Mindful Eating and Understanding Hunger

Pros of Mindful Eating:

Better Portion Control: Mindful eating helps you recognize when you're full, potentially leading to eating less and reducing overeating.

Increased Awareness of Food Choices: It encourages making healthier food choices by focusing on the taste, quality, and nutrition of what you're eating.

Reduced Emotional Eating: Mindfulness helps to break the cycle of eating in response to stress, anxiety, or emotions, leading to a more balanced relationship with food.

Enhanced Enjoyment of Food: By savoring each bite and being present, food can become more enjoyable, fostering gratitude and satisfaction.

Supports Weight Management: By promoting awareness of hunger and satiety, it may help with managing weight by avoiding mindless or impulsive eating.

Mind-Body Connection: It nurtures a deeper connection to your body's signals and needs, promoting overall well-being.

Cons of Mindful Eating:

Time-Consuming: Mindful eating requires time and attention, which may not always fit into busy lifestyles, leading to frustration for some individuals.

Initial Difficulty: Developing mindfulness around eating can be challenging at first, especially for people who are used to eating quickly or while distracted.

Social Situations: Mindfully eating in social settings or gatherings may feel awkward or uncomfortable, as it can be perceived as different from the social norm of eating casually.

Potential for Overthinking: For some, being overly mindful might lead to over-analyzing food choices or becoming overly concerned about every detail, which could contribute to stress or anxiety.

Requires Consistency: Achieving benefits requires regular practice, and it might be difficult to stay consistent for those who struggle with habits or routines.

To understand what it means to be Mindful about the things we eat, it is important to first define what it means to be hungry! According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, hunger is defined as “a craving or urgent need for food or a specific nutrient”. 

Hunger is a completely natural signal that our bodies use to communicate the need for nourishment. When our bodies are sending this signal, it is imperative that we listen to it. In the vast world of diet culture and food myths, society has simply reached a point where it has lost touch with these signals. This is why many have begun turning to Intuitive Eating.

Intuitive Eating is a holistic approach that encourages us to listen to our bodies’ many signals about the state of our hunger while reaching a new understanding of the signals themselves. This is a process that encourages us to eat what our bodies actually crave without any guilt or shame. It can deepen the understanding of our own bodies while fixing our relationships with the foods we eat on a daily basis; this is what makes it a great addition to a balanced lifestyle! Intuitive Eating follows ten basic tenets that will be discussed individually.

#1 – Reject the Diet Mentality

While we may be convinced that dieting is what it means to be healthy, our bodies need a large variety of nutrients in order to maintain and regulate all of the numerous bodily functions we carry out on a daily basis! A variety that many diets claim to meet, but ultimately do not to the degree to which our bodies need them. Dieting is not the best means to losing weight or becoming healthier, and research has shown that it can be quite harmful. This is why it is time to lose that mentality in favor of this approach!

#2 – Honor Your Hunger

Learn to listen to our bodies when they signal to us that it is time to eat or that we are full and trusting that our bodies know exactly what we need.

#3 – Make Peace with Food

Make the personal choice to allow yourself to eat without judgement. When an individual convinces themselves to not eat certain foods, it can begin a cycle of depravation leading to more intense cravings leading to potentially binge-eating that specific item, which can then affect that individual’s self-confidence, leading back into depravation.. 

For more on Points 1-3, diet culture, and health conditions related to food restriction or overconsumption, visit the dieting and body image page of our website

#4 – Challenge the Food Police

Accept that you are allowed to enjoy all foods. Avoiding foods outside of medical necessity can result in mental health struggles and nutrient deficiencies. When you start to challenge these preconceptions, your relationship with all foods can start to mend overtime.

Read more about mentally battling these various Food Myths.

#5 – Respect Your Fullness

Now that we have started the journey of listening to our bodies signaling about hunger, we also have to learn the ability to understand when we have actually eaten enough. This can mean pausing our meals part of the way through to gauge our level of fullness or smiling after every bite to take a moment to taste, chew, and enjoy every bite while being aware of your body. This practice can aid in preventing overeating and helps you feel more satisfied.

#6 – Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Eating does not have to be shameful, boring, or just a necessity. Eating can be an intensely relaxing way to wake up, take a break, or wind down for the evening. One of the great ways to achieve this is to not just eat wherever you are, but to eat in a designated place that you feel safe in, feel relaxed in, and just enjoy being in. Making an effort to retreat to this safe place to eat will help us be more alert and aware of our feelings of fullness. The urge to overeat can be reduced in this environments. While you eat, also make an effort to truly absorb the flavors, textures, and aromas of the food to really begin to Discover the Satisfaction Factor!

#7 – Honor your Feelings Without Using Food

This is one of the primary issues when it comes to over or under eating. College can be a very turbulent time in the lives of students as they start the transition to autonomy and adulthood, thus emotions at this stage of life can be often hard to manage. Many can use emotional eating (or an emotional lack of eating) as a means to manage anxiety, loneliness, or even boredom on occasions. This is where some external help may be useful; to manage these negative emotions in alternative ways as a way to avoid overeating. If you are ever severely struggling with mental health, it is important to use resources at your disposal. We all need help and whether that is therapy or journaling, never be afraid to reach out to your peers. It may be difficult to prevent mental health issues and how they may relate to our eating habits, remember that Mindful Eating is a part of a balanced lifestyle that once reached, may significantly improve your mental health.

If you are struggling with your mental health, you do not have to struggle alone and there is no bar of "bad enough" that you must reach. visit the MST student well being to find a support group or schedule a counseling evaluation

#8 – Respect Your Body

People are genetically predisposed to come in all shapes and sizes. Some individuals have a blueprint that is big, some are small. Accepting and understanding that you cannot and should not try to alter your body shape or size for any reason other than the advice of medical professionals. You do not necessarily need to love your body, but respect its function and service to you and acknowledge that it uses the energy you give it to make your lifestyle possible. 

For more visit the dieting and body image page of our website

#9 – Exercise

Exercise can be an extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience with the right mental view of it. With this approach, exercise is not to lose weight, but as a fun way to enjoy just moving your body and feeling the benefits to improving your physical aspects like pain, soreness, etc. Exercise can improve your mood, energy, and overall health, thus is a great way to aid in starting your balanced lifestyle.

#10 – Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition

Though we have talked about how a balanced diet is necessary, it needs to be emphasized that you must always try to Honor Your Health (and taste buds) by making food choices that meet all of your nutritional needs. You do not have to eat lettuce all the time to be healthy. What matters when it comes to Mindful Eating is being consistent in your variety and balancing your food choices to match your nutritional requirements throughout the day.

Remember that Intuitive Eating is all about making us feel good with the ability to eat what we want, while reaching a deeper understanding of our own bodies. If you want to learn more about Intuitive Eating or other helpful techniques to Mindful Eating, click here!

This is an experience of mindful eating with Linda Smith from Duke Integrative Medicine. 

You can prepare for this exercise by choosing a special food to experience it with. Many people choose a raisin or a piece of chocolate or something that is delightful for you. 

1. First take the food and hold it between your pointer finger and thumb. Bring your attention to it, if it’s a raisin, as if it were a novel item, imagining that you have never seen one before in your life. Take the time to observe the raisin carefully - really see it - gaze at it with care and full attention. Let your eyes explore every part of it, noticing its shape, colors, and surfaces. Examine its grooves, where the light shines and shadows. Rotate and move the raisin between your fingers, continuing to explore its texture. Apply a small bit of pressure to notice whether it is soft or hard. You might close your eyes if that helps you to focus and enhance your sense of touch. Recognizing this is a raisin, note any thoughts you might have about raisins - any memories about them or feelings of liking or disliking them. Hold the raisin under your nose, and inhale naturally. With each in-breath, notice any aroma or smell that arises. 

2. Bring awareness also to any effect in your mouth or stomach. 

3. Now bring the raisin slowly up to your mouth, noticing how your hand and arm know exactly how and where to position it. Being aware if you are salivating as the mind and body anticipate eating. Place the raisin gently into your mouth, without yet chewing. 

4. Hold the raisin in your mouth for at least 10 seconds, exploring it with your tongue, feeling the sensations of having it there. Notice this pause and how it feels to take some time before eating the raisin.

5. When you are ready, prepare to chew the raisin. Take one or two bites into it and notice what happens, bringing your full attention to its taste and texture as you continue chewing.

6. Take time to chew without swallowing, noticing the taste and texture of the raisin in your mouth and how it may change over time.

7. When you feel ready to swallow the raisin, bring awareness to the sensation so that even this is experienced consciously.

8. Lastly, notice what is left of the raisin as you swallow and it travels down to your stomach. Notice how your body as a whole is feeling after completing this exercise.

Now take a few moments to write down your reflections on the following questions:

1. How was this experience the same or different from how you normally eat?

2. What, if anything, surprised you about the experience?

3. What did you notice with the raisin (or whatever food you chose) in terms of sight, touch, sound,

smell, and taste?

4. What thoughts or memories popped up while doing this exercise?

5. What is one tip for yourself that you are going to take from this experience to apply to your eating

habits in the future?

Many people choose to use a special dish or plate and to find one meal that they can eat slowly and

consciously. Taking a bite, putting the fork or spoon down for a moment, fully enjoying the sensation

of the food as it is chewed and swallowed. And then taking another bite to have the full sensory

experience and enjoyment of the food that we eat. 

• based on an economic principle known as the Pareto Principle

  • • • around 80% of the effects come from 20% of causes. 

      • Nutrition application

        • • • make healthier choices a majority of the time, while allowing yourself to treat yourself some of the time

            • Emphasizes majority not perfection

• Approach

  • • • nutrient-rich, whole foods a good 80% of the time

      • indulgences for favored treats 20% of the time

      • prevent guilt or shame that are so frequently a part of restrictive diets

      • Combat black and white thinking

        • • • For example, you don't have to only have vegetables or a salad for every meal but you could have a salad, a piece of fruit, and a piece of pizza.

            • Some popular media will compare caloric values against each other like pitting 6 bell peppers against a handfull of chocolate chips and pointing out that they are equal and calorie. However, neither of these choices would be a balanced diet. Someone could have 3 bell peppers and a tablespoon of chocolate. 

            • No food should be discluded

      • adaptable to our individual lifestyles and food preferences

If you would like to learn more about the 80:20 rule, check out this page!

These following links are to berkley and a reseach paper whose articles further explain the nature, benefits, and efficacy of the 80:20 rule.

• When it comes to a balanced lifestyle, exercise can play a significant role! But the idea of exercise is so often clouded by the pressure of “losing weight”, which in many cases is not possible with exercise alone. 

  • • • goal of losing weight is not advisable except under medical advice

• Exercise is a way to serve your body and help it better serve you. 

  • • • Exercise makes you more mobile and able to maintain mobility later on in life and preserve joint health

      • boosts metabolism

      • maintains heart health

      • releasing endorphins to improve mood

      • Strengthen muscles

      • Improve endurance for long tasks

      • improves break down and absorption of nutrients.

      • Exercise and time outside is correlated with better mental health

• Exercise should serve your life goals not your weight goals

  • • • For example, if your goal is to go on a backpacking trip in a mountain, exercises should include leg, glute, and core strengthening exercises, improving ankle flexibility to avoid rolling your ankle, and walking at an incline for long periods of time or running to improve endurance

            Click Here to take a quiz and find the right exercise for you based on your energy level and goals!!

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2. Bennett, B. L., & Latner, J. D. (2022). Mindful eating, intuitive eating, and the loss of control over eating. Eating Behaviors, 47, 101680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2022.101680
3. Corbin, C. B. (2013). Concepts of physical fitness : active lifestyles for wellness. Mcgraw-Hill.
4. Definition of HUNGER. (2019). Merriam-Webster.com. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hunger
5. Grider, H. S., Douglas, S. M., & Raynor, H. A. (2020). The Influence of Mindful Eating and/or Intuitive Eating Approaches on Dietary Intake: A Systematic Review. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 121(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2020.10.019
6. Hernandez, M. (2017). 80/20 Diet Efficacy in Regard to Physiology and Psychosocial Factors. Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy, 07(06). https://doi.org/10.4172/2165-7904.1000357
7. Mcduff, D. R., & American Psychiatric Publishing. (2012). Sports psychiatry : strategies for life balance and peak performance. American Psychiatric Pub.
8. Warren, J. M., Smith, N., & Ashwell, M. (2017). A Structured Literature Review on the Role of mindfulness, Mindful Eating and Intuitive Eating in Changing Eating behaviours: Effectiveness and Associated Potential Mechanisms. Nutrition Research Reviews, 30(2), 272–283. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954422417000154
9. Wilber, K., Patten, T., Leonard, A., & Morelli, M. (2008). Integral Life Practice. Shambhala Publications.
10. Yilmaz, E. (n.d.). 80-20 Rule (Pareto Principle) Definition & Explanation. The Berkeley Well-Being Institute. https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/80-20-rule.html