Do You Know What Mindful Eating Is?
I used to think that I knew exactly what I was eating and why I was eating it. Now, I realize that there’s a whole lot more to the psychology of eating than I was aware of. Turns out hunger may not usually even be in the top three reasons why people eat and when they eat. This is the concept sometimes called “Mindful Eating”.
It’s a pretty simple concept. Everybody knows that people gain weight when they eat more calories than they use. So, if it’s so simple, why is it so hard to lose weight? The subject of eating, it seems, is a lot more complex than we thought. Often we eat without thinking about it. We eat without mindfulness.
Mindful eating means thinking about every thing that you eat and why you’re really eating it. For example, if turning on the TV always leads to mindless munching, that’s something that would be good to realize so you can head it off. One thing that I also became aware of is that when it’s lunchtime or dinner time, I eat. Often times, I’m not even hungry but I eat anyway, because it’s time to eat. You would have a hard time calling that ‘mindful’.
I think for most people one of the biggest causes of mindless eating is boredom. Nothing to do, nowhere to go often leads to a quick binge of eating for some stimulation. Eating is always there as a fallback when we can’t think of anything else to do or maybe when we’re trying to avoid doing something unpleasant. Opening a bag of potato chips has a lot more immediate gratification than balancing a checkbook or doing the laundry.
Another reason people sometimes eat when they’re not hungry is to make someone else feel good. Sounds strange, but it happens a lot. Have you ever eaten seconds when you’re not hungry just to assure your spouse that you approve of the meal that they cooked? Or eaten when you’re not hungry because you know the cook will experience feelings of rejection if you don’t? If so, you’re listening to someone else and not your own body when it comes to decisions about food.
There’s a lot more to mindful eating than it seems on the surface. A simple everyday action like eating can actually have a lot more behind it than just hunger. Finding out why we eat, what causes us to start eating and what the real triggers are is the first step to getting a successful weight loss program off the ground.
Want to find out more about successful weight loss? Visit HealthyLiving411.com to choose the best diet for your needs.