“Mindful eating is bringing awareness to what you eat and how you eat,” says Joy Rains, a mindful eating expert and author of Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind.
Mindful eating is about facing the patterns surrounding senseless eating to make a lasting life change. It’s a roadmap to the future you want to create.
“Any change you want to make has to start with awareness because you must know where you’re starting from to figure out where you’re going,” Rains says. “One of the best ways to start eating healthy is to become aware of your current relationship with food.”
That’s why mindful eating begins with keeping a log of the way you eat. This is your best bet to analyze the patterns themselves.
So just how do you start this process?
Rains suggests you journal. This can be done through a special journal you find, or you can even use your laptop or tablet.
The first entry should be a heartfelt assessment of exactly where you are with your eating habits. To do this, ask yourself the following set of questions in detail. And be honest. Cheating only hurts progress.
· How would I describe my current relationship with food?
· Do I use food for things other than nourishment? Do I use food to satisfy my emotional needs? What are some examples of this?
· In what ways does emotional eating fulfill me?