While Mindful Eating sounds simple enough to read about and apply, sometimes deeper struggles arise. You may have started out feeling confident about your abilities, then ended up feeling frustrated and annoyed because you didn’t see the results that you expected.
I’d like to reassure you that there is no “wrong” way to eat mindfully. This practice is adaptable and flexible; you can apply it to your life and circumstances as you see fit.
In this article, I will:
- Identify the most common problems you are facing with mindful eating
- Explain various solutions to the underlying causes
- Offer tools and frameworks which you can use to help you on your journey
- Compare evidence-based outcomes between mindful and non-mindful eating
This article is for you if you’re struggling with mindful eating, so continue reading for more!
The Struggles of Practicing Mindful Eating
Identifying the cause of your mindful eating struggles may be difficult to do, due to skewed perspectives and self-judgment. It may be straightforward to say what the actual problem is, but you may need to look at the bigger picture to figure out the underlying causes.
Let’s look at some common problems first:
- Problem #1: “I don’t have enough time to eat slowly!”
- Problem #2: “I can’t focus, I can’t feel my hunger cues, I’m doing it all wrong!”
- Problem #3: “There are too many rules, I’m overwhelmed, I give up!”
- Problem #4: “I’m afraid others will judge me or force me to go against my food & eating choices”
These are only some of the problems that I’ve found (from personal experience as well as from research). You may be facing a different one (and if you are, please share in the comments!) but a lot of the time these issues are related in some way, so I invite you to continue reading!
Usually, when we face problems that we can’t work our way through, the result is quitting. So, I want to help you find solutions to your problems so you can give yourself a better chance at making mindful eating work for you. Let’s go
Understanding The Problem & The Solution
Once you’ve identified what problem you’re facing, you can move on to the explanation and how to solve it. For example, you know you have a problem with time, but WHY is that? Maybe you are overloaded with work, or not setting boundaries for yourself and others, or simply not prioritizing it.
So now, let’s go over the problems I shared above to reveal the possible causes, which will lead you to the solution.
Time-related Problems
Are you giving yourself enough time, or are you very tight on time throughout your day? 15 to 20 minutes for a main meal is enough time to chew slowly and experience the flavors, aromas, textures. If you have enough free time during the day, making the intention that you will slow down when eating will help.
The key here is to have your attention on the food. Sometimes, you may be eating slowly, but your attention is elsewhere. So, eat slowly with intention. It’s okay if your mind wanders off at times. Gently bring yourself back to the moment. Renew your intention with each bite. Let go of any judgment or punishment.
This is not a test. It’s a practice.
Thinking You’re Doing It All Wrong
If you’re just starting out, you might find that your mind wanders off a lot, or you’re unsure of what your hunger signals feel like. You might not be able to focus on what and how you’re eating. And that’s all okay. You’re doing something new, and you’re still learning!
I want to encourage you to not give up just yet!
A very useful tip is to not do everything all at once. You can even break it down into smaller parts that may be easier to apply. For example, mindfully eating one of the meals in your day might be less intimidating than forcing yourself to be mindful during ALL your meals.
You can even try observing flavors & textures one week, eating slowly another week, eating somewhere quiet another week. And so on. Once you feel you’re getting the hang of each exercise, you can mix and match and do what you find is suitable for you in the moment.
And all this ties into the next point…
Making It Too Rigid
Thinking that you must follow the “rules” is a shortcut to frustration and giving up as soon as you begin. Mindful Eating is not about “rules”, it’s quite the opposite. It can be as flexible as you need it to be. It’s okay if not every meal was “mindful”.
Sometimes you can only fit in a few mindful bites, and that would be okay. It’s a practice which can adapt and change depending on your circumstances.
For example, if you haven’t eaten a thing all day due to whatever reason and feel like you’re starving, it would be very difficult to focus on each bite and slow down when your body is in need of energy and running on survival mode. And that’s okay! The point is to listen to your body.
Each day, meal, and snack is going to be a different experience. Do your best not to punish or judge yourself, because there is no wrong or right, there is only practicing and expanding bit by bit.
Fear of Judgement
The fear of being different is real. Sometimes, when we do things differently than those around us, we might feel judged, or mocked even. In such cases, the most important thing to remember is that you are doing this for you, and no one else.
If those around you don’t understand, that’s okay. What matters is that they respect your choices. This usually comes up during family gatherings, lunch breaks at work, outings with friends, etc.
If you’re an Arab like me, your mother and everyone’s mother will insist you have another refill, even after you’ve thanked her for the delicious food and made it clear that you were stuffed. And before you can say no, your plate has been refilled again. So, you force yourself to eat more because you’ll feel guilty if you don’t. And then you regret it later.. The intention is sweet, but sometimes it’s a bit much. IYKYK :’)
It is worth communicating your boundaries to family members, colleagues, your boss – whoever is relevant. Emphasize the importance of this for you. Your boss won’t fire you for taking your lunch break seriously (if they have an issue with it, send them to this blog, they might need some help).
Stand your ground. You got this!
Tools & Frameworks Just For You
Figuring out mindful eating is journey of its own. I remember when I started out. It was a bunch of exercises and concepts that I haven’t heard of, and it took me some time to get into it!
So, I wanted to share some tools that will be of great help to you as you begin!
Mindful Eating Journal
Start a journal for your thoughts and feelings about the foods you ate during your day. Making note of your mealtimes and how hungry you were at the time can help you keep track of your hunger signals. A hunger scale is also a great tool to help you recognize how hungry or full you are. Over time, you will get familiar with those signals. Write down a moment you felt you had a breakthrough.
You can also check out this wonderful workbook with many prompts to help you begin: https://amzn.to/40oTHKO (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.)
Body-scanning exercises
This exercise can help you tune in and build a stronger awareness of your body’s sensations. A body scan is all about bringing your attention to different parts of your body, usually starting from the feet upwards. It might feel strange and intimidating at first, but as with everything else, starting slow and small helps in the beginning.
To help you begin, you can find many different body scanning guides and audios on YouTube.
Create Your Ritual
I like to eat in a quiet place, no phone, no TV, as much as possible. Sometimes me and my husband have the TV on, and that’s fine. I still try to keep my attention on my meal. When our sunny balcony is done, I plan on having my breakfast there as much as possible to start my day off.
- Try setting up a calm eating spot especially for mindful eating.
- Have a moment of gratitude before eating.
- Have “guess the flavor” quizzes (this is fun with kids! You can do it with yourself too)
Whatever it is, you can create your own mindful eating ritual to help adapt your mind to it.
Science Talks
As a nutritionist, I not only enjoy science, I believe that it provides us with much needed answers. To conclude this blog post, I wanted to provide comparisons between Mindful Eating practices vs. restrictive dieting when it comes to emotional eating.
In a study where 70 participants were registered, it was shown that those who were given Mindful Eating education had higher positive effects on emotional eating, conscious nutrition, and eating control among other observations, as compared to the control and diet-restricted groups. (Köse & İrem, 2023)
While dieting has its place, mindful eating can enhance these experience for people, especially if they’re struggling with eating behaviors like emotional eating.
In Conclusion
Mindful Eating is not without its challenges. It requires lots of patience and effort. Remember to go easy on yourself. Start slow, and expand your capacity for focused awareness day by day. To look at some of the mindful eating exercises, check out my other blog post here.
I hope this will help you journey go smoothly, and reach out for any questions or to say hello!
