Mindful Eating: Slow Down!

How did Thanksgiving go? I will be 100% honest with you all; I did not eat very mindfully.

Mindful eating is one of the best practices that you can do to control your weight, and still enjoy foods that you like. Every time we are distracted, or rushed while eating, we tend to put more food in our bodies than we really need – or the wrong kinds of food that don’t quite match up with our goals.

Are you eating while reading this? Mindlessly munching away on your sandwich, or maybe some chips from the vending machine at work? Cramming food in while trying to get caught up on emails, work projects, or other things that seem to be piling up in life?

I want you all to consider being more “mindful” when it comes to eating. This is a practice I have used with some clients, along with patients while in my residency for my RD. Slow down your eating, and just eat – rather than eating, texting, tweeting, web browsing, etc etc. Focus on your food. Slow down and chew your food more.

By taking more time to eat, we also give our bodies the appropriate amount of time to recognize that we are becoming full. This is when it is time to stop eating! By slowing down, our satiety hormone (leptin) has time to move through the body (along with another hormone, CCK, which is released by the intestines when full) and let the brain know that we are satisfied with our food and do not need to eat more. When we eat FAST, the release of leptin is too slow, so we keep eating and eating, and by the time leptin reaches the brain, we have already over consumed! Click here to read more about mindful eating!

Take your time to eat, listen to your body, and really think about the food you are putting in your body. Is it really worth what it could be doing to blunt your progress?

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Mike