09 Mar How a Mindful Diet Benefits Your Life
There are a million diets out there that claim to provide fast tracks to accomplishing whatever health goal you might have. The thing is, one of the most beneficial approaches to eating focuses less on what you eat and more on the experience of eating and how it makes you feel.
With mindful eating, you concentrate on being aware and present as you eat, which positively impacts your physical and mental health. In this post, we’ll explore how a mindful diet benefits your life.
What is a Mindful Diet?
Mindful eating’s origins are in mindfulness meditation, which involves focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and sensations you experience while you eat. As you consume a meal, you pay attention to each moment and each bite, eating with purpose.
The idea is that when you are mindful of what you are eating and tuned in to your body, you can prepare and eat meals in a way that meets your body’s needs.
The Benefits of Mindful Eating
Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Living in the moment and focusing on what you’re eating reduces stress and anxiety by helping you be present. Similar to how practicing yoga helps to slow and focus your thoughts while moving your body, mindfully preparing and enjoying your meals lets you dedicate your mind and energy to what you’re eating.
Studies have shown that the decrease in stress you experience with mindful eating can even reduce irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and ulcerative colitis symptoms.
Connect Your Mind and Body
One of the best ways a mindful diet benefits you is that it helps you tune into your body’s cues about being hungry and full. Many people go through their days snacking, grazing, or mindlessly eating, and it’s common to lose your ability to recognize when your body actually needs to eat. While there is nothing wrong with eating when you want to, a mindful diet helps you understand hunger and fullness sensations so you can eat what and how much you need.
A Healthier Body
There are several physical health benefits of a mindful diet, the first being that it’s good for your digestion. Eating mindfully lets you pay attention to how your body processes different foods. For example, by mindfully eating each bite of your breakfast, you may realize that oatmeal is more satisfying for you than a sugary cereal.
Taking the time to consider your thoughts, feelings, and sensations as you eat also gives your body more time to digest your food. Chewing with intention slows down your eating and allows your saliva’s enzymes to do their work so your body can absorb your food’s nutrients.
Thoughtfully eating your meals and focusing on being present will make you less likely to eat beyond what you’re hungry for, which helps with weight management. You’ll find that emotional eating happens less when you’re eating a mindful diet, too.
Eating and Gratitude
Mindful eating is a great way to enhance your gratitude practice and find the positives in your life. Slowing down to appreciate your food and relax as you eat allows you to enjoy it, focus on gratitude for your meal, and be aware of how your body responds to it.
Make gratitude part of your mindful diet by considering the people and resources it takes to bring your food to your plate. Consider your fortune to get to choose the foods you eat, and to eat as much as your body needs.
Want to learn more about healthy eating? Join us on March 25th for our workshop, The Basics of Healthy Eating. Carly will take you through everything you need to know about choosing and eating healthy foods, including what foods to eat/avoid, portion control, and more. Plus, you get a reusable VIBE canvas grocery bag and shopping list with registration! Sign up today.
