Brinker - Mindful Eating: How to Eat Mindfully to Take Control, Feel Satisfied, and Lose Weight

Eating is a human activity that is supposed to be pleasurable and healthy it satisfies hunger, and gives us fuel and energy to get out there and live life to the fullest. Yet, this seemingly simple activity has become all-consuming, guilt-stirring and mindless due to our culture, which is obsessed with diet and the abundance of food in todays society. Mindful eating is designed to redress this balance. Although it is an old practice, its applications in the modern world are widely recognized in terms of solving various struggles with food.

What is Mindful Eating?

First of all, it is not another diet or weight loss program like the many hundreds of others on the market. It involves no products or pills that you need to take, or even recipes or meal plans that you need to follow strictly to stay in shape it is not an extension the no meat or strictly veggies fad.

Instead, it is all about being more aware of the eating habits that you have developed and the sensations that you are feeling while eating. It also involves the emotional attachment that you have to food. This practice is more about these two things: what types of food you eat and how you eat them.

Thus, it is eating with the full intent of taking good care of your body, while savoring and noticing the food and how it affects your body. Clearly, mindful eating is not just eating in a slow manner and avoiding distractions. It is more of a technique that covers the whole eating process.

How Does It Work?

Of course you want to know whether mindful eating really responds to and has the ability to conquer your eating issues. The problem in the modern world is that many people who have food issues respond mindlessly to their unknown feelings and thoughts. They tend to eat not because of hunger, but because of other emotions, such as stress, anxiety, procrastination, guilt, sadness the list goes on and on. They tend to repeat their actions over again without feeling the power to modify them. You may be one of these people. However, if you enhance your awareness and set a space between your actions and your triggers, you can overcome your food struggles. Permanently.

For instance, you could stop for a while and ask yourself: Am I really hungry? whenever you feel the urge to eat. In this way, you become capable of monitoring your judgment. Instead of acting mindlessly and without control, a sense of mindfulness gives you more power and responsibility. In this way, mindful eating gives you the power to defeat your old habits and embark on better options for yourself, all the while being in control of your own decisions and actions, instead of being ruled by your subconscious emotional turmoil.

Are You A Mindless Eater?

Of course, it may be that none of these things make any sense to you at all, at least until you become fully aware of your eating patterns. You may ask: Am I a mindless eater? Well, the truth is, most people are and there is a high probability that you are too. To try to tease this out, start by answering these questions:

• Do you keep on eating until you feel really full and oftentimes guilty afterwards?
• Do you bite and chew on food without savoring its taste?
• Are you an emotional eater eating when you are stressed, anxious or feeling bored?
• Do you eat meals at a constant time every day, regardless of whether you are really hungry or not?
• Do you mindlessly munch on chips, cookies or other types of snack while watching TV shows?
• Do you skip meals and fail to focus on the hints your hunger is giving you?

If yes is your answer to any of the questions above, I have bad news for you you are not always a mindful eater. The good news is that you can become one using the steps laid out in the following chapters. Remember that you cannot change all your eating habits in a day. Being mindful takes time and constant practice. Once you have gained total understanding of mindful eating, you can equip yourself day by day and, slowly, you will become more empowered.