Body Blog: Not Your Mother’s Mindful Eating

By Garnet Henderson

When I get stressed, I eat. And it’s not salads I crave. Usually I go for carbs, cheese, greasy foods, salty foods or chocolate. And I’m almost always multitasking while I eat. I’m staring at Facebook or Twitter, watching a TV show on Hulu or checking my email. Is this a good thing? Probably not. But I know I’m not alone.

Lots of people, especially college students, share my not-so-great eating habits. We eat on the go, scarfing down food between classes. We eat at weird hours because our schedules are always changing. And as you can probably guess, this isn’t great from a nutrition standpoint. Eating quickly and allowing emotions to motivate your eating habits leads to overeating and overindulging cravings.

Now, more and more nutritionists are suggesting a practice called mindful eating as a way break these habits. So, what is mindful eating? Although it has only become popular recently, mindful eating is by no means new. The concept is rooted in Buddhist philosophy. It’s almost like a kind of meditation involving food.

To eat mindfully, you have to savor every bite. Instead of shoveling food into your mouth, you have to experience it. You’re supposed to pay attention to the smell and texture of the food, the way it looks and the subtleties of its flavor. Experts say you should try and chew 25 to 30 times for each bite. Oh, and one more thing – no talking allowed. No staring at a TV or computer screen, either. Just eating and focusing on the sensations and experience.

Not such an easy task, especially when you’re running around between classes and have papers to write. But nutritionists think that mindful eating could be a key way to prevent overeating. When you savor each bite and pay attention to your body’s response, you’re more in-tune with your real needs. You learn to recognize when you’ve had enough, and when you’re only eating because you feel sad or stressed.

And the best part is that mindful eating doesn’t involve giving up any foods. You can still indulge in cravings, you just have to go slowly and be conscious of what exactly you’re doing. Ideally, you’ll stop overeating and enjoy food more.

Mindful eating can be tough for beginners – especially the silence part. Experts suggest that at the very least you try eating in a peaceful environment. That means no phone, no computer, no TV, no reading. Nothing but you and your food. And you can try short periods of silence to start out with.

No time to mindfully eat at every meal? I don’t blame you – I don’t have hours to devote to my meals, either. But try taking a few mindful sips of tea or coffee, or really savoring the first few bites of your meal. If you like it, then you can progress to monthly or weekly mindful meals.

I think I’m going to give mindful eating a try. I’d probably be better off in more ways than one if I made it through more meals without texting or checking Facebook.

What about you? Would you give mindful eating a try?

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

[Lead image via befly/Shutterstock]