There are two types of hunger that people with obesity face that lead to their weight problems: emotional eating in where they are eating their feelings and external eating where they eat based on the sight or smell of food around them. By practicing mindfulness eating, you will be able to lose weight, reduce binge eating, and be in more control and awareness over your eating habits.
Eating can be a very mindless activity where you can be easily distracted when you eat such as when you talk to friends, watch TV, snack while you are on your smartphone or your computer. You stop to realize how much you are consuming that you keep eating until you are full which is called binge eating. It you eat too fast, your fullness signal may not come to you until you have eaten too much. When using mindfulness eating meditations, you will focus your attention on how much you consume and be able to slow down which would make eating intentional. You would be more aware of your physical hunger and fullness cues and know the difference between emotional eating and actually being physically hungry.
Mindfulness eating is also a good weight loss strategy. According to a study found in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a six week group seminar of mindfulness eating caused an average weight loss of nine pounds. Negative feelings associated with eating like stress, sadness, or anger will be replaced with awareness, positive emotions, and you will improve your self-control. Instead of acting on your impulses, mindfulness eating will cause you to be in charge of your responses.
You can learn about mindfulness eating through seminars, online classes, or workshops. Skills you will learn will be how to eat slowly without being distracted, learning to eat in order to be healthy, being aware of how food affects your feelings and body image, how to appreciate the food you eat. If you eat too fast, you will not even taste your food and feel upset that you did not get to taste what you ate. Always ask yourself why you are eating. Is it because you are actually hungry, are you eating to stall doing something you do not want to do, or are you eating because you feel tempted? It is important to control your urges to avoid dealing with health problems as a result of obesity.
Located in downtown Midland, The Springboard Center’s mission is to offer programs and services to treat alcohol and drug addiction treatment using an evidence based curriculum, 12 step programs, diet, nutrition, exercise, emotional, mental and spiritual development for a long recovery. For more information, please call us at 432-620-0255 as we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.