Mindful Eating: A Five-Step Guide

What is mindful eating?

The practice of eating mindfully means paying attention to what you are eating.

Food is fuel. Healthy choices can help to optimize energy, mood, and overall well-being.

During times of stress, this can be a useful practice to help you slow down, relax, and really enjoy meals!

A Five-Step Guide to Mindful Eating:

Step 1: Avoid distractions from screens (phone, television, computer, etc). Make meal time for meals!

Step 2: Take a look at the food in front of you. Enjoy thoughtfully: notice how the food tastes and feels.

Step 3: Take your time. Chew thoroughly. Try to eat slowly, or maybe even put the fork down between bites.

Step 4: Once you start to feel full, feel free to stop eating! It’s okay to put extra food away and store for later. In fact, this will give your brain time to register that you are starting to feel full.

Step 5: Notice how you feel after eating the food and reflect. Did the food taste differently than normal? What did you notice about the flavors and aromas? Did you notice when you started to feel full?

Article originally written for Mass General Weight Center

Contributors: Ariana Wood, Colleen Johnson, Kathleen Wright, Abeer Bader