What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is a way of being fully present with your food.
It’s not limited to just those moments while you are eating, though. It includes everything that happens around your food, including selecting what to eat, preparing it, the equipment you use, the environment you’re in, and how you serve and consume it.
How Is Mindful Eating Beneficial?
As a health coach who guides others in the miracles of mindful eating, I have seen too many benefits to mention. So I will outline my top two benefits of mindful eating:
- Becoming aware of eating habits that were previously unconscious is life-changing, both in terms of nutrition and other habits in your wider life. This awareness alone is so powerful that just noticing has the potential to create huge shifts in your life.
- When your full attention is on your food, this has enormous benefits for digestion. When your digestion is on point, you get the optimal nutrition from your food, your weight naturally regulates, you sleep better, your skin glows, your mood improves…I could go on.
The Mindful Eating Cycle
In my 1:1 health coaching sessions and my mindful eating group workshops, I use the Mindful Eating Cycle to help others see things about their food habits that they weren’t seeing before.
I love this method because it’s simple. Best of all, there’s no need to make changes right away. The process is at first just watching and noticing. Isn’t that refreshing?
The Mindful Eating Cycle was developed by Dr. Michelle May as a way to understand the way we eat. It provides the necessary structure for us to work on making gradual changes in our lifestyle.
When learning to eat mindfully, these questions will prompt you to become more aware and conscious of your eating style:
Why? Why do I eat?
This is the major underlying purpose or motivation driving the eating cycle. In other words, what is driving your cycle at any given time?
When? When do I want to eat?
When do you feel like eating? What causes an urge to eat?
What? What do I eat?
What food do you choose to eat from all the possible options?
How? How do I eat?
How does food get from the plate or container into your body?
How Much? How much do I eat?
How much fuel do I give my body?
Where? Where do I invest my energy?
Once I have chosen and eaten the food to fuel my body, where do I spend that energy (includes physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual energy).
Are you starting to see that often when you eat, you do it without much thought? If you considered all these questions before every meal or snack, how might your eating habits change?
Learn the Art of Mindful Eating – And Lose Weight!
Join me for a FREE online masterclass to learn the basics of mindful eating, how it can radically transform your health, and even help you to lose weight.
Register Now: Eat Mindfully and Lose Weight – Thursday 26th May 2022 – Online Via Zoom
Places are strictly limited, so save your spot now!
***
Schedule a free health breakthrough session with me now so we can look at your current approaches to food and nutrition.
I’d also love for you to join my mailing list so I can invite you to my next mindful eating workshop. Get your free mini course in the form below and I will be in touch!
You can read more of my blogs on mindful eating here.
