps we are preoccupied with what happened an hour ago, stressed over what we need to do tomorrow, or worried about what might happen next week. Mindfulness encourages us to notice these preoccupations, and then to gently bring ourselves back to the NOW.
BE RELAX AND FLEXIBLEÂ
Use this approach at a snack time that occurs regularly and when you are alone, so you can fully focus on your experiences. You can then use these practices almost anytime you have an urge to eat. Explore how the quality of your experiences of food and eating shift when you bring a mindful, accepting, and open awareness to them.
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