How often do you feel anxious when it comes to choosing the \u201cright\u201d food and being fearful of overeating? Research has shown that our brain processes affect eating behavior via the food reward system. However, the modern food industry has created an environment with many opportunities for reinforcing food rewards, making us eat more mindlessly and effortlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is easy and common for such an environment to distort our relationship with food, develop poor eating behavior, and put on weight. This article will introduce the concept of mindful eating and how mindfulness trains our minds to build healthy eating behaviors, maintain a healthy weight, have a healthy relationship with food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term \u201cmindfulness\u201d comes from Buddhism. Mindfulness is a meditation focused on being at the present, recognizing, acknowledging, and accepting our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When mindfulness is applied to mindful eating it goes beyond eating and tasting your food, and it is also about paying attention to your food choices, how you prepare, serve and consume them, the thoughts and feeling when you\u2019re consuming them. Practicing mindful eating can relax the rigidity of diets, reduce stress and anxiety around food, increase our flexibility around negative behaviors, and redirect the attention from food to our wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mindful eating can be briefly summarized into three areas: body, feeling, and thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Food can provide relief from stress, anxiety, or boredom because the brain\u2019s food reward system helps you feel good. Being driven by food hedonism and surrounded by a food-promoting environment, you are more likely to engage in autopilot eating behaviors or let\u2019s call it mindless eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Practicing mindfulness allows you to focus more on the root of weight and health problems such as uncontrolled eating, stressed and emotional eating, and judgmental thoughts on your body rather than simply being drowned in the negative feelings and mindless eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eating mindfully can bring back your attention, focus on the act of eating, break the autopilot eating and allow the brain to receive a fullness signal as you slow down the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n