Mindful Eating - The What and the Why
In today’s world there is no shortage of things you could be doing. You might feel like you need to squeeze every last bit out of the hours in your day. So you decided, like me, that you’re going to use your time eating to get something else done. Maybe its responding to emails, finishing off a presentation or catching up on your favourite tv shows. Unfortunately, this is one of those instances where its best to do one thing at a time.
Research has progressed and turns out calories in vs calories out is not the whole story. While being ONE useful tool, it is severly limited, it doesn’t account for the myriad of other factors that influence your body. Stress being a prime one. We could be eating the cleanest, most nourishing foods (all within our calorie allowance), but if our body is in a stressed out state and isn’t able to break down and assimilate our food then we may be missing out on a lot of benefits and potentially leading to some problems such as increased inflammation.
Enter mindful eating. This practise is all about stripping back, allowing our body to enter the state it needs to properly digest food.
So, let’s look at HOW to eat.
Some science before starting
There are 2 branches of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic is your fight, flight or freeze branch, basically getting your body ready to handle a threat (stress). It breaks you down to make sure you have enough resources to run or fight.
The parasympathetic is your rest and digest branch. Regarding digestion, it is responsible for secreting gastric juices to digest food, enzymes to break them down further to ensure you assimilate nutrients. Ultimately this branch builds you up.
Stay tuned, article on the autonomic nervous system to come!
Why are you telling me this? I’m not being threatened while eating
That’s right, there is no tiger chasing you (I hope!) when you’re eating, BUT, to the human body, stress is stress, irrespective of where it comes from. Fretting over your to do list during lunch is still a stress on the body. And stressors like this activate the sympathetic nervous system, which is not ideal for digestion. This may even lead to digestive disturbances like frequent diarrhea, reflux, gas and bloating.
Get parasympathetic before your papaya (or whatever food you’re eating)
Basically, parasympathetic is where you want to be when eating. This goes for both snacks and meals
Here are some ways to get parasympathetic before and during eating
Take some deep belly breathes before starting your meal
Eat with people you love
Practise gratitude. Give thanks to your food
Eat out in nature
Set aside time for eating where you won’t be interrupted. Think of it as an appointment and allow yourself this time to nourish your body. If you know you’re going to be really pressed for time consider having a quicker, easier to digest meal like a smoothie or even just skipping a meal
Be present and remove distractions. These include your phone, laptop, to-do list, work, books and even television.
if you are going to watch television anyway, opt for comedy, and stay from horror or action.
Don’t eat at your desk
Don’t eat on the go, both walking or driving
Don’t go from intense, stressful work to eating straight away. Do something in between to relax and transition. This could be as simple as a short walk or laying on the floor for a few moments
After you’ve finished eating, continue sitting before beginning the next part of your day, it could even be for a few moments.
How to begin mindful eating
First, ask yourself, am I being truly present with my food? How could I be even more present?
Don’t feel like you need to implement everything on this list straight away or even at all. Focus on small changes that add up over time. If you slip up occasionally that’s no big deal, simply start back up in the next meal.
Do you feel you eat mindfully? Or would you like to? What’s one practise you’ll do to be more present with your meals? Comment below.