Enhancing Your Relationship with Your Food
Food and Kayla’s relationship status: Complicated.
I’ve had an interesting relationship with food since I got serious about living healthier in 2015. While I don’t have a monumental story about overcoming an eating disorder or losing or gaining a substantial amount of weight, food and I have definitely had our ups and downs. To a certain extent, I think all of us have complicated relationships with food. I’ve been working to un-complicate mine and here’s what I’ve learned:
Food is our friend and when it's not, we usually aren’t being so friendly to ourselves.
Food knows no morality. There is no good or bad, there’s room for everybody at the table (no pun intended).
Cravings are things to tune into, not tune out.
Diets go by several names (not just keto, paleo, vegan, etc).
Mindful eating makes for amazing experiences with food.
What is mindfulness?
In short, it’s being conscious or aware of something, meaning that you’re paying attention on purpose and you’re acting in the present moment (and only in the present moment). Our minds naturally wander through thoughts, everything from how to solve world hunger to what we plan to do over the weekend. Our minds can often wander to less helpful thoughts (think self-pity, revenge, etc) and when we give those kinds of thoughts a lot of time in our mental space, we reinforce those emotions. So when we purposefully direct our awareness away from those thoughts and towards the present moment in a positive way, we create instead a space of freedom where the helpful thoughts and experiences can be fostered.
Okay, so I get mindfulness. But what does that have to do with food?
Eating mindfully isn’t about what you eat, but it is about how and why you eat. It’s about eating for nutrition and for pleasure without judgment. It’s about paying close attention to taste, textures, and sensations, and savoring each bite and genuinely enjoying your food. Have you ever thought about the first bite of food that you love? You’ve probably been looking forward it all day. You take a bite and you’re totally immersed in the flavor and the texture and you’re happy to be eating it. Then you turn on the TV, pick up the phone, or start cleaning up around the house and before you know it, the food is gone.
If that’s you, it’s cool. We’ve all been there. This is a prime example of an unconscious eating experience.
Mindful eating is about recreating that “first bite” excitement for every bite. When your mind is disengaged from eating, you’re never satisfied and start looking for more food, even when you are full. When you connect with your eating experience and reflect on the whole experience of food (from why made it and who you’re eating with to how the food makes you feel), you’re guaranteed to be more satisfied, regardless of how much food you eat.
What are the benefits/why should I do it?
There are many benefits for intuitive eating to include:
Mindset shifts for better physical and psychological health (because eating mindfully is not about restrictive diet choices)
Food becomes enjoyable/something to enjoy
It slows down the pace at which you eat, which gives your brain time to register fullness in the body and gives the body time to tell you that it’s full
It’s good for digestion
Here are some easy ways to slow down your meals and be more mindful:
Eat with chopsticks.
Eat with your nondominant hand
Eat while sitting down.
Eat without screens (TV, tablet, computer, laptop, or phone)
If eating with others, do a roundtable gratitude activity (say something you’re grateful for)
Chew your food 10-15 times per bite. Pay attention to taste and texture and how it changes. Swallow when the food is uniformly smooth.
Set down your utensils between bites.
Try to make the meal last at least 20 minutes
That’s it for this post! I hope this gets you one step closer to reaching your wellness goals without the guesswork and becoming your own wellness expert. Thanks for journeying with me.