How to apply Mindful Eating to your life?

Here's how you can incorporate Mindful Eating into your healthy habits.

Most people live thinking about the negative events that have happened to them, or worrying about all the bad things that may come their way.

In situations like this the mind forgets about the present and wanders between the past and the future.. Therefore, through Mindfulness psychotherapy professionals intend that people are able to live their lives experiencing their present and mindfulness.

Understanding Mindfulness

The official Spanish translation of Mindfulness is "Atención Plena". And what is Mindfulness?

The practice of Mindfulness consists of paying attention to a single thing, in a sustained manner over time and without making judgments.. The goal here is not to blank your mind, as the more you try to do this the more complicated it will be, but to focus your attention on the present moment.

If you give your mind something to focus on, such as your own breathing, you are training your mind to redirect your thoughts and attention where you want them to go. When we pay attention to just one thing, the mind calms down and brings us to a state of greater tranquility..

Meditation is not something simple; we are used to the famous multitasking (doing many tasks at the same time) and when we try to concentrate on just one thing our mind starts to wander: we are assaulted by worries, negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, etc.

In Mindfulness workshops it is common that patients get frustrated for not being able to stay in the present and get carried away by their distractions. However, It is very important not to live the process from impatience, judgment and frustration..

Having understood these basic concepts of Mindfulness, we can introduce the concept of mindful eating.

What is Mindful Eating?

Living your life from Mindfulness not only applies to the moment of meditation as such. We can watch a series, go for a walk and even eat from Mindfulness.

Mindful Eating involves eating while being aware of the taste and smell of food, being attentive to the signs of satiety, and being connected to the emotions we experience. and being connected to the emotions we experience in the present.

This is where the concept of emotional hunger comes in. How can we differentiate between emotional hunger and physiological hunger?

Emotional hunger comes on suddenly, it does not come on gradually, and when it comes on, we tend to crave more food. when it arises we tend to crave more sweet or caloric foods.. We usually start eating because of a specific emotion (anger, sadness, boredom, etc.) and we feel some relief when we eat the food.

However, this relief only lasts a few seconds. Then the initial emotion for which we started to eat appears, and this time it may be even stronger, as guilt is added to it.

If we turn to food to calm an emotion, the most dangerous thing is not to get fat, it is to obviate an emotional need that is not being met. that is not being met. Emotional hunger comes into our life to shout something at us. It can come from a lack of self-care, poor management of work stress or problems in interpersonal relationships. However, if we eat instead of attending to our real needs, emotional hunger will scream louder.

To my patients I always expose this metaphor: eating to, for example, calm sadness, is like scratching a mosquito bite. In the moment it relieves, but in the long run it is worse.

The HEVA technique

One of the most used techniques in psychonutrition sessions is the HEVA technique. Would you like to put it into practice?

During this week I want you to you to answer the following questions at each lunch and dinner.

H for hunger

From o to 10, rate your answer to this question: What is your actual hunger level?

E for excitement

Do you think you are calming or have you tried to calming any emotion with this intake?

V for speed

How fast or slow are you eating? If we eat too fast we often don't detect that we are already full.. If you wait a few minutes, you will have the opportunity to check if you really need to eat more food or if you already feel completely satisfied.

A for Attention, Mindfulness

Where are you focusing your attention? It is essential that when we eat we avoid the famous multitasking..

Watching TV, working, studying or doing any other activity while we eat, implies that we are not focused on the activity of eating. This invites us to eat faster, not to enjoy the taste of food and therefore can facilitate binge eating or compulsive eating.