Mindfully does it

Eating is a natural part of life. We eat for health, for pleasure and for a variety of other reasons, however in this instant-gratification world that we live in, eating has become a mindless act. How many times have you sat down with your food only to quickly become aware that you’ve eaten the entire plate without realising it? Eating has become something that we tend to do on autopilot and this breeds a disconnection from our bodies that can manifest itself as bad digestion, bloating, weight gain and more.

Mindful eating is a concept that’s rapidly gaining in popularity. But what is it exactly?

“Mindfulness is about being present with what we’re doing at every given moment. Typically when we eat, we’re distracted. We usually eat when we’re watching TV, checking our phones or chatting to people and when we’re distracted we eat a lot more and we eat a lot quicker. Typically many of us are mindlessly eating,” says holistic nutritionist and mindful eating coach Deirdre Kavanagh.

“We’re eating just because we know we should, but we’re not really savouring and really being present with what we’re doing… Mindful eating is bringing awareness to the act of eating.

Mindful eating involves slowing down and being really aware of the present moment and what you’re eating. You focus on your food and allow yourself to eat slowly, really tasting it, savouring it and enjoying it. A big part of the practice also examines our larger issues and ideas surrounding food, particularly our motivations when it comes to eating as Deirdre explains.

“Really with mindful eating it’s looking at how and why we eat as opposed to what we eat. When it comes to nutrition and food, we’re looking at what’s good, what’s bad and what we should be eating. But with mindful eating we’re really not looking at what we’re eating, it’s about why are we eating in this way and how are we eating? This is a huge part of the work that I do – looking at the emotional side of eating, comfort eating and how stress triggers us to comfort eat.”

The more we delve into our motivations for eating, the “why” as Deirdre puts it, we find a distinct link between our emotions and mindless eating.

“Mindless eating is usually emotional eating, very much so, because we can’t mindfully binge eat – it’s just not possible. You can’t mindfully overeat. That’s why when we start practicing mindful eating, it’s like the light bulb moment for so many of my clients,” says Deirdre.

“We can get very used to comforting ourselves with food. It’s important to remember that food is like this drug that’s so readily available at the moment [and] we can’t cut it out of our lives completely, so we have to change our relationship to it. That’s what mindfulness around food is all about. It’s about changing our relationship to food rather than our relationship to eating and that’s why it’s so powerful and necessary I feel.”

When it comes to mindful eating, there are a host of benefits from feeling a greater sense of peace when it comes to eating to eating less and becoming more aware of when we’re actually full. Deirdre describes it as an “anti-diet.”

“The thing about mindful eating is that it’s not a diet. [People] realise that their bodies don’t want five biscuits, one biscuits might be enough,” she says.

EAT MINDFULLY NOW – DEIRDRE’S TOP TIPS

TAKE A PAUSE – “Before you start a meal, take a 30-second pause to stop, breathe and feel. Stop what you’re doing and tune into your breath. Bring your attention to your belly and feel what’s there and, from there, to put it very simply, just feel if there’s any emotion there. We might be stressed, we might be said, we might be worried, we might be fine. Just tune in to what’s there and then ask yourself, “How hungry am I? Am I hungry?” Just tune in and ask.”

THE MINDFUL BITE – “Start every meal with three mindful bites. Take a mouthful of food and put your knife and fork down, or take a bite of a sandwich and then put it down. You don’t have to eat your whole meal this way, but even starting our meal this way will give a signal to our bodies that we’re slowing down. Our bodies will start reacting better, absorb and digest better as well.”

PORTION CONTROL – “Often our plates are absolutely huge. Try and have a more modest plate size. I also recommend a 50/20 rule. Put half the amount of food on your pate to start with. This brings a pause into our meal where we can come back to our bellies and ask, “How hungry am I?”

Deirdre Kavanagh is a Dublin based Holistic Nutritionist specialising in mindful eating. She runs workshops and weekend retreats around the country. She also provides one-to-one consultations from her practice in Ranelagh. For details see www.deirdrekavanagh.com