How to apply Mindful Eating to your life?

Most people live thinking about the negative events that have happened to them, or worried about all the bad things that can happen.

In situations like this, the mind forgets the present and wanders between the past and the future. For this reason, through Mindfulness, psychotherapy professionals intend that people be able to live their lives experiencing their present and with full attention.

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Understanding Mindfulness

The official translation in Spanish of Mindfulness is "Full Attention". And what is that of Mindfulness?

Mindfulness practice consists of pay attention to one thing, sustained over time and without making judgments. The objective here is not to make your mind go blank, since the more you try to do it, the more complicated it will be, but to focus your attention on the present moment.

If you give your mind something to focus on, such as your own breathing, you train your mind to redirect your thoughts and attention where you want. When we pay attention to only one thing,

the mind calms down and takes us to a state of greater tranquility.

Meditation is not something simple; we are used to the famous multitasking (doing many tasks at the same time) and when we try to concentrate on only one thing our mind begins to wander: we are assailed by worries, negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, etc.

In Mindfulness workshops it is common for patients to get frustrated for not being able to stay in that present and letting themselves be carried away by their distractions. But nevertheless, it is very important not to live the process from impatience, judgment and frustration.

Having understood these basic concepts of Mindfulness, we can introduce the concept of mindful eating.

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What is mindful eating?

Living your life from Mindfulness does not only apply to the moment of meditation as such. We can watch a series, go for a walk and even eat from Mindfulness.

Mindful Eating involves eating while being aware of the taste and smell of food, being attentive to satiety signals and be connected with the emotions we experience in the present.

Here comes the concept of emotional hunger. How can we differentiate between emotional hunger and physiological hunger?

Emotional hunger comes on suddenly, not gradually, and when it arises we usually want more sweet or caloric foods. We usually start eating because of a specific emotion (anger, sadness, boredom, etc.) and we feel some relief when we eat the food.

However, this relief only lasts a few seconds. Immediately afterwards, the initial emotion for which we began to eat appears, and this time perhaps with more force, since the guilt.

If we go to food to calm an emotion, the most dangerous thing is not to gain weight, it is to ignore an emotional need that is not being served. Emotional hunger comes into our lives to yell at us. It can come from a lack of self-care, from poor management of the work stress or due to problems in interpersonal relationships. However, if we eat instead of meeting our real needs, emotional hunger will scream louder.

I always present this metaphor to my patients: eating to calm sadness, for example, is like scratching a mosquito bite. At the moment it relieves, but in the long run it is worse.

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The HEVA technique

One of the most used techniques in psychonutrition sessions is the HEVA technique. Do you want to put it into practice?

During this week I want that you answer the following questions at each lunch and dinner.

H for hunger

From 0 to 10, rate your answer to this question: What is your actual hunger level?

E for emotion

Do you think you're calming down or have you tried calm some emotion with this intake?

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v for speed

How fast or slow are you eating? If we eat too fast many times we do not detect that we are already full. If you wait a few minutes, you will give yourself the opportunity to see if you really need to eat more food or if, on the contrary, you already feel completely satisfied.

A for Attention, Mindfulness

Where are you putting the focus of attention? It is essential that when we eat we avoid the famous multitasking.

Watching television, working, studying or doing any other activity while we eat implies that we do not have the focus of attention on the activity of eating. That precisely invites you to eat faster, not enjoy the taste of food and therefore can facilitate binge eating or compulsive eating.