In the distracted world that we live in today, distracted eating or mindless eating is a growing problem that causes overeating, emotional eating, stress, eating food that you don’t enjoy, and losing the ability to tell how hungry or full you are. Mindful eating helps you overcome mindless eating by becoming consciously aware of what you eat, causing benefits such as reduced food intake, increased enjoyment of food, and better awareness of hunger and fullness.
In today's world we are more distracted than ever and that includes the times when we are supposed to be eating. Distracted eating has been correlated with overeating for years.
Mindful Eating is a tool that everyone should learn to use especially as the obesity rate increases at the same time as the rate that we become distracted.
In a review of 24 studies on distracted eating, this research paper concluded that reducing attention while eating makes you eat more, reminding someone of the food that they have eaten reduces how much they eat later, and reducing awareness of food previously eaten was shown to make you eat more and this effect was largest.
Distracted Eating can be classified as just one type of mindless eating.
Mindless Eating is making decisions about what to eat and when to eat not based on internal cues from the body but based on external or environmental cues.
Mindless Eating usually looks like emotional eating, binge eating, or just overeating in general.
One of the most common examples of mindless eating is eating based on the time. It makes sense that you should remind yourself to eat at a certain time but if you have a midnight snack it makes sense that you might skip breakfast the next morning.
When we eat mindlessly we are more likely to overeat, eat when we are not hungry, and even forget the times when we eat. We also forget to take the time to fully savor and enjoy our food.
Other negative side effects of mindless eating are overeating are weight gain, less enjoyment of food, more binge eating, eating when you are not hungry, and more important of all losing your feeling of hunger and fullness within your own body.
Mindless Eating happens when we are not fully aware of our actions around food.
We can live long and healthy lives eating mindlessly but we can see that it does not work for everyone.
Today, 72% of Americans of either overweight or obese and it does not look like mindless eating is helping us become more healthy.
It also doesn’t help that most food is packed with addictive chemicals that block satiety so that you can keep eating without ever feeling full.
Learning to eat mindfully is the cure for mindless eating.
Mindful Eating is essentially becoming conscious about the decisions that you make around food and mindless eating is the opposite of that.
Just taking the time to pause and consider everything that you've had to eat today is a mindful eating practice.
Mindful Eating does not need to become a big and long practice in your life. All you have to do is start becoming aware of your behavior around food.
The studies have shown that once you increase attention to the food that you are eating you can decrease the amount of food that you eat.
One of the biggest benefits of Mindful Eating is the ability to tell when you are hungry or full.
One of the most common examples of not being able to tell is that sometimes we feel hungry but we actually might actually be thirsty. So you eat something but once you are finished you still aren’t full.
The body sends the same signal for hunger and thirst but this would only be something that you could know if you practiced.
Mindful Eating teaches us to be aware of those small details that make a huge impact on our health overall.
Another benefit is getting more enjoyment out of the food that we already eat. If you are eating mindlessly you probably are not taking the time to fully savor what you are eating. If you do not bring your full attention to the meal then you won't find that benefit.
A mindful routine will bring that focus to your food, making it taste completely from what you believe it tasted like.
"Mindful Eating does not need to become a big and long practice in your life. All you have to do is start becoming aware of your behavior around food."
Mindful Eating can be used by anyone, anywhere, and at any time. All you have to do is take the steps to become aware of your actions and feelings around food.
Mindful Eating is perfect for you if you:
Cannot sustain weight loss long term: If you have been on a diet for years but you find yourself gaining the weight back it might be beneficial for you to start mindful eating. Mindful Eating helps you build habits that you can sustain for a long time without need for a calorie counter or some type of timer that tells you when to eat. When you focus on the process you tend to get the results that you want and that is what mindful eating does for you. Learning mindful eating will put a focus on the habits that you have around food that will give you the results that you want.
Have a Tendency To Binge or Overeat: When you binge or over eat it is most likely because you don't feel satisfied with the food that you eat until you eat way too much and possibly have gotten sick. This snowballs into extremely negative emotions that cause you binge more to deal with the emotions and stress of binge eating. Mindful Eating teaches you to be in tune with your body and recognize where you are getting to the point of over eating. With mindful eating you can learn steps to take full control over how your body reacts to food.
Want To Enjoy Food Again: When we eat mindlessly we do not take the time to fully savor and taste what we are eating. Mindful Eating helps you to bring that enjoyment with food. Savoring food not only makes the eating experience more enjoyable but also more memorable too. When you slow down and take the time to notice your emotions they become strong. That’s what Mindful Eating will do for you.
Have Tried Multiple Diets Without Success: In today's world there are hundreds of diets out there and each one is trying to claim to be the best one. Some try to be the healthiest, some claim to be the fastest weight loss and some claim to be the most sustainable. The truth is that all of these diets work as long as you eat less than you did previously. Being on a diet does not give you a free pass to eat as much as you want. Mindful Eating will help you reduce cravings, build sustainable habits that you can use anywhere, and eat less overall without all of the restrictive rules of a diet.