The Second Path to Personal Power Over Food is Mindful Eating

The second path to personal power over food is Mindful Eating.

Mindfulness is simply the moment-by-moment awareness of life. But it’s not always so simple. We so easily get caught up in our own thoughts and self-talk that we are scarcely aware of life as it passes us by. This is very true of our eating. We eat meal after meal, snack after snack, barely aware of what we’re eating and how much we’re consuming. Mindful eating: is about being conscious of why you are eating. Are you hungry? Are you tired? Are you bored? There is no menu or recipes to follow. It's about learning HOW and WHY you eat, and less about WHAT you eat. When you are so closely in touch with what is going on inside, you know the exact moment you are satisfied rather than stuffed or starving. To understand the why, what, when and how we eat, we have to be compassionate and nonjudgmental. This allows us to take a closer look at our behavior. Our fast-food culture is one where meals have become yet another task we squeeze in during the day. It is all too common to hear of people grabbing breakfast on the run or attending a lunch meeting, where business is front and center and food is merely the bait to get people there. Adults in the United States devote an average of 1 hour and 12 minutes per day to eating, yet spend between 2½ and 3 hours per day watching television. Our kids are rushed too. Studies have shown that school lunch periods provide an average of 7 to 11 minutes for students to consume their lunch.

Mindfulness is a return to paying attention to life. When we pay attention to our food---really pay attention---we begin to notice all sorts of wonderful aspects of the food, and we become aware of how much we’re putting into our bodies.

The Effects of Mindful Eating It may come as a big surprise to learn that "mindless" eating, or eating without awareness, can have negative health consequences. Scientists are beginning to evaluate and better understand the complex role of the mind-body connection in eating behavior. It turns out that when our mind is tuned out during mealtime, the digestive process may be 30% to 40% less effective. This can contribute to digestive distress, such as gas, bloating and bowel irregularities. Gas and bloating aside, overeating and obesity are perhaps the most significant health problems caused, at least in part, by mindless eating. The mind-body connection plays a pivotal role in our ability to accurately assess hunger and fullness. While the precise mechanisms of hunger and fullness are not completely understood, we do know that the brain and central nervous system receive signals from the body when food is desired or needed. These signals can be caused by many triggers, including psychological states such as our mood. Once eating is under way, the brain has a key role to send out a signal when fullness is approaching. If the mind is "multi-tasking" during eating, critical signals that regulate food intake may not be received by the brain. If the brain does not receive certain messages that occur during eating, such as sensation of taste and satisfaction, it may fail to register the event as "eating". This scenario can lead to the brain's continuing to send out additional signals of hunger, increasing the risk of overeating.

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