My relationship with food has changed pretty drastically over the years.

First, I ate too much…

When I was in high school, I remember eating a lot when I was bored or when I wanted to keep my hands busy. I could never quite distinguish when I was actually hungry and when I just wanted entertainment.

Then in university, I ate a lot simply because I was on the buffet-style meal plan. I mean, I already paid for the food, so I was determined to get my money’s worth. Besides, studying burns a lot of calories, right?

Then, I didn’t eat enough…

But things flipped when I became a teacher. I was stressed and anxious all the time- far too anxious to eat. I would get full so quickly, and the only meal I ate consistently was breakfast. Food barely registered as something that I ever wanted.

I eventually started eating hard-boiled eggs to at least ensure that I was going to get some nutrients every day (a great tip for anyone else who struggles to eat properly when feeling emotional). 

Naturally, I lost a lot of weight. Some of that weight loss was good and healthy, but I knew it had gone too far.

Now, my food is just right!

This past year, I have been trying to maintain a healthier weight that is between the two sides of the scale that I flip between. Daily exercise, sunlight, and self-care is a big part of my lifestyle that helps maintain a healthy body.

But one of the best things I did for my body was to learn how to practice mindful eating. The mindful eating exercises that I practiced helped me to not only maintain a consistently healthy weight but to also give me a healthier relationship with food. It helped me appreciate the food I had and enjoy it in a way that makes my body happy. I feel like my body has finally found a balance between eating too much and not eating enough. Every aspect of my life feels better for it.

Today, I want to share with you the principles of healthy eating habits so that you can learn how to practice mindful eating in your own life! 

What are the benefits of mindful eating? 

Mindful eating (also called intuitive eating) has some great health benefits that make it more than worth the effort. First, it’s great for your mental health. Mindful eating can help you feel less stressed. It can also give you more enjoyment of the food and your time eating it. Second, it’s great for your body. It can stop you from binge-eating and can help you digest your food better. It will also lead to fewer food cravings later on. 

How to Practice Mindful Eating

Please note that I am not a doctor. If you are experiencing complications with your weight or your digestive system, seek professional help.

No multitasking! 

You’ve heard me say it before, but multitasking is absolutely no good for you. Multitasking while eating is no exception. If you want all the reasons why I don’t advocate for multitasking, read my article about how multitasking hurts your life. To practice mindful eating, you need to get rid of any other distractions. Turn off the television, put away the books, and find a quiet, comfortable place to eat in peace.

Some very serious teachers of mindful eating even recommend that you don’t even talk while you have your meal. In a perfect world, I would suggest the same. But I personally feel that the benefits of connecting with loved ones over a delicious meal far outweigh the harm it does to your mindful eating practice, so I do not abide by this guideline. 

For more tips on how to stop multitasking, read my article that tells you ten foolproof ways to stop multitasking.

Eat slowly

Your stomach takes time to digest, and your body works best when you aren’t inhaling your food. Eating slowly has two benefits for your body.

The first benefit is that your food is properly prepared for your digestive system. By chewing your food sufficiently, it is properly broken down so that the body can digest it more easily.

If you can’t tell if you’re eating slowly enough, the magic number is 32 times, or until the food has lost its texture. I know, it’s way more than you would naturally think, but it really helps your body.

The second benefit is that you will eat less. Eating slower gives your body the chance to tell you when it’s full. You will be able to make better judgement calls for your food intake by trying this mindful eating exercise. 

Drink Water

It’s definitely good to drink enough water throughout the day. But did you know that it also matters when you drink that water? Granted, water is never going to hurt you if you don’t drink it at the optimal time. However, you can use those times to your advantage if you know how! To help aid digestion, it is best to drink water 30 minutes before your meal. After that, don’t drink more water for an hour after your meal. This will help prepare your body for food without diluting your digestive juices. 

Sit properly while you eat

When you are eating, it is a good idea to sit in a way that will help you focus on your food and digest it more easily.

As strange as it may sound to countries that are used to dining tables or standing while eating, the best posture to take while eating is to sit cross-legged on the ground, in a position called Sukhasana. This position helps to engage your stomach muscles that are needed for digestion. It also helps increase your blood circulation and keep you relaxed.

This is one mindful eating practice that may feel strange at first, but will certainly make a difference! 

Make your meal visually appealing

When you’re in a hurry, it can be hard to care about how your food looks before you eat it. However, making your plate of food beautiful before eating it is one of the most beneficial principles of healthy eating there is.

Eating a beautiful meal will actually make it taste better. You will find yourself more satisfied with the enjoyment of your food than you would have if you had just tossed everything haphazardly onto your plate. It’s an easy change that makes a big difference! 

Listen to your stomach

Of all of the intuitive eating tips I could give you, this one has made the biggest difference in my own personal life, so I place a lot of importance on it.

Every stomach is different. What makes one stomach upset might fuel another. A food lifestyle that works for one person might not work for the next.

For example, I try to eat healthy as best as I can, but there is one thing that gets universally recommended that I know my body can’t handle. You’re supposed to eat lots of vegetables in a day, and it is commonly recommended for people to load up on salads. For me, however, I have learned that my body has a lot of trouble digesting raw veggies.

Don’t ask me why- I have no clue- it just does.

I had noticed that every single time I ate a salad on its own, I had a severe tummy ache afterwards. I tried boiling my vegetables instead and discovered that my body doesn’t get sore after digesting them in this format. And so I almost exclusively eat my vegetables boiled, even though there is no scientist out there recommending it.

You need to listen to your stomach. Get to know what food it likes and doesn’t like. Listen to when it wants you to eat. When it’s feeling full, and try your best to keep your stomach comfortable and happy. If you feel you need to, it might help to keep a food diary that records how your tummy feels after each meal. This might help you to notice patterns that are unique to your body. It will, in turn, give you ideas on how you can improve your own eating habits to suit your tummy’s needs. 

Stop eating when you’re satisfied, not when you’re stuffed

When I was a baby, I suffered from projectile vomiting. Gross, I know.

Basically, if you filled me up with too much milk, I would end up puking it up all over the walls, like the exorcist.

The solution to my vomiting was simple; my mother was to stop feeding me before I got full, and I would be fine. She had to make sure that I was only ever satisfied but still left with a little room in my tummy for more.

When I got older, I started to have the same issue (though luckily less messy this time).

Whenever I overate, I would find myself lying awake at exactly midnight feeling nauseous and ready to throw up. It was extremely unpleasant and it completely killed any desire I had to overeat.

As annoying as this was, though, I am thankful for it because it forced me to learn how to practice mindful eating by teaching me how to listen to my stomach every time I ate. I built a habit of ending my meal the moment I felt satisfied, not stuffed, and I would recommend this style of eating to anyone, even if they don’t have projectile vomiting.

Next time you eat, try to stay in tune with your stomach. Listen to how full it is feeling, and stop the moment you feel satisfied. You will likely feel like you could still eat another plate of food, but you know you would feel full after that. Your stomach should feel comfortable, not tight, and you should not feel heavy. Try this mindful eating exercise for a week and see how it changes the way you feel! 

Understand your cravings

When learning how to practice mindful eating, this one will probably prove to be one of the most difficult mindful eating exercises to master. It’s obvious that our food has gotten more complex over the years. This has made it harder to know when to follow our cravings and when to ignore them. With the introduction of less natural foods, our body might be prone to craving one thing when it actually needs something else.

For example, if your body wants a bag of chips, you shouldn’t necessarily give in to that craving. A bag of chips is never something your body needs, but this craving is an indicator that you are lacking another nutrient that you should give to your body.

Your cravings might be habitual (meaning that you always have chips at night, so you crave them at night), in which case you should make the switch to a healthier habit. If this is not the case, then it is most likely that you are dehydrated and all you need is some water (throwing a pinch of salt into the water won’t hurt, either). This nutritionist has a great explanation for what to eat if you are experiencing certain cravings; I would highly recommend you read her article! 

Think of where your food comes from 

This intuitive eating tip is a good one to encourage thankfulness for your food, and it will encourage you to value what you are eating and enjoy it more.

Before you eat your meal, look at the items on your plate and consider everything that had to be done to get this food to your kitchen. Think of the labour that people put into growing the food and preparing it, as well as the people who delivered it to places around the world. It will make you feel more grateful that you could enjoy this lovely meal. Additionally, it might stop you from eating less healthy food.

For example, looking at a plate of fruit will bring about images of farms full of colourful bushes and trees teeming with sweet fruits. On the other hand, a Pop-Tart might be a little harder to imagine. For me, I can only really visualize the factory that assembles them. I have trouble deciphering the ingredients that go into it.

The more I realize that I don’t know exactly what I’m eating, the less I want it over time. Thinking about where your food comes from will help you better understand what food is good for your body. That being said, it doesn’t need to stop you from ever eating that food- I eat Pop-Tarts all the time! But being mindful of what you are eating will keep you honest about the good you are doing for your body. 

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Be especially careful when you are feeling upset

In Ayurveda, it is recommended that you refrain from eating when you are feeling upset. They recommend that you work through your emotions a little bit before sitting down to eat.

I do not stand by this guideline all the time.

If it is a situation that has a quick solution, then I will try to solve it before eating, but if I am in the middle of a struggle with anxiety, I will not wait for it to be solved, since that might take a few days or weeks. Instead, I have a default meal of hard-boiled eggs and rice that will fuel me sufficiently without much thought. Though this tip can be hard to abide by, it is one of the principles of healthy eating worth noting. 

No more diets! 

When learning how to practice mindful eating, it is important to note what mindful eating isn’t. Eating mindfully does not require dieting at all. It’s not about restricting yourself or cutting out certain foods from your life entirely. Instead, it’s about exercising better judgement on portions.

There is such a thing as ‘bad’ food. Most sodas, chips, and candy could easily fall into this category, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be off-limits 100% of the time. Intuitive eating is all about knowing how much is too much. Sure, you can have that piece of candy, but make sure that you don’t binge on the whole box. Check with your body to make sure that it already has all the nutrients it needs to keep from getting a sugar crash.

Eat everything in moderation, and you won’t need to worry so much about calorie-counting and intense dieting. 

Conclusion

As much as we wish it did, there is no clear right and wrong answer when trying to learn how to approach a healthy diet. You will never hear me say that I have a one-size-fits-all solution, and this article is no exception. We can do our research, but at the end of the day, it comes down to our own body’s individual needs and preferences.

By practicing these intuitive eating tips, you will start to develop a better understanding of what food makes your body feel its best, and this will help you make better decisions when eating. Mindful eating will not solve all your food problems immediately, but it will definitely help you discover what your body needs to feel good.

How About You? 

Do you have any more suggestions on how to practice mindful eating? Have you ever tried a diet or lifestyle that didn’t agree with your stomach? Share your stories and ideas in the comments section; I’d love to hear from you!