MINDFUL EATING: Let your body lead the way you eat

By: Hawley Poinsett, MS, RDN, LD

Right from the childhood years, we are told by our parents, elders, well-wishers, and health journals to eat sensibly. In short, we are constantly reminded by people around us to eat thoughtfully. Yet, each weekend we tend to throw thoughtfulness to the wind and go all into indulgence, ignoring our body’s cues and guidelines we may have created for ourselves during the week.

So, how much of mindful eating is practically possible to sustain, week after week? In order to find the answer to this question we must turn within.

Mindful eating is all about understanding the cues your body gives you each day and trusting them to guide the way you eat. Think about a breastfed infant?  Is someone telling them when they are hungry or when they are full or do they innately know this?  They certainly know how to make it known to those caring for them!

The cues you used as an infant are still within you! Let’s start putting them to work.

Mindful eating cultivates awareness of both internal and external triggers that regulate food intake. With this eating method, a person eats in response to the natural physiological cues of hunger and satiety (10). The best way to practice mindful eating is by trusting your body, something that most people have ignored for most of their lives. It is important to retrain ourselves to not only notice the cues our body’s give us, but to listen, trust and respond to them.

Research shows that mindful eating is also effective at addressing binge eating, emotional eating, and eating in response to external cues; however it is best to work with a credentialed professional with any medical or mental health comorbidities. (12). The average individual trying to learn lifelong healthy eating practices can begin practicing mindful eating by:

  • Using a hunger-fullness scale to help you identify how hungry you are. It will help you to decide when you should start or stop eating your daily meals.

  • Keeping a journal to track your hunger and fullness cues, meals and meal times. Adhering to regular meal timings (4-6 hours apart) keeps you within the center of the hunger scale. You will notice that the hungrier you are, the more you eat towards the high end of the fullness scale. Pick a journal that evokes happiness when you look at it. This will help you to have a positive association with this activity.

  • Allowing yourself to enjoy the foods you like! Incorporate less healthy foods in small amounts at meal times to give you the taste you are craving while ensuring you are getting the nutrients you need from other healthier foods at the same meal.

  • Utilizing the MyPlate guide, and enjoy a variety of foods from each food group.

People who practice intuitive eating tend to have a more positive relationship with food, lower BMI scores, and fewer dieting behaviors and food anxieties (11). There are several other benefits associated with mindful eating.


Promotes better-eating behavior. Mindful eating may be beneficial in promoting better eating behaviors and assisting in weight regulations (1). It also improves unhealthy eating among individuals with serious mental illness (5) and lowers the likelihood of having depression (6).

  • Reduces impulsive food choice. Mindful eating is a beneficial strategy to reduce impulsive food choice, at least temporarily, that may also impede weight gain (2).

  • Controls consumption of sweets. An increase in mindful eating is associated with decreased intake of sweets and fasting glucose levels and successful weight-loss interventions (3).

  • Helps in weight management. Mindful/intuitive eating could be a practical approach to control weight (8). The practice of mindful eating helps to control portions, and reduce food cravings, body mass index, and body weight. Inclusion of mindful eating may provide substantial benefit to the treatment of overweight and obesity if it is included as a component of weight management programs(4).

  • Minimizes reward-seeking eating behaviors. Mindful eating correlates positively with changes in reversal learning that can lead to increased behavioral flexibility (7). This aspect of mindful eating is particularly beneficial to overcome compulsive eating.

  • Benefits diabetes. Mindfulness has been studied to have a beneficial effect on all aspects of diabetes, including incidence, control, and complications (9).


There are multiple health benefits associated with mindful eating habits and it is something that we can all work on to achieve for better health. Let your body lead you!


REFERENCES

  1. Michail Mantzios, Janet Clare Wilson. Mindfulness, Eating Behaviours, and Obesity: A Review and Reflection on Current Findings. Curr Obes Rep. 2015 Mar;4(1):141-6. doi: 10.1007/s13679-014-0131-x. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26627097/).

  2. Kelsie L Hendrickson, Erin B Rasmussen. Mindful eating reduces impulsive food choice in adolescents and adults. Health Psychol. 2017 Mar;36(3):226-235. doi: 10.1037/hea0000440. Epub 2016 Nov 3. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27808529/).

  3. Ashley E Mason, Elissa S Epel, Jean Kristeller, et al. Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on mindful eating, sweets consumption, and fasting glucose levels in obese adults: data from the SHINE randomized controlled trial. J Behav Med. 2016 Apr;39(2):201-13. doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9692-8. Epub 2015 Nov 12. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26563148/).

  4. Carolyn Dunn, Megan Haubenreiser, Madison Johnson, et al. Mindfulness Approaches and Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, and Weight Regain. Curr Obes Rep. 2018 Mar;7(1):37-49. doi: 10.1007/s13679-018-0299-6.

  5. Vasudha Gidugu, Marjorie L Jacobs. Empowering individuals with mental illness to develop healthy eating habits through mindful eating: results of a program evaluation. Psychol Health Med. 2019 Feb;24(2):177-186. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2018.1516295. Epub 2018 Aug 31. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30165751/).

  6. L H H Winkens, T van Strien, I A Brouwer, et al. Associations of mindful eating domains with depressive symptoms and depression in three European countries. J Affect Disord. 2018 Mar 1;228:26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.069. Epub 2017 Nov 14. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29202443/).

  7. Lieneke K Janssen, Iris Duif, Ilke van Loon, et al. Greater mindful eating practice is associated with better reversal learning. Sci Rep. 2018 Apr 9;8(1):5702. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-24001-1. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29632306/).

  8. Ruben Fuentes Artiles, Kaspar Staub, Lafi Aldakak, et al. Mindful eating and common diet programs lower body weight similarly: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 2019 Nov;20(11):1619-1627. doi: 10.1111/obr.12918. Epub 2019 Aug 1. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31368631/).

  9. Wilson L Medina, David Wilson, Vera de Salvo, et al. Effects of Mindfulness on Diabetes Mellitus: Rationale and Overview. Curr Diabetes Rev. 2017;13(2):141-147. doi: 10.2174/1573399812666160607074817. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27280721/).

  10. Carla K Miller. Mindful Eating With Diabetes. Diabetes Spectr. 2017 May;30(2):89-94. doi: 10.2337/ds16-0039. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28588374/).

  11. Smith T and Hawks S. Intuitive Eating, Diet Composition, and the Meaning of Food in Healthy Weight Promotion. Am J Health Educ. 2006(May/June):130-136. doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2006.10598892. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19325037.2006.10598892).

  12. Janet M Warren, Nicola Smith, Margaret Ashwell. A structured literature review on the role of mindfulness, mindful eating and intuitive eating in changing eating behaviours: effectiveness and associated potential mechanisms. Nutr Res Rev. 2017 Dec;30(2):272-283. doi: 10.1017/S0954422417000154. Epub 2017 Jul 18. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28718396/).

photo shot at Aro Ha

photo shot at Aro Ha

 
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