Mind Your Mealtime

Which of these best describes your typical meal:

You eat standing up, working at your desk or while running around the kitchen trying to make sure everyone else has everything they need. Mealtime is stressful, hectic and not a lot of fun.

You eat at a beautifully set table, have plenty of time to enjoy your meal and the company of the people you're eating with, and savor the tastes and the atmosphere of mealtime.

If you're like me, the first is your typical meal, and the second happens only when the stars align, there's no full moon, you're on vacation and your kids are off at camp. But it doesn't have to be this way! Eating mindfully, more like the second scenario, can actually help us lose weight, because we're paying more attention to what and why we're eating.

What is mindful eating?

Mindful eating, according to The Center for Mindful Eating (TCME) is choosing to eat food that is pleasing, nourishing and involves all your senses. That counts out going through the fast food drive-thru with a car full of smelly, sweaty soccer players!

Mindful eating also acknowledges our individual feelings about food, both positive and negative. I have really good memories of picking, cleaning and eating fresh strawberries with my family that I remember with a smile every time strawberry season rolls around. The memories and the act of savoring those memories make eating strawberries a delight.

4 Steps to Achieving Mindful Eating

If you want to make mealtime more than a five-minute race to down something halfway nutritious, start by working on these four steps, suggested by TCME.

Become aware of what's going on while you're eating. Use all of your senses, and really pay attention to the smells, sounds, sights and texture of your food and your surroundings. Many of us can't remember anything about what we ate yesterday; trying to conjure up the smells and sounds that went along with the meals is more than we can handle. Yet if we start to pay attention to our meals, we'll be able to figure out what works for us and what doesn't.

Think about why you're eating these particular foods. What led you to ordering these foods, preparing this particular meal or choosing one restaurant over another? The reasons aren't as important as identifying the choice behind the reasons.

Next, start to focus in on choice. Why did I choose these foods, this location and even this time of day to eat? What's going on physically, mentally and emotionally that led me to these choices? Try to reflect objectively on what's going on; this is not the time to berate yourself for forgetting to pack lunch and relying on the vending machine!

Finally, start to become aware of how the choices you make about meals and foods help or harm you. Is anyone else affected by these choices? In my case, I'm the one who purchases and prepares the food for my family, so my choices affect not only myself, but also my husband and kids. Extend that out to how choosing organic foods helps protect the earth and how opting to shop from the local farmers' market makes a positive impact on my neighbors who produce these foods.

Take It One Step at a Time

There's no set time frame for learning to eat mindfully. Work at a pace that makes the most sense to you. Perhaps start with just one meal, or pick one day of the week to practice just one of these steps. Start with step one, and after you've mastered it, move on to step two. Eating mindfully not only can help you enjoy meals more, but it can also lead to weight loss and healthier eating habits.

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