What Does Mindfulness Have to Do with Eating?
- Vanessa Woog
- Apr 1, 2022
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 25, 2024
As a mom, I’ve certainly had my fair share of mindless eating — especially when my children were young and I was struggling with low energy levels.
Sometimes, while snacking on a box of crackers (or more likely a chocolate bar!) and completely lost in my to-do list, I would realize just moments later that the box was empty? Seriously? How did I eat that entire bag of crackers without even noticing?!!
Has that ever happened to you? It’s happened to me more than once!
During those moments of stress and exhaustion, food gave me great comfort. The foods I craved, however, were often not the ones that served me well. Believe it or not, I never reached for broccoli. I tended to grab the sweet or caffeinated items. Although that did give me an initial boost of energy, ultimately I would crash hard.
What I really needed at that time was the feeling of comfort and calm, without relying on food, especially since I wasn't even hungry most of the time. I was at a complete loss on how to actually embody that feeling in a grounded and connected way. It seemed like an unsurmountable task that would take way too much of my precious time.
This is where a mindfulness practice can come to the rescue!
The practice of “mindfulness” has been around for ages, while the term itself has been coined more recently.
But what does mindfulness really mean? And how does it relate more specifically to our eating habits?
Just when we want to reach for that cookie to experience relief from a moment of stress, can mindfulness somehow help us come to a decision making place that allows us to make healthier food choices?
Read on to find out more about mindful eating, what it means, what the research shows and concrete steps to implement this nourishing practice to your life.
If you are pressed for time (as most moms are!), click here for the key takeaways by topic and check out the "bottom line" for each section:
What is mindfulness?
The concept of mindful eating comes from the broader philosophy of mindfulness which is derived from Buddhist teachings.
Mindfulness is an intentional focus on the present moment while acknowledging one’s emotions, thoughts and physical sensations. It involves paying attention to and becoming more aware of, rather than reacting to, one’s inner state and the choices that are available.
According to Thich Nath Han and Lilian Cheung: “To be mindful is to be completely aware of what is happening in the present, to be fully aware of all that is going on within ourselves and all that is happening around us, from moment to moment, without judgment or preconceived notions.”
Bottom line: Mindfulness is about being present with what is and being aware of all that is.
What is mindful eating?
The principles of mindfulness also apply to eating.
Eating mindfully means paying attention to the actual process of eating, taking into consideration physical sensations, feelings and thoughts related to food, as well as to all of the reasons we choose to eat.
We can practice mindful eating by being attentive to all the steps that went into the creation of a meal: where the food came from, the foods we purchase, how we prepare the food and how we consume the meal. We do so with greater consciousness and with full acceptance.
Mindful eating encourages us to make choices that will best serve us and be nourishing to our body. It is about becoming more aware of our eating habits and how we can take steps towards behavior changes that will be beneficial not just for us, but also for the environment.
Eating mindfully is about having a better understanding of why we make the choices we make. It is about noticing the internal and external cues that are guiding us towards certain choices, such as distinguishing between physical and emotional cues of hunger and noticing our responses to these cues.
Mindful eating encourages us to become aware by asking questions.
For example: Are you eating while doing something else and being distracted, not really tasting your food? Are you eating to numb pain or relieve stress and anxiety? Are you rushing through the food to get to the next item on your to-do list? What triggers and emotional responses (shame? guilt? trauma patterns?) come up for you?
Bottom line: Mindful eating encourages us to be fully attentive and more deeply connected to ourselves and our food.
The health benefits of mindful eating
Overall, mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective for improving depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, addiction, psychosis, pain, hypertension, weight control, and cancer-related symptoms (Zhang et al., 2021).
When it comes to mindful eating and its effectiveness, the evidence is more mixed.
Studies have shown that mindfulness approaches can be effective in addressing binge eating, emotional eating and eating in response to external cues — all behaviors that can lead to weight gain and obesity (Warren et al., 2017; Grohmann and Laws, 2021).
Systematic reviews on mindful eating as an alternative weight management strategy so far present contradictory results (Artiles et al., 2019; Carriere et al., 2018; Mercado et al., 2021).
Mindfulness may not be effective as a weight loss strategy on its own, but rather serve as a complement to a weight loss program. One review provided strong support for including mindful eating as a component of weight management programs (Dunn et al., 2019).
If we approach mindfulness as a weight loss plan, we may lose the bigger picture of what mindfulness is truly about. Check out this interesting article on why mindful eating is not a weight loss plan.
Mindful eating is sometimes associated with a higher diet quality or opting for smaller serving sizes of calorie-dense foods (Fung et al., 2016), but not always (Grider et al., 2021).
In a literature review of 68 publications, reduced food intake, slowing down the pace of a meal, recognizing feelings of fullness and greater control over eating was observed with mindfulness practices (Warren et al., 2017).
Mindful eating has been shown to offer an effective way to help regulate the stress response for optimal digestive function, which is key for promoting wellness and survival (Cherpak, 2019).
More research is needed to determine the health benefits of mindful eating, but some avenues of research show promising results. Still, even without the solid evidence, mindfulness practices can benefit us all by bringing greater consciousness to our relationship with food.
Why the research is not robust
A glance at the research indicates that there are a number of limitations to the studies conducted on this topic. These include: small sample sizes, variation in study designs, lack of standardized definition for mindful eating, short duration of interventions, lack of focus on diet quality, and lack of follow-up so that longer-term success is not measured.
Bottom line: The evidence on the health benefits of mindful eating are mixed. More research is needed to address the limitations of study designs and lack of standardized definition for mindful eating.
Seven key practices to mindful eating
The list below is inspired by Thich Nath Han and Lilian Cheung from their book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life.
1) Shop mindfully.
Begin with your shopping experience. Consider creating a list of nourishing foods you want to buy and stick to the list to avoid impulsive buying of items that may not be so healthy for you.
Take into account the health value of what you are purchasing and focus on non-processed, wholesome foods. Avoid the center aisles which are generally stocked with processed foods.
You start the process of mindful eating by making conscious decisions about what you are buying and what will be most nourishing for your body.
2) Be grateful.
Pause for a moment before you begin eating to offer thanks. Acknowledge everything that went into the preparation of the meal: where, how and by whom the food was planted and harvested; who delivered the food and who stocked it; and who prepared the meal.
This is also an opportunity to connect to the elements and offer thanks for the soil, water, air and sun that contributed to creating an environment for your food to blossom.
You can offer gratitude silently or via a verbal blessing or acknowledgment. Our family does this every night — honoring the earth and people who brought us all this delicious food. It takes 30 seconds and sets a peaceful tone for approaching our food with greater reverence.
3) Single-task: no distractions!
Attend to your plate with your full attention. Most Americans eat while working, driving or engaged in some other activity. When distracted, we are not fully focused on the act of eating and therefore more likely to overeat.
4) Engage all senses.
Notice the colors, smells, tastes, and textures of the food you are preparing and eating. Check-in to see how you feel when eating. Connecting to your senses can help you come back to the present moment. Pause periodically throughout the meal to engage these senses.
5) Serve modest portions.
Do not overfill your plate with food. Start with a small portion. This can help you avoid overeating and food waste. If, once you are finished with your serving size, you are still hungry, by all means serve yourself more food. However, enjoy a pause between re-serving yourself to see if you are still truly hungry.
6) Slow down by savoring small bites, chewing thoroughly.
Taking small bites can help slow down the meal. You can try and put down your utensil between bites (I have a hard time with that one!) or eating with your non-dominant hand.
If you eat slowly, you are more likely to recognize when you are feeling satisfied, or when you are most full, and can stop eating. You want to aim for eating til you feel 80% full and thereby avoiding the discomfort of a “too full” sensation.
7) Don’t skip meals (unless you are fasting).
Going too long without eating increases the risk of strong hunger, which may lead to the quickest and easiest food choices, generally having us grab for processed foods.
Bottom line: There are many different ways to practice mindful eating such as shopping mindfully, being grateful for our food, avoiding multi-tasking while eating, engaging all senses, serving modest portions, eating slowly and not skipping meals.
The BASICS of mindful eating and the raisin meditation
BASICS
If the above list feels a bit overwhelming, consider beginning with the following acronym: BASICS.
It comes from Lynn Rossy’s book: Savor every Bite: Mindful Ways to Eat, Love Your Body, and Live with Joy.
BASICS stands for:
B=Breathe and Belly Check Before You Eat.
A=Assess Your Food.
S=Slow Down.
I=Investigate Your Hunger Throughout the Meal.
C=Chew Your Food Thoroughly.
S=Savor Your Food.
The Raisin Meditation
The Raisin Meditation was invented by Jon Kabat-Zinn as an exercise to introduce people to core concepts of mindfulness and features as a popular exercise in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.
Check it out here.
Bottom line: Tools such as BASICS and the raisin meditation can be used to approach the practice of mindful eating.
As always, play around with these tools and see what works best for you. Do YOU.
