Mindful Eating 101
Aren’t diets the worst? You’re only permitted to eat gross, unflavored stalks of raw celery. And don’t even think about your favorite chocolate-chip cookies. Stay on the diet path for six weeks they say. You’ll see results, the diet claims.
I mean sure, diets have the intention of being good for you by changing your unhealthy eating habits. Maybe you’ll initially lose weight. But you can’t stay on that diet forever. Eventually you’ll come off of it and gain the weight back. And you’re back to square one.
But wouldn’t you rather make reasonable, long-lasting lifestyle changes instead of sadly eating your way through a temporary diet? That sounds good, right? What I’m talking about is learning how to eat mindfully.
What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is eating well “with the intention of caring for yourself” according to amihungry.com. It’s knowing you’re going to make mistakes with food, but accepting yourself because you’re human. It’s enjoying and concentrating on the food you eat. It’s being aware of why you decide to eat, how you eat and when you eat.
See the difference between mindful eating and dieting? Dieting is all about exerting strict, unbending willpower over yourself regarding the food choices you make. It’s about depriving yourself from your favorite treats. What kind of life is that? With dieting, you are doomed to fail. Again, you can’t do diets forever. At some point you will crack.
So practice mindful eating. It’ll take time to develop your own version of what that means for you, but in the end, you’ll be happier, healthier and be able to finally keep the weight off.
Try finding recipes that you enjoy eating; tailor them to what you want and how much sugar or fat you choose to consume that day. Diets aren’t made for every different person. Develop you’re own lifestyle with food; don’t go by the diet book. Only you know what you need to be happy and healthy. Learn to incorporate your favorite treats in with your everyday healthy eating – that way you won’t deprive or gorge yourself.
Slow down. Enjoy your food. Breathe. Be mindful.