Mindful Eating Techniques for Weight Loss After 50

What is Mindful Eating

You may recognize this scenario. You’ve been working all morning and all of a sudden you’re starving. You only have 20 minutes for lunch so you decide to work through lunch while eating your salad or sandwich. You’re proud that you’re multitasking and getting everything done, but then you finish your lunch break feeling bloated or stuffed, not feeling rested or rejuvenated and annoyed that you have four more hours of work before you get to go home and relax. You may even feel stuffed and aggravated that you overate without even thinking about it.

The most important thing you can change about this right away is to adopt a mindful eating approach. It’s simple, but it can be challenging to adopt a new lifestyle when you’re so used to your old ways. What is mindful eating anyway? The definition of mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through mediation, of sustaining meta-attention of the contents of one’s own mind in the present moment. Mindful eating is adapting this approach to our meals and the food we eat. Before I lose you, you do not have to meditate while you’re eating. But stick around and explore how mindful eating will help you in your weight loss and wellness goals.

Why Mindful Eating Helps with Wellness and Weight Loss

Slowing down and listening to our body is the first step in mindfulness and it’s also one of the first things I coach clients with when they’re looking to make changes in their habits. Pay attention to how your body feels. Are you hungry for nutrition or are you hungry for something else? If you’re hungry for nutrition, then you should eat. If you’re hungry for excitement, love, or trying to fill a void of boredom, it’s time to look elsewhere. I talk about this when I refer to what I call Primary Foods. The foods that feed us off our plates. When we start to pay attention to the signals our body is giving to us, we’ll start to get into better balance, and we may start to release excess weight. Mindful eating also helps us distinguish when we are no longer hungry. If you grew up with a “clean plate club” mentality, it can be challenging to change the way you eat. If you eat everything on your plate even when you’re satisfied half way through, your body will store those extra calories as fat. Becoming more mindful and finishing eating as you're satisfied will allow your body to use food instead of storing it. This also goes for eating in between meals out of boredom, stress or entertainment. Munching on a bowl of chips while watching TV or scrolling the internet even though you're not hungry is not allowing your body to burn stored energy and it just keeps piling on more into storage. Once you adopt mindful eating practices and stop the excess munching, you may start to notice your weight going down as your body starts to use stored energy.

5 Tips for Mindful Eating Success

1. Slow down. This is easier said than done in a go-go culture. Take a breath, show gratitude for your food and be in the moment as you begin your meal. Chew your food slowly and completely to help with digestion.

2. Pay attention to hunger signals. Are you really hungry or is it out of habit or boredom that you’re grabbing for a snack? If you’re hungry, feed your body with something nutritious. Eating processed foods won’t fill you up and you’ll continue to munch. If you’re really hungry an apple with nut butter or veggies with hummus will sound good. If you’re bored or indulging a craving for cookies or chips, nutritious food will probably not sound good to you.

3. Eat without distractions. Pay attention to how your food tastes and feels in your mouth. Leave the phone, TV and books for after your meal. Notice does the food taste salty, sweet, crunchy, smooth. Enjoy the sensations your food is providing.

4. Prepare your own food. Convenient, fast food and takeout has sadly become a norm in our society. How can you start preparing your own food and really paying attention to what goes into your meals? This will connect you with your food even more. The positive energy you put into your food will fuel your soul.

5. Take a break. As you’re enjoying your meal, put your fork down and give your stomach a chance to tell your brain it’s getting satisfied. Eating all at once without a break, doesn’t allow enough time for our brain to get the signal that we’re getting full. Feeling satisfied but not full is what we’re aiming for.

In Conclusion

Mindful eating can help you lose weight, improve your health and can bring a healthy awareness to your nutrition. Eating should be pleasurable. Paying closer attention to your body’s signals, showing gratitude for your food and slowing down is not only helpful for weight loss, but will also improve your digestion and gut biome.

For more information or help with your health and weight loss goals, book your Discovery Call today.