By Katie Boscia, RD, IBCLC, CDE
Learning what you should eat is half the battle of living a healthier life. The other half is being present and paying attention to what you’re eating. Our world today is so busy, we’re constantly trying to save time. Whether it’s eating in the car while you’re taking your children to after-school activities, or eating dinner while working on a project, people are constantly ignoring their food.
Without thinking, you’ve eaten meals and snacks that are either unhealthy options or contain extra calories you don’t need. This can be a problem when people can’t tell if they’re hungry or full because they’re no longer paying attention to their body’s signals.
We can combat this by being mindful of what we eat. This means paying attention to what you’re eating and gauging your actions and reactions to the food. Ask yourself why you want to eat at that particular time. Try to determine if you’re actually hungry or if you are eating because you are bored or stressed.
Here are four tips to help you eat more mindfully:
- Determine what type of food you want to eat. If you’re craving something salty, don’t eat grapes and think you’ll be content. While grapes are healthy, what inevitably happens is your body isn’t satisfied with your choice, so you’ll continue grazing until you get that salty snack you were originally craving.
- Check in with yourself to see how much you’re enjoying the food. Use your senses to taste, smell and recognize the appeal and the texture of your foods, as well as how they sound. Rate your reaction to the food to see how much you’re enjoying it. You may be surprised at how quickly your body gets tired of the same food.
- Eat slowly. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that you’re full, so make sure to eat slowly and rate how full you feel. Don’t wait until you feel like a nine out of 10 on the fullness scale before you stop eating. Try to stop eating when you’re around a five or six.
- Give your food your full attention. Don’t get distracted by cell phones, television or other things that may be going on around you. If you pay attention to your body and eat mindfully, you’ll find you enjoy your food more but save calories and eat less.
Are you ready to start eating healthy, but you’re not sure how? Learn about the one-on-one Nutritional Counseling program at Riverview Health.