In the 21st century, it seems that everything must be done quickly and we lose out on some things we enjoy to do, such as eating! It is quite difficult to eat properly if we are piled up with school-work and errands or just busy going on the internet and using our smartphones. As a result, we may go on autopilot during our meals, caring less about our consumption of food which leads to obesity, hypertension, diabetes and even bowel problems.
Obesity in U.S. by saraohmy via Flickr Creative Commons
How can we easily prevent these problems?
We can incorporate a method called Mindful Eating during our meal times. It is a very effective way to allow us to become actually aware of the food that we consume.
What are some benefits of mindful eating?
1. It allows the body to become in sync with what we are eating and helps to regulate our hormones and saliva, maintaining the health of both our mind and body.
2. We can reduce our overeating if we are more aware of what is included in our meals.
3. There is an increase enjoyment of food which helps to relieve our stress.
4. We can more readily control our feelings of hunger and satisfaction from the food we eat.
What are some steps to approaching mindful eating?
1. Start appreciating the appearance, smell and taste of our meals.
2. Pay attention to how our internal digestive system is responding while we eat.
3. If we must multi-task, we should take a few moments away from our tasks to focus on chewing our food before returning back to our tasks.
4. Finally, we can talk and share with our friends and loved ones about our meal experiences in terms of flavour and textures.
So let’s stop the autopilot to enjoy our delicious meals!
Fire-grilled Sirloin Steak with tiger prawns by closari via Flickr Creative Commons
-Candy KT Fu
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