Mary Bitterauf, BS, CHES
Certified Health and Wellness Coach
Why Mindful Eating?
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep
well, if one has not dined well.”
~Virginia Woolf
First: What is Mindfulness?
• Paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and emotions in a
particular way without judgment.
• Noticing your own thoughts and reactions is an important step in
creating the opportunity for change – in particular when it comes
to our relationship to food and eating.
Mindful Meditation Practice
• Just sit comfortably in a chair, upright and relaxed.
• Focus your attention on your breath.
• Bring your awareness to the sensations you are most aware of
when breathing.
• Each time your mind wanders, gentle bring it back to the breath.
Habits of Mindless Eating
• Mindless Dieter
• Mindless Over Eater
• Mindless Under Eater
• Mindless Chaotic Eater
A Culture of Multi-tasking
• We often pair eating with other activities, such as
driving or working at our desks.
• Where and how did you eat your breakfast today??
Habits of Mindful Eating
• Paying attention to your hunger.
• Enjoying fully the foods you choose to prepare and eat – smell, texture, flavor.
• Acknowledging when hunger is emotional rather than physical.
• Learning to be aware of signals in and outside yourself so that you can make wise choices
every moment.
The Mind – Body Connection
• The mind-body connection plays a pivotal role in our ability to
accurately assess hunger and fullness.
• We eat meal after meal, snack after snack, barely aware of what
we’re eating and how much we’re consuming.
Benefits of Mindful Eating
• It’s a non-diet approach
• It’s safe for everyone
• The exercises are doable and realistic
• It supports self-acceptance
• It’s non-judgmental and compassionate
• It provides clarity
• It works!
Habits of the Mindful Eater
• Flexible about eating
• Aware of nutritional needs
• In touch with body (hunger cues – fullness)
• Eats when hungry – stops when full
• Nonjudgmental about self and others
• Focuses on the impact of food on health
• Enjoys food – not bogged down by guilt
• Can eat mindlessly occasionally
• Recovers quickly from incidences
Seven Skills of Mindful Eating
• Awareness
• Observation
• Being in the Moment
• Being Mindful of the Environment
• Non Judgment
• Letting Go
• Acceptance
Awareness
- Zoning out while eating
- Eating more than what your body needs
- Not paying attention to the way food tastes
- Being overly focused on calories – fat grams
- Skipping meals
Observation
• Not seeing what’s behind mindless eating
• Not paying attention to thoughts and feelings around food
• Not listening to when the body
• Feeling anxious about food and your body
Being in the Moment
• Thinking about body a past body image
• Thinking about a future, desired, body image
• Multitasking when eating
• Eating in front of t.v. or at the computer
• Snacking – eating prepared foods
The Environment
• Do you know what’s in the kitchen?
• Do you make the right choices to eat out?
• Do friends and family struggle with food?
• Are you talking a lot about dieting?
• What triggers are present?
Letting Go
• Clinging to the idea of losing weight
• Acting on urges
• Thinking obsessively about body and food
• Worry about failing
Non Judgment
• Labeling yourself when you think you fail
• Getting mad for worrying so much
• Avoiding foods as a punishment
• Feeling guilty
• Negative self-image affects your relationships
Begin by Paying Attention
• Knowing when your body needs to be fed.
• Am I really hungry?
• Do I need to eat, or do I just want to eat?
H.A.L.T
Not sure why you are eating?
Try asking:
- Hungry?
- Angry?
- Lonely?
- Tired?
Types of Hunger
• Eye Hunger
• Nose Hunger
• Mouth Hunger
• Stomach Hunger
• Mind Hunger
• Heart Hunger
Heart Hunger
• When you talk to people about comfort foods, you will always
uncover a story that is warm with feelings of connection, love and
companionship.
• All the rich foods in the world will not fill our heart’s hunger. The
heart is only nourished by intimacy with others!
Satisfying Heart Hunger
• When you feel hungry, but a check with the six hungers says you’re
not, do something deliberate to nourish the heart.
• Talk to a person you love, play with a child or a pet, work in your
garden, create something, listen to your favorite music, give a gift.
• If you eat, eat slowly and give thanks.
Eating Mindfully
• Involves the whole eating experience
• Emotions, thoughts, judgments around food
• Tastes, colors, aromas and textures of food
• Being fully present to the eating experience
Arriving
Being fully present without wanting to be somewhere else – being
in the moment.
Slowing it Down
• When food enters the stomach and small intestine, appestat
hormones signal the brain and body, “We’ve had enough. Time
to slow down.”
• It takes about 20 minutes for the important biological feedback
loop to be completed.
• Eating too quickly means too much food before the signal
arrives.
Tuning in to your Body
• Notice your emotions when you eat.
• Notice how your body feels as you eat.
• Remind yourself that there is no “bad” food, and no guilt
associated with eating.
Notice When Your Hungry
• Don’t ignore true hunger.
• Most people need to eat every 3-4 hours while awake for their
blood sugar and mood to remain stable.
True Hunger
• How to tell if you are hungry
- Physical signs
- The desire to eat doesn’t go away
- The desire for food intensifies over time
Cravings
- No physical hunger “pains”
- The thought of eating goes away if distracted
- You feel “emotional” about eating a particular food
- You crave specifics: crunchy, sweet, salty
Cravings are Normal
• It’s normal to feel cravings
• But we want to relate to them mindfully and not get blinded by
them
• We can learn to become aware of our cravings and their messages
Mindful Eating Suggestions
• Eat sitting down
• Create an inviting atmosphere
• Eat without TV, newspaper, computer
• Chew your food 30 to 50 times per bite
• Try to make the meal last 20 minutes
Suggestions for Slowing Down
• Eat with chopsticks
• Eat with your non-dominant
hand
• Don’t eat from a bag or box
• Box up half of the meal at a
restaurant
• Keep extra food away from table
Plan for Success
• Use a smaller plate at meals
• Do not skip meals
• Plan meals and snacks ahead of time
• Keep a mindful eating journal
Compassion
• When our relationship to eating and food is out of balance, it is
easy to be overcome with negative emotions.
• Notice aversion to the mirror or jealousy and anger toward
ourselves for our inability to end our struggle.
• Practice self-compassion always.
Loving Kindness
Questions?
Mindful Eating Websites
• www.tcme.org
• www.mindfuleating.org
• www.eatingmindfully.com
• www.comtemplativemind.org
• www.savorthebook.com
• www.vialean.com
• www.skellypublishing.com
• www.mindfuleats.com
• www.mindfuleating.net
Mindful Eating Book Suggestions
• Bays, J.C. (2009) Mindful Eating. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications,
Inc.
• May, M (2011) Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat. Oakland, California: New
Harbinger Publications, Inc.
• Nhat Hanh, T. (2011) Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. New York, New York:
HarperOne Publishers.
• Wansink, B. (2010) Mindless Eating. New York, New York: Random House, Inc.
• Weil, A. (2011) The Joy of Eating Well. (CD) Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True,
Inc.