Mindful Eating
What is Mindfulness?
It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of thoughts, worries, and distractions that parade through our minds on a daily basis. Mindfulness can offer a reprieve from the chaos. Broadly speaking, mindfulness involves consciously directing our attention to the present moment without judgment or attachment to our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, or external environment. Mindfulness techniques have gained popularity in recent decades in the practice of clinical and counselling psychology, but it is certainly not a new concept. Dating back thousands of years, mindfulness has origins in early Hinduism and Buddhism. Today, mindfulness has become a widely practiced technique for enhancing mental wellness, promoting relaxation, and reducing stress and anxiety.
Everyday Mindfulness
I often incorporate mindfulness-based techniques into my counselling practice. Like any skill worth cultivating, mindfulness takes time, practice, and patience to learn. I’ve heard how many clients find it challenging to carve out the time or create the ideal conditions to practice this skill. Luckily, the beauty of mindfulness is that it can be woven into our everyday routines fairly seamlessly. Whether it’s the sensation of warm water on our skin as we wash dishes, the sounds of the city as we take our dog for a walk, or the smell of our shampoo when we take a shower, mindfulness invites us to fully immerse ourselves in the richness of sensory information we have access to at any given moment.
Mindful Eating
One exercise I am fond of is mindful eating. Many of us experience episodes of “mindless” eating, wherein we find ourselves finishing a plate of food without paying much attention to the flavours. We may then realize that we were too distracted to notice our bodies’ cues for fullness and satiation, potentially leaving us feeling “over-full”. One way to improve this is by regularly practicing mindful eating. I invite you to take 10 minutes or so to practice the steps below with a small snack such as a piece of fruit or a handful of raisins. It is best to do this exercise at first with a neutral hunger level (i.e., you feel neither particularly hungry nor full). Find a quiet space free from distractions (ideally away from your phone, computer, and TV).
Steps for Mindful Eating
- Pick up a piece of food and take a moment to notice any aromas.
- Hold the food in your hand and examine it. Bring your awareness to its shape, size, texture and colour. Roll it between your fingers, notice its tactile qualities like pliability, stickiness and softness.
- Place the food in your mouth and once again attend to the tactile experience, but now in the context of your tongue and teeth. Notice the temperature of the food. Notice the way the texture and temperature change as the food is held in your mouth.
- Begin to chew the food. Again, bring your awareness to any changes in texture.
- Finally, bring your awareness to the taste. See if you can find multiple flavours (e.g., sweet, sour, bitter, salty). Some flavours may be more obvious than others, but there is often more than we initially think.
- Notice the sound of chewing. Notice the sensation of swallowing.
- As you take additional bites of the food, repeat the steps above and draw out the experience of chewing.
- Pause between bites and notice the subtle shifts in sensation in your body hinting at fullness and/or satiation.
- During the pauses, you may wish to reflect on the journey that brought this food to you, from seed to harvest to table. See if you can tap into a sense of gratitude.