How you eat is just as important as what you eat. Michal Pollan says: “We forget that, historically, people have eaten for a great many reasons other than biological necessity. Food is also about pleasure, about community, about family and spirituality, about our relationship to the natural world, and about expressing our identity. As long as humans have been taking meals together, eating has been as much about culture as it has been about biology.”
You may be familiar with the term “mindfulness.” Well it definitely applies to eating your meals. The more attention you pay to how you eat your meals, the more you increase their ability to truly nourish you, physically as well as emotionally, and it enhances your enjoyment of your meals.
There are numerous aspects to consider in improving how you eat, including:
Atmosphere. Even if you are just having a cup of bone broth for lunch, it makes a difference in how it nourishes your body if you put it in a beautiful cup and sit down at the table to sip it slowly, enjoying the aroma and flavor. I recommend you always set a place and sit down to eat rather than standing at the counter or eating in the car. A calm, peaceful and relaxed atmosphere sets the stage for good digestion.
Distractions. Eating mindfully means focusing fully on the task at hand, which is enjoying your meal. Don’t read, watch TV, or use technology while eating. 28% of American employees don’t take a break for lunch, while 39% break for lunch but choose to stay at their desks and 2 out 3 people eat dinner in front of the television. According to results of 24 studies, people who eat distracted by laptop or TV were more likely to over-eat at mealtime and much more likely to have a bigger meal or snack subsequently. Not being “present” or “mindful” when you eat can negatively impact your waistline and your health!
Speed at which you eat. The faster you eat, the less time there is for your stomach to send signals of satiety to your brain, and the greater the chance that you’ll keep eating even when you’ve already met your caloric needs. In fact a large study found those who eat the fastest are 42% more likely to be obese than people who eat more slowly. Chewing each bite thoroughly goes along with this. It will not only slow you down but help you digest your food more completely. It also may be helpful to take a few slow, deep breaths before you begin your meal and then again several times during the meal.
Pay attention to emotions like gratitude, love, sadness, anger, stress, or happiness. Often if you are stressed, angry or sad and sometimes even happy, you eat for comfort rather than from true hunger. Being aware of your emotional state can help you avoid overeating and bingeing. If you eat when stressed or angry, digestion can shut down because your central nervous system shuts down blood flow, affects the contractions of your digestive muscles, and decreases secretions needed for digestion.
Timing. Research shows people who eat within two hours of going to sleep and snack frequently are at greater risk for obesity. Every time you eat, you spike your insulin levels, which prevents fat burning and encourages fat storage. Frequent snacking between meals creates insulin resistance so I strongly suggest cutting out snacking and just eating properly structured meals as well as closing down the kitchen by 7 pm or at least 2 hours before your bedtime.
Bringing just a little bit of attention to how you eat can make a big difference. The way you eat can powerfully enhance the healthy factors inherent in the good food you choose for even greater benefit.
Are you a mindful or a mindless eater? How can you make some healthy changes?
Want to see more articles like this? Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!
Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU.
3-D Vitality 
This is something I could really improve on. I was eating a pre-ride snack while reading his.
I’ve been hearing a Dr on a lot of podcasts lately who also says–NO SNACKS! Seems the recommendation to eat lots of small meals throughout the day has had adverse effects. http://www.richroll.com/podcast/valter-longo-367/
Here’s my action item–We’re late eaters, I’m going to try to have the kitchen closed by 8 pm on weekdays. Seems like the perfect amount of time before we head to bed. It’s just so darn hard in the summer when the days are long and we ride bikes in the evening. But just setting the intention should be helpful.
Thanks for putting together these tips. I passed them along to the other Scherer so we can improve together!
Holly that sounds like a great action item. None of these things are carved in stone – there will always be those days
when we eat later than we wanted to and yes, the change with the summer schedule makes things different. But if you set
the intention and then incorporate them gradually into your routine I am hoping you will find improvement. Thank you
for always sharing your thoughts and being so good about making it personal!