I will not take your dessert away

I love to eat and I’m not writing this to forbid you having a Sunday roast. On the contrary! I’m writing this so you can find more pleasure in food and recognize when it is not hunger but your emotions making you open the fridge. If you sit to the table with more awareness then you can develop healthier customs and even lose a few kilograms.

Your first mindful meal

It’s easy to say just sit down with more awareness over a plate but what does that mean? I brought you a few practical tips with which you can add a little mindfulness in your menue.

1. Why are you eating?

Start noticing and writing down what feelings you have when you sit down to eat. It’s often exhaustion, boredom and stress that take us to the fridge. Do you see these patterns? Be conscious about them and look for another answer to handle them. Have a glass of water, take a short break, meditate, walk around the block. Find other stimuli that help yououtside of food.

1. Don’t fill up your plate

We often eat until there is food in front of us so as a first step simply put less food on your plate. This way you’ll have a moment when you must ask yourself: am I really still hungry? The other trick is to use a smaller plate that you can fill up without a future foodcoma.

2. Notice the food

When you are cooking notice the food with your senses. What does it smell like? How is it’s texture? What sound does it make when you stir it or chew it? When you taste it concentrate on the taste of the ingredients and spices. Go through each of your senses and cherish that food is more than just a taste.

3. Chew, chew, chew

I personally used to be very bad at this, I can swallow huge chunks of food in one. This make digestion harder and speeds up eating which can lead to overeating. Take a bite of food into your mouth and count how many chews it actually takes to chew it properly. With the next bite count again to make the same number of chews. I know it sounds odd but you will be surprised how little we chew what we eat. It’s really exciting that the taste of many foods changes when you chew them properly so this custom will enrich your meal.

4. Put down your cutlery between two bites

When you have your cutlery in your hand you tend to just continuously munch  food. If you put down the cutlery between two bites you won’t swallow fast because the next bite is already in your mouth.

When you don’t succeed

Mindful eating doesn’t mean that from now on all of your meals will be like this. Celebrate little victories and go easy on yourself if the Sunday roast puts mindful eating in the corner during the weekend.

And if you do manage to overeat yourself here are some easy to follow, digestion enhancing yoga practices for which you will not even need to change clothes.