30 Days of Mindful Eating – Introduction

This post is the first post in a series on mindful eating. Here are the other posts:

• 30 Days of Mindful Eating - Day 4
• 30 Days of Mindful Eating - Day 14
• 30 Days of Mindful Eating - Day 22
• 30 Days of Mindful Eating - Day 30
• 30 Days of Mindful Eating - Author Interview
  

I love eating popcorn while watching TV. I use my Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper (it works really well) to make a mountainous bowl of popcorn. Next, I center and ground myself in front of the TV, turn on my favorite show, and start chomping. Within thirty minutes, I’ve eaten the ENTIRE bowl of popcorn. I don’t remember tasting anything except the first few handfuls. Afterwards, I often feel a mildly guilty.

I also enjoy reading books, newspapers, magazines, and talking to others while I eat at the dining room table. I stop eating when my plate is empty. Sadly, food is the last thing I pay attention to when I eat.

My eating habits are the epitome of mindless eating. Mindless eating is an unhealthy habit and probably makes me fatter. I want to change.

Do you eat mindlessly? Perhaps, you prefer cookies, ice cream, or chips to popcorn? Do you want to change?

Today, I’m starting a 30 day trial in mindful eating. This is my introductory post for a series about the trial. I’ll write additional posts whenever I experience something you may find useful. At the end of the trial, I’ll create a post that discusses the lessons learned.

What Is Mindful Eating?

You may be familiar with mindfulness which is being attentive to your environment, body, and mind in the present moment without judgment.

You’re mindfully eating when you prepare and ingest food with mindfulness.  This means you’re:

1. Focused: You focus all your senses on preparing and eating the food. You avoid external distractions like reading, watching TV, talking to others, listening to music, and so on. You also avoid internal distractions – whenever your thoughts move away from your food, you gently bring yourself back.
2. Non-Judgmental: You avoid criticizing your food or yourself. If you have a judgmental thought, let it go and refocus on your food. You’re just an impartial observer.

Research

There is some evidence mindful eating alters eating habits. For instance, a study at Duke University found mindfulness helps reduce binge eating in obese people:

The results show that those using the mindfulness-based approach reduce their binge eating…from about four times per week to once per week. Participants in the wait-list control did not improve their binge eating. Furthermore, the participants in the mindfulness group reported feeling more control around food than participants in either the psychoeducation or control group. Most importantly,…only the mindfulness group improved their metabolism of carbohydrates throughout the study, and this was continued at a four month follow-up. These participants demonstrated better insulin sensitivity when digesting a standard meal. Remarkably, this effect was independent of weightloss. In other words, the mindfulness-based approach shifted metabolism separately from lowering weight.

This makes sense since other research shows that obese people are generally less aware of hunger and satiety. Ironically, the only time obese people don’t think about food is while they’re eating.

My Guide

I have some experience in meditation and mindfulness, but I’ve never focused on mindful eating. I need a guide, so I’m using the book Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays, MD:

I picked this book for two reasons. First, the author, Jan Chozen Bays, a medical doctor and meditation teacher, has taught mindful eating for more than twenty years. She’s an expert. Second, the book contains twelve exercises and,  better yet, all the exercises are also on an accompanying CD. I added the CD to my iPod, so I can easily do the exercises anywhere.

I encourage you to buy the book and join me in this trial. If you don’t have the time or money, you may want to read Jan’s blog post on Psychology Today or The Principles of Mindful Eating at The Center for Mindful Eating.

Potential Benefits

I know of five possible benefits of mindful eating. I may:

1. Lose weight. I’m about 15-20 pounds over the weight I was when I was twenty years old. Assuming my ideal weight was my weight at twenty, I may lose some weight. If you’re underweight, mindful eating might help you gain weight. I’ll measure my weight and waist size at the beginning and end of the trial and post the results. I won’t take any intermediate measurements because it could distract me from mindful eating.
2. Become more mindful. I may become more mindful at other times besides just eating. More mindfulness generally makes me happier.
3. Enjoy food more. I may enjoy food more because I’ll have a deeper sensory experience when I eat. I’ll touch, taste, smell, and see the foods in new ways.
4. Choose healthier food. I may choose healthier foods because I’ll intuit what my body really needs, rather than just what I feel like eating.
5. Better understand hunger. I may better understand hunger because I’ll be more conscious of what happens to my mind and body when I’m hungry. This may help me understand why I sometimes eat when my body is not hungry.

Do you eat mindfully or mindlessly? Can you think of any other potential benefits? Do you want to join me in the trial so that we can all learn together?

Related posts:

1. 30 Days of Mindful Eating – Day 30
2. 30 Days of Mindful Eating – Day 22
3. 30 Days of Mindful Eating – Day 14
4. 30 Days of Mindful Eating – Author Interview
5. Your Mindful Eating Mission

Tags: Diet, Habits, Health, Mindful Eating, Mindfulness