In addition to following a natural, balanced and varied diet, it is good to eat with awareness. But what does this mean?
Last update: April 19, 2020
Eating with awareness means privileging healthy eating habits, but also controlling thoughts and emotions which can emerge during meals. Designing a diet with intelligence will allow you to enjoy food much more, avoiding or eliminating any negative influence, deriving from anxiety and stress.
Learning to eat with awareness also means paying attention to the signals that the body transmits to us. It is okay to satiate and quench your thirst, but put aside all negative thoughts that could lead you to consume unhealthy foods.
We must always keep in mind that emotions affect every aspect of our life, including food. In light of this, it is good to develop a better awareness of meals, since a conscious diet consists in eating healthily and correctly, enjoying food and fully appreciating it, so as to be consistent with all the effects that each food can have. on the body.
A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that distracted and superficial eating leads to the consumption of more food, with obvious repercussions on weight.
A first positive aspect of eating with awareness, therefore, is that it helps to keep fit. If you want to adopt new and healthier eating habits, don't miss this article. We will show you how paying more attention to what we eat helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
5 habits to eat with awareness
What we present below are some habits that allow you to eat with awareness. Keep in mind that it is not about following a strict diet, but about maintaining control of the sensations we experience every time we sit down at the table.
1. Listen to the body
Usually great importance and preference is given to listening to one's mind. But, as many mindfulness practices teach, we can understand when is the ideal time to eat if we keep the channels of communication open with our body.
We suggest, therefore, not to eat only when you receive emotional signals, of whatever nature they are (stress, sadness, frustration, loneliness or simply boredom), but listen to your body before doing so. The stomach rumbles, do we feel tired or a little lightheaded?
If you want to learn to eat mindfully, you need to get used to noticing the physical signals associated with hunger and satiety sent by the body.
2. Plan your meals in advance
Even preparing meals in advance can make sense of nutrition. When developing a recipe, it is done with extreme care, trying to include all food groups. This is not the case when cooking a dish at the last minute, in a superficial, haphazard and hasty way.
Planning regular meals allows you to give your body a steady pace with which to eat. This will also attribute calm and tranquility to this moment, which, don't forget, is also sharing with family, friends or co-workers. All this will allow the body to process the ingested nutrients with greater efficiency, improving the sensations and flavors on each food.
Of course, the dishes shouldn't be too elaborate. The secret is to include a variety of nutrients and flavors. Remember to enjoy every single bite!
“Hunger often produces immortal poems. Excessive abundance only promotes indigestion and clumsiness. "
Hippolyte Taine
3. Sit down and enjoy your food calmly
While it may seem like an obvious and trivial suggestion, think about it how often do you find yourself eating while walking on the street or while you are busy with another activity.
The third tip for eating with awareness is to avoid thinking or doing anything else during the meal, giving yourself a real break from everything. Calming your nerves is essential to enjoying a healthy diet. That's why we suggest you eat without the presence of elements that can distract from the meal.
4. Try to identify each ingredient for conscious eating
Strive to identify all the ingredients present in a dish it's another great way to focus on the present moment and, therefore, eat mindfully.
Focus on all the flavors in your mouth and how they interact with each other, as well as smells and flavors. This will help you twice: on the one hand, to enjoy food and, on the other hand, to eat more slowly (overcoming stress). An added benefit of this technique is that it also helps you be more creative in the kitchen.
We invite you to identify each ingredient when you sit down at the table. It can be a very fun challenge, for example when you try a new dish.
5. Eat slowly
The last habit you will need to learn in order to eat with awareness is the timing of meals. Eating calmly, slowly, chewing without haste, will produce many benefits to the body, which is always used to running.
The brain needs time to understand that we are eating and to tell the body that it needs to activate the metabolism and record when he is full. Few people know that it takes about 20 minutes for the mind to be aware of the stomach's satiety. Interesting, right?
We advise you to eat slowly and listen to the body to instantly perceive when it is necessary to stop ingesting food. A trick to lengthen meal times is to talk to friends and diners, marking a less hectic pace.
Thanks to these eating habits, it will be possible to eat with awareness. We will notice a gradual reduction in stress levels, better digestion, weight loss and the quantities of food ingested in each meal will decrease.
