Mindful eating

In collaboration withDr. Alejandra Aguileta, nutritionist.

¿Have you ever eaten with so many distractions or on autopilot that you didn't even realize what was on your plate??

¿How It looked?

¿What colors existed and how much food was there
 
Eating has become a meaningless act, often done quickly. In addition to that, distractions have diverted attention from the real and pleasurable act of eating, towards televisions, computers and cell phones. Now much more in this pandemic, that we spend so immersed in our computers, virtual jobs that we don't even take a break to eat.
 
Also, sometimes we eat without hunger, but we are anxious, worried, stressed and that leads us to eat without paying attention to how we feel.

Feeding ourselves with mindfulness makes us aware of these emotions and thus, take control of our decisions in a better way.
 

¿What is Mindful eating or conscious eating?

It means being present, evaluating in the moment how we feel when we are eating. is paying full attentionunprejudiced physical and emotional sensations associated with eating.
 
Mindful eating focuses on our food experiences, body-related sensations, and thoughts or feelings about food, with greater awareness and without judgment.

Attention is paid to the foods that are chosen, internal and external physical cues, and your responses to those cues.

It consists of listening to bodily sensations; pay attention to the signals of hunger and satiety, to nourish ourselves, feel healthy and satisfied, physically and emotionally; learn to distinguish between physiological and emotional hunger; know the variouspsycho emotional triggers that lead us to resort to food, even when we are already physically satiated.
 
To begin with, clarify that mindful eatingit's not dieting. It is more of a lifestyle, a way of relating to food. It is bringing mindfulness to our nutrition and encompasseswhat to choose, how to eat the food.

To break it down even further, there are four pillars of mindful eating; when you eat mindfully

• Stay aware of what you are doing and the effects it is having on your body, both good and bad.
• Use all the senses to choose and experience foods that are satisfying for us and nourishing for the body.
• Recognize responses to food based on your senses without judgment.
• Practice being aware of your emotions, physical hunger, and the cues that let you know your hunger has been satiated.

¿What are the benefits of eating this way??
 
When we do it this way, we regain our attention, and we slow down the speed with which we do it. This makes eating an intentional act rather than on autopilot.
 
Mindfulness helps you fully enjoy a meal and the eating experience, in moderation and without judgment. Some studies suggest that mindfulness-based practices help improve eating habits and take control of our eating, what we really want to eat and how much. Too,and the most important, improvementour relationship with food.

Also, it is easier to control binge eating and not eat based on emotional reasons such as anxiety, sadness, boredom, or using food as a safe space.
 
Eating mindfully can help you:

-Slow down and take a break from the noise of life, stress and anxiety.

-Change the relationship with food, since we begin to realize when we eat for reasons other than hunger.

- Give you greater pleasure in the consumption of food, since we reduce the speed with which we eat and thus we can appreciate more that present moment of eating.

- Make healthier choices about what you eat by focusing on how each type of food makes us feel after eating it.

- Improve digestion since the brain takes 20 minutes to send those hormonal signals of being full, the faster we eat, the less we will achieve this time and thus we can overeat.

- Feel fuller during the day.
 
Someone who eats mindfully can:

-Recognize that there is no wrong or right way to eat, but different degrees of awareness around the experience of food.
-Accept that eating experiences are unique.
-Become aware of choosing foods that support their health and well-being.
-Find the balance between the choice and acceptance of their food.
-Be aware that the spectrum of food is broader, ask yourself: where did the food come from, how was it prepared and who prepared it.
 -Note internal and external signals that affect the amount you eat. -Express gratitude for your food and feelings.
 
Then,¿how can we eat mindfully?

Making food an exclusive event instead of a multi-task, checking our emotions before eating, acknowledging the gift of food and the effort that went into growing and preparing it.

Eat slowly, put down your fork between bites, chew your food well and make each meal last at least 20 minutes, observe the texture, shape and smell of your food, savor each bite, engage all your senses. Enjoy its quality not quantity, turn off the distractors (cell phones, TV, etc).

When you feel hungry, take a few moments to close your eyes, take a couple of deep breaths and ask yourself: What am I hungry for? Perhaps new flavors, company, a smell has made me hungry, as if by habit or routine, I get bored. ..urro?...

Honor the food. Recognize where the food was grown and who prepared it.

All of these practices can help you fully experience the flavors of food and gauge your level of satiety on a more intentional, non-judgmental level.

Let's do an exercise together:
 
Make a raisin when you sit down to eat, breathe, feel in the present moment, relax the muscles in your body, your arms, neck, torso, stomach and feet.

Focus on how your surroundings look and how you feel. What you are feeling, what emotions are going through your head and the sensations in your body.

Now take the food and use all your senses: what it looks like what you are going to eat what colors, smell, size, texture and shape it has I felt how much it weighs and how it feels.e.

From there, we take it to our tongue, we chew slowly savoring each bite.
 

I hope that this exercise helps you to see food as something beyond a necessity, seeing it as an integral part of your life.