Making eating mindful
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There are many “rules” around food, but implementing simple guidelines around eating can help you eat mindfully and feel your best.
Kaitlyn Wong, registered dietician with Community Health Network, says your focus shouldn’t always be what you eat, but how you eat it. She’s breaking down her two guidelines to making eating more mindful.
“So there’s a lot of ‘food rules’ out there, but we want to break it down to just use our common sense, and often, that just means slowing down and tuning into your body to eat the right things,” Wong said.
Her trick to eating more slowly — setting a timer.
“I just want you to start with seeing how long it takes you to eat your breakfast and then can we extend that just a few minutes, because it takes some time for your body to register if it’s full,” Wong said.
She says your meals should take at least 20 minutes to consume.
Mindful eating doesn’t just involve the amount of time it takes to eat your meal, but actually rewiring what you think about digestion.
“So digestion actually starts the moment that we’re thinking about food,” Wong said. “So when we slow down and we smell the food, we look at the food, feel the food, that process of digestion is already starting. Your body is already working on that food even before it touches your mouth.”
Taking these suggestions and making eating more mindful has three main benefits, according to Wong:
- Increased enjoyment of food
- Decreased intake of less desirable choices
- Increased body awareness
For more information on mindful eating, visit the Community Health Website.