5 Benefits of Mindful Eating that lead to Sustainable Weight Loss
In today's fast-paced world, where we are constantly bombarded with tempting food options, losing weight can feel like an uphill battle.
Fad diets and restrictive eating plans may provide temporary results, but they often leave us feeling unsatisfied and deprived. I have been there. I had tried them all. I would lose some weight and then gain it right back. Mindful eating has helped me mend my relationship with food.
This is where mindful eating comes in - a powerful practice that can help us achieve sustainable weight loss while enjoying our food to the fullest.Mindful eating is the practice of paying attention to the present moment and being fully aware of our food choices, eating habits, and physical sensations while consuming a meal. It involves engaging all our senses and savoring each bite, without judgment or distraction.
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By adopting this approach, we can develop a healthier relationship with food and our bodies, leading to long-term weight management. On this post I will 7 benefits of mindful eating, which include:
Distinguishing between hunger and cravings.
Fully experience your meals
Listening to our body
Recognize emotional triggers that lead to overeating
Mindful eating can help cultivate a positive mindset around food and body image.
Be patient with yourself
So if you have hit a roadblock on your weightloss journey, or hit a plateau, or maybe heard of mindfulness and have been thinking about it. This is your sign to look through these benefits and make a decision to change habits that can definitely have long term benefits.
During my childhood, I would be known among my family as the girl who could eat a whole cow and remain as thin as can be. Over the years, up until I had my first baby, it all changed. My metabolism was not the same as when I was a child and a young adult. But my eating habits remained pretty much the same. Not the best! I had my first son at 26. That's when my weight loss started spiraling out of control.
The amount of weight I was gaining made me feel even more self conscious about my body than ever in my life. Along came baby number two and more weight.
I usually didn’t gain much weight during my pregnancy. Maybe 10-15 pounds at the most. I would lose it all plus 10-15 more pounds after each baby. I would be weighing less than I would before getting pregnant.
It was so frustrating to then gain all that weight back plus some more after about 6 months of having my baby. The main issue was always my eating habits. I tried my best to eat healthy during my pregnancy and the first 2-3 months after giving birth.
Then the emotional eating or idea that since I had lost so much weight, I should be fine eating a whole bag of family size chips at 10 PM shouldn’t affect me at all. But after feeding myself those thoughts and all that junk food through emotional eating once a week, then every other day, the weight I had lost would come back with a vengeance.
After trying many different diet trends, supplements and recipes to trick myself into eating healthy versions of my favorite junk food, I finally found what worked best for me. Mindful eating along with the healthy foods that made me lose weight fast.
Healthy eating that I would actually enjoy and keep me away from falling back into my bad habits when it came to eating. These are the benefits I have seen in my life thanks to mindful eating and healthy eating habits.
1 The ability to help us distinguish between physical and emotional hunger
Often, we turn to food as a coping mechanism for stress, boredom, or emotional discomfort. By practicing mindfulness, we can tune into our body's signals and recognize true hunger versus emotional cravings. This awareness allows us to make conscious choices about what and how much we eat, leading to a more balanced and nourishing diet.
Keeping a food dairy is helpful in distinguishing between physical and emotional hunger. This is exactly what I did. If you are not the type of person to keep a food journal, there are a ton of apps out there that help you keep track of everything.
You can also follow an individualized meal plan that will help fall in love with healthy eating. All you have to do is take this quick quiz and get a free custom meal plan for only $1. Click here!
2 Fully Experience Your Meals
Another aspect of mindful eating is the practice of slowing down and savoring each bite. In our fast-paced lives, we often rush through meals or eat on the go, paying little attention to the actual experience of eating.
As a teacher who had to drop off kids before work, I would eat most of my meals in the car, on the go, or as fast as I could. Oftentimes, I would opt for stopping by a drive thru for most meals. This can lead to overeating and mindless consumption of high-calorie, unhealthy foods. By taking the time to fully experience our meals, we give our bodies a chance to register satisfaction and fullness, preventing overeating and unnecessary weight gain.
3 Listening to Your Body
Mindful eating also encourages us to become more attuned to our body's hunger and fullness cues. By listening to our body's signals, we can stop eating when we are satisfied, rather than when we are uncomfortably full. This helps us develop a healthier relationship with food, where we eat for nourishment and satisfaction, rather than out of habit or emotional triggers.
As a mom, I am guilty of almost forcing my kids to eat a meal because it was time and because they had. As a child, I grew up with the same type rule in my household. Through mindful eating, I feel more comfortable with the fact that my kids probably are not all that hungry during meals and that if they eat less they will make up for it another day. I have seen this more often than not on my journey through mindful eating.
4 Recognize Emotional Triggers that Lead to Overeating
So often the amount of food we eat is related to celebrations, non-celebrations, stress and time management. Have you ever gone to eat a lot of food when celebrating? Or maybe you have had a big soul comforting meal because you were feeling sad or not wanting to celebrate a sad occasion? I know we have all opted to stop by the drive thru because we are too stressed to get home and cook or we are out of time.
My biggest triggers were stress and time management. Making meals ahead of time was a game changer for me. The mindset I had while preparing my meals ahead of time, got me through the excuse of not having time or energy for making healthy food at home.
By keeping a log of my food I learned to identify those emotional triggers. Use one of the hundreds of apps out there to log your food or keep a food journal. This food journal makes keeping track of your food super easy and fun. I learned to choose healthy meals by sticking to a meal plan. I starting by planning weekly menu on the notes app on my phone but then you can easily take a quiz to find a customized meal plan, just for you. Click here!
5 Mindful Eating Helps Cultivate a Positive Mindset Around Food and Body Image.
Counting calories, eating food I don’t like and then not seeing lasting results, lead me to feeling like a failure. Not matter what I did, my weight was the same and my body was not looking the way I wanted it to.
Through mindful eating practices, I have been able to focus on the benefits of healthy food, the many ways in which it can be prepared to taste delicious, instead of how my body looks after eating a bunch of food I do not like.
The more I paid attention to the quality of food I put in my body, over the quantity, my ability to look at my body and eating habits with respect grew. I want you to do this too! If your eating habits are stalling your weight loss journey, get started on your mindful eating journey today. If you have absolutely no idea how, start with a food journal and customized meal plan full of healthy options.
Mindful eating is a powerful tool for achieving sustainable weight loss. By cultivating awareness, slowing down, and listening to our bodies, we can make informed and conscious choices about what, when, and how much we eat. Mindful eating allows us to enjoy our food without guilt or restriction, leading to a more balanced and satisfying relationship with food. Not to mention, keeping us on track of our weight-loss journey. So, the next time you sit down for a meal, take a moment to pause, savor each bite, and appreciate the nourishment it provides.
