When you first start to get on board with mindful eating, it’s super likely that you’ll have been eating mindlessly until now.
Not sure if this applies to you or not? Let’s talk a little bit about the differences between eating mindfully and eating mindlessly.
With mindless eating, your focus isn’t solely on your food and the overall eating experience. You might be eating while catching up with episodes of your favorite shows or scrolling on your smartphone. Or maybe you’re eating while you’re walking or chatting on the phone and snacking at the same time. The common factor in all of these scenarios? You’re eating quickly and probably eating a lot more than you realize in a pretty short time frame. If you’re used to eating on the go and multi-tasking, there’s a fair chance that you’re used to eating in a more mindless fashion.
Mindful eating is a whole different ball game. It’s about taking your time while you eat, engaging your senses with every mouthful and enjoying what you’re eating. Experts agree that it takes around 20 minutes for the brain to register that you’re full and mindful eating helps you to eat in line with this. When you’re eating mindlessly, you can easily eat a whole heap of calories in that time frame before your brain can catch up with your actual level of satiety.
It can be a challenge to shift from mindless to mindful eating but there are tons of benefits too!
Until next time!
Adrienne