Hi and welcome.
So today I'm going to be talking about starting your mindful eating journey.
So I just like to begin by clarifying what mindful eating is.
For me,
Mindful eating is about being more conscious when it comes to food choices.
So that means that we're thinking more about what we're eating,
When we're eating,
Why we're eating,
And we're connecting more with our food so that ultimately we're more in control of those choices that we make.
Now if that's something that sounds of interest to you,
I want you to start by considering what your biggest motivation is for eating more mindfully.
Now when I started my journey,
My biggest motivator was that I wanted to lose weight.
But there's lots of different reasons.
It might be that you would like to gain weight or build muscle.
Maybe you would like to break some old habits that aren't serving you.
It could be you'd prefer to have a more nutritional or balanced diet for lots of different reasons.
Or maybe just in general you'd like to feel more in control.
So just start by thinking about what your biggest motivation is at the moment.
Once you've had a think about that,
The next thing to consider is what's holding you back.
Why are you not already eating in a way that serves you better?
So for me,
For example,
My biggest barrier was emotions.
I had developed a really strong bond between food and emotions and I used food as a tool.
So if I was feeling sad or negative for any reason,
Food was a reliable form of instant gratification,
Instant pleasure.
And it was also something I could use to distract myself from how I was feeling.
Similarly though,
If there was something successful,
If there's something positive going on in my life,
Food can be a form of celebration,
It can be a reward or a treat.
And while this isn't inherently bad,
Not being mindful and just being driven by the emotion can lead to choices that are not going to serve us well.
So if I was feeling bad,
I'd turn to food and typically I'd be choosing foods like ice cream,
For example,
Foods that are higher in calories and have less nutritional benefit to me.
In addition to choosing these types of foods,
I'd usually be over eating the foods.
And then in addition to that,
I'd be doing this regularly.
So I would be regularly over eating foods that were high in calories with little nutritional benefit for me.
And over a period of time of consistently making these types of choices,
It is likely that there is going to be some sort of negative impact.
For me,
I saw weight gain,
But of course there could be lots of other different types of impact.
And ultimately though,
It's unlikely that you're going to be the best version of yourself.
If you don't feel that emotion is your biggest barrier,
There's lots of other reasons that you might not be eating as mindfully as you could be.
So for example,
It might be that you just have ingrained habits,
Like always having pudding after dinner,
Regardless of whether you really want it or need it.
It might be that you rely heavily on time cues.
So you always have lunch,
Breakfast and dinner again,
Regardless of how you're feeling.
Or perhaps it's your convenience or skill level that you find hinders your mindful eating.
Maybe,
For example,
After a really hard or long day at work,
You prefer just to get something that is going to be easy and quick to prepare.
Maybe you don't feel like you have enough skill to actually cook a delicious and balanced meal.
So instead you get something that is convenient or maybe some fast food,
For example.
It might be that you're not eating mindfully because you're driven by cravings.
And these can be affected by our previous food choices.
But it might also be that maybe you've seen a food or smelt a food that's appealing.
And without being mindful,
You simply go and get that food for yourself because it looks or smells good,
For example.
It might also be that you're affected by situational cues.
A good example of this is going to the cinema and getting a snack,
Feeling like you should have popcorn simply because you're at the cinema,
As opposed to because you particularly need that popcorn or because you're choosing mindfully to have it.
So once we've established our barriers,
How do we move forward?
Now the things I'm going to suggest won't necessarily feel easy straight away,
But if you continue to try and apply them,
I promise that it will get easier over time.
So the first thing I want you to try and consider is why you're eating.
Is it because you're hungry,
Because of the time of day,
Because you're feeling a strong emotion?
And it doesn't matter what the answer to the question is,
But try to become aware of it.
When you feel you've started to be able to identify the reasons you're eating,
Try to only eat when you're hungry.
So if the trigger for eating is that you're feeling sad,
Then you really don't need to eat.
If the trigger for eating is simply the time of day,
You might not need to eat.
Similar to this,
Try to stop eating once you're satisfied.
We don't need to eat until we're over full,
Just because we want to finish all the food in front of us,
For example.
So see if you can recognise the point at which you are comfortable and satisfied,
But you are not over full.
Then see if you can start to recognise how you feel.
So how do you feel when you're eating?
How do you feel just after you've eaten?
And how will you feel later on?
And when you think about how you're feeling,
Make sure you focus on both the physical and the emotional feelings,
And also be aware of the positives as well as the negatives.
So to recap,
I want you to consider why you're eating,
Try and only eat when you're hungry until you're satisfied,
Think about how you feel while you're eating,
After you've eaten,
And later on.
And you're on your journey to mindful eating.
Happy eating!
