Mindful eating refers to staying present while eating, as well as paying attention to your body and letting it guide you on when, how, and what to eat. Ideally, you learn to eat free from distractions and without rigid dieting rules. Mindful eating is a great way for people to build healthier relationships with food and their bodies.
What Is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is a practice rooted in mindfulness. When you mindfully eat, you intentionally pay attention while eating your food. It’s a moment-by-moment experience, and you try to notice your thoughts and feelings without judgment.1
The practice of mindful eating is similar to intuitive eating, which refers to a specific approach toward eating. The concept of intuitive eating was developed and formalized in the 1900s and is a model that helps people listen to their own bodies when making food choices. Mindful eating is simply about raising awareness and bringing mindfulness into the eating experience.
The fundamentals of mindful eating include:
- Intentionally savoring the taste, texture, and feeling of food
- Aiming to experience the food with all five senses
- Eating slowly and chewing completely
- Noticing hunger and fullness cues throughout the day
- Recognizing feelings and thoughts about food without judging them
- Minimizing or eliminating distractions while eating
What Are the Benefits of Mindful Eating?
Many people experience anxiety and shame around food. We often make choices based on what and how we think we’re supposed to eat. Rather than listening to our bodies and enjoying the experience, we may go on auto-pilot during meals. Mindful eating aims to gently shift away all of this mental clutter. People who mindfully eat tend to feel calmer at mealtime, as they can truly savor and enjoy their food. They also learn how to eat the right amounts at the right times. Over time, this can help with issues like disordered eating, eating disorders, and toxic dieting strategies.
Possible benefits of mindful eating include:
Decreased Binge Eating Symptoms
Eating mindfully can reduce eating disorder symptoms, particularly in people who experience bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder. Urges to overeat or binge on food can be intense, and when people with these disorders begin eating, they often feel out of control. Research on these eating disorders confirms this; studies show that people with the most severe binge eating behaviors tend to have the lowest levels of mindfulness.2 Mindfulness offers grounding and centering, helping to slow down frantic energy and introduce more calmness to the present moment.
Decreased Restriction Symptoms
Restriction is a symptom present in anorexia, but it can also occur in all other eating disorders. Furthermore, many people attempt to restrict food to compensate for eating or to attempt to lose weight. Some research shows that mindful eating can help with anorexia symptoms.3 Mindful eating can help you rediscover pleasure in food, and it can also help you recognize how much you need to eat at a given time.
Decreased Emotional Eating Symptoms
Emotional eating refers to eating based on emotional needs rather than physical ones. Almost everyone emotionally eats from time to time. But if it’s a frequent habit, it can lead to an eating disorder or exacerbate other mental health symptoms, like depression or anxiety. Mindful eating can help reduce emotional eating, because it asks you to check in with your body, pay attention to hunger, and eat based on these cues.
Less Anxiety
Many people experience anxiety around food. They worry about everything, from calories and ingredients to the impact foods will have on their physical appearance. This anxiety may be so entrenched that you don’t even notice it during mealtimes–maybe it just becomes your norm. Mindful eating helps people shift away from eating out of fear. When you embrace this approach, you rediscover the pleasure of eating. Over time, you learn to trust your body to tell you what it needs.
Improved Mind-Body Awareness
The mind and body are inherently connected, but many people aren’t in touch with what their body needs. Instead, they often ignore their body’s cues because they want to focus on rules or logic. Mindful eating incorporates paying attention to both your body (listening to hunger cues, feeling textures and sensations) and mind (honoring your thoughts without judgment).
Improved Self-Compassion
Over time, mindful eating can increase self-compassion. The benefit is twofold, because people who practice more self-compassion tend to be more mindful. This benefit can improve everything from negative self-talk to poor body Image. Learning how to love yourself requires being attuned to what you need, and that applies to food.
7 Tips for Practicing Mindful Eating
The good news about mindful eating is that you don’t need any equipment, training, or resources to try it. After all, you already eat several times a day. With mindful eating, you are simply and gently shifting how you approach meals.
Here are seven tips for practicing mindful eating:
1. Learn Your Hunger Cues
It’s easier to eat mindfully when you eat when your body is hungry. You can get started by familiarizing yourself with the hunger-satiety scale. Being at a “one” refers to being starving and very weak; being at a 10 refers to being overly stuffed and nauseous.4 It’s a good idea to practice eating when you’re in the three or four zones (hungry to uncomfortably hungry). Throughout your meal, check in to see what number lands for you at different times. Notice how those numbers feel without placing judgment on them.
2. Move Away All Distractions
Mindful eating encompasses being present with your body, food, and eating. Simultaneously watching TV, looking at your phone, or working make this challenging. Even if it feels uncomfortable, start with being present with just one or two snacks or meals per day. Notice the difference between mindful eating and distracted eating. If things feel strange, simply notice this discomfort and acknowledge how it feels.
3. Practice With One Food First
The classic raisin test has been used by countless therapists and treatment facilities. The premise is straightforward–eat a raisin as slowly and intentionally as possible. Start by holding it, then focus on really looking at it (as if it’s the first time you’ve ever seen one). Observe how it feels in your fingers (consider closing your eyes), and smell it–notice how smell triggers your taste. Then chew the raisin in at least two to three bites. Notice how it feels as the taste enters your mouth and as you swallow it. You can practice this exercise with any single food and eventually work your way up to entire meals.5
4. Tap Into Your Five Senses
Just like you might do in the raisin meditation, aim to embrace your five senses the next time you eat a snack or meal. Start by looking at your food. What colors and images do you notice? How does the food arrange or mix together? Then, take in any smells. What subtle hints or fragrances emerge? As you eat, pay attention to how the food feels in your mouth. Notice temperature and texture and bodily sensations as you swallow. Highlight any sounds associated with chewing or digesting.
5. Chew as Slowly as Possible
People often rush through eating and don’t notice when they’re getting full. Or, they eat so fast they don’t stop to really enjoy what they’re consuming. Embracing mindful eating starts by chewing slowly. Take small bites and really focus on the food you’re eating. Set your fork or spoon down between bites. If this feels hard for you, set a timer for 20-30 minutes. Try to work your way up to your meals lasting for that amount of time.
6. Notice Your Thoughts & Feelings
Eating mindfully doesn’t mean eating without thoughts or feelings. At any given moment, you might experience thoughts like, This food is bad for me, or, This is too fattening. You may cycle through any feelings of sadness, fear, guilt, or boredom. These are all normal–instead of resisting them, simply make space for them. Allow them to arise without trying to judge or change them. If you feel like you’re getting lost, return to your five senses.
7. Pay Attention to Fullness
Just like it’s helpful to notice when your body is truly hungry, it’s equally important to recognize when you’re full. Using the hunger-satiety scale for reference, practice stopping eating when you’re at about six or seven (satisfied to full without being uncomfortable). Notice how this compares to other times you stop eating. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat more, but pay attention to how eating more affects your body and mind.
Final Thoughts
Mindful eating isn’t something you master overnight, and it isn’t something you need to do perfectly. But, slowing down and being more present with food can help you build a healthier relationship with yourself. It can also help you look forward to eating without anxiety or shame. That said, if you struggle with an eating disorder or your food behaviors are negatively impacting your life, consider speaking to a professional. It’s important to look after your health, and a therapist can support you in becoming more mindful.
Mindful Eating Infographics
