Mindful eating is often thought of as a way to change your eating habits, help you understand more about your food fears and anxiety, and help you to have a better relationship with food. But it can also heal your relationship with your body and actually help you identify many physical traits you weren’t even aware of.
If you have trouble recognizing when you’re full, have a history of disordered eating, or simply want to be more in tune with your body, mindful eating can help. It’s a way of being present with your food and your body, without judgment. And it can be incredibly helpful in developing a healthier relationship with both.
How Do You Feel When You Are Full and Satisfied?
Instead of just focusing on how you THINK about being full, try to use your body’s
sensations and cues to know when you FEEL full. Oftentimes, we are motivated more by our thoughts, worries, and fears, as opposed to our actual feelings. Your body is smart and will tell you everything you need to know if you know how to listen to it.
It tells you when you are hungry, what you are craving, and when to stop eating as you get closer to fullness. But if you wait for your mind to tell you, you might find sometimes you purposely eat less than your body needs to cut calories, or you eat well past fullness because you just aren’t paying enough attention.
Being mindful of your body and paying attention to how you feel while eating (and throughout the rest of your day), is so beneficial in helping you to become more in tune with your physical hunger and fullness cues. It can also help you to feel more comfortable and confident in your own skin because you are making peace with the fact that your body is always changing and that’s okay!
What Foods Don’t Feel the Best?
Another way mindful eating helps with your body’s mindfulness is by understanding how different foods make you feel. This isn’t about restricting your food or trying to go on a diet, but simply being more aware of the way different foods affect you.
For example, you might find that while you absolutely love sweets, they tend to cause a pretty bad energy crash if you have them earlier in the day. By being mindful, you then know to save them until later in the day or have them in smaller portions. You might also find that certain foods make your stomach hurt, or they give you heartburn. These are all things you can start to be mindful of and take note of how different foods affect your body.
Over time, you’ll develop a better understanding of which foods work well for your body and which don’t. Use what you learn through mindful eating to decide what meals are most appropriate for different times of the day, while still eating all the foods you love that nourish your body properly.
Are You Learning Your Actual Hunger Signals?
As you practice mindfulness more, you can start noticing your hunger signals in addition to fullness cues. This might take a little more time if you are used to just eating at designated times during the day, or if you have an issue with emotional eating. But the more you practice mindfulness, the easier this will be to pay attention to.
Your hunger signals can be physical (like a growling stomach or lightheadedness) or mental/emotional (like feelings of irritability or anxiousness). And they can vary from person to person. Just like fullness cues, it’s important to get in tune with your own hunger signals so you can know when your body is actually asking for food.
This is another area where mindful eating can be incredibly helpful. By being present with your body and your hunger, you can start to understand the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger. And once you know that, it becomes so much easier to make peace with food and your body.
Final Thoughts
Mindful eating is a non-diet approach to food that is all about listening to your body, honoring your hunger and fullness cues, and eating the foods you love in a way that feels good for you. It’s not about restriction or deprivation, but rather about developing a healthier relationship with both food and your body.
In general, mindful eating helps you to be more mindful of your body. It can help you to understand how different foods affect you, how your fullness cues work, and how to listen to your actual hunger signals. All of this leads to a better relationship with food and your body, which is so beneficial in both the short-term and the long-term.
Therefore, if you are looking to develop a healthier relationship with food, we highly encourage you to give mindful eating a try. It’s a simple concept, but it can have such a profound impact on your life!
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