Eating calmly and mindfully can help us reduce anxiety, lose weight and improve our well-being. We tell you how to start a more conscious diet and some simple, tasty, and healthy recipes. Conscious eating or Mindful Eating is a technique that helps control eating habits.
Among other benefits, it has been shown to promote weight loss, reduce binge eating and promote well-being.
In this article, we explain what Mindful Eating is, and how to put it into practice and we suggest some delicious and healthy dishes.
Mindfulness + food = conscious and healthy eating
Conscious eating or Mindful Eating is one that is based on full attention and in the present moment.
Mindfulness or full attention is a form of meditation that helps identify and manage emotions and physical sensations.
In fact, the University of Georgia found that mindfulness helps make mindful food choices, improves self-control, and decreases depressive symptoms.
Likewise, mindful eating uses mindfulness to achieve a state of full awareness of physical cues (hunger, fullness) and eating experiences.
However, according to Harvard Medical School, the concept of mindful eating goes beyond the individual. We eat for total health.”
mindful eating technique
The book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life suggests several practices that can help us begin to eat more mindfully.
Make a shopping list. Consider the value of each food on the list and respect it to avoid impulse purchases. Fill most of the cart with agricultural products and avoid processed products.
Go to the table with an appetite. But before having a ravenous hunger. If you skip meals, you will be anxious to have something in your stomach. Filling that void will prevent you from enjoying the food.
Serve yourself a little. Start with a small portion. It may help to limit portions or choose a dessert-size plate.
Appreciate food. Pause before you begin to contemplate everything. Silently express gratitude for being able to enjoy the food and the people you share it with.
Put your senses in the food. When you’re cooking, serving, and eating, pay attention to the color, texture, aroma, and even the sounds that food makes.
Take small bites. It’s easier to fully savor food when your mouth isn’t full. Leave the cutlery on the table between bites.
Chew well. You may need to chew each bite 20 to 40 times, depending on the food. But surely you will be surprised by all the flavors that are released.
Eat slowly. Spend at least five minutes eating mindfully before chatting with your tablemates.
5 Mindful Eating
- Baked sea bass with vegetables. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Cut carrots into wedges or other vegetables. Clean and scale the sea bass, and season with salt and pepper. Put the vegetables in a bowl, season, and cook for 20-30 minutes. Add the sea bass and drizzle with a little white wine. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Egg on toast with avocado. Toast a slice of whole wheat or rye bread. Crush the pulp of ¼ avocado with salt and a few drops of lemon. In a very hot frying pan, add oil and the salted egg. When it is curdled, put it on top of the spread bread.
- Grilled octopus with salad. Put the oven grill to heat. Boil the octopus in water for 25 minutes. Drain, dry well, and brush with oil. Put in a dish and roast, turning halfway through cooking. When you take it out, add coarse salt and paprika.
- Salmon with sesame. Brush a salmon fillet with sesame oil and coat it in sesame. Lightly grill in a preheated nonstick skillet just until the sesame is toasted. The heart of the fish must be raw.
- Mango salad. Dice mango and cucumber, add sprouts and parsley to the salad, and dress with a mustard vinaigrette. Accompany it with chickpea and beetroot hummus. For dessert, have medlars. In total, you will add about 390 kcal.
As you can see, mindful eating can help us replace automatic thoughts and reactions with more conscious and healthy responses.