Mindful Eating – 4 Top Tips
1. Listen to your body not your head
Being mindful of what your body is telling you has been shown to be effective in reducing overeating. Take a moment to establish whether you are actually hungry, or whether your hunger is simply driven by emotions, boredom or stress.
2. Rate your hunger 1-10
Try to eat something before you get to 8. This way you will be less likely to overeat and more likely to eat something balanced and filling rather than convenient and full of sugar/fat/salt.
3. Savour your food
Savouring each meal and snack will enable you to mindfully enjoy your food, rather than eating unnecessarily. This way you won’t feel as though you have missed out, and therefore will be less likely to crave unhealthy food.
4. Pay attention to your stomach not your eyes
Paying attention to your physical sensation of fullness is hugely important – do this instead of concentrating on the sights and tastes you experience. Like hunger, rate your fullness from 1-10. Stop eating when you feel you’ve reached a 7 or 8, this will mean that you will feel moderately full. Your true fullness will not register for approximately 20 minutes after eating, so stopping when you do not feel completely full will mean that you will be comfortably full half an hour after your meal. This will help to ensure that you do not overeat.
