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BY JESSICA SEGOVIA-YAP, MD
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HAVE you ever wondered how you can finish one plate of pizza or a bag of chips or one big bar of chocolate and never even thought where it all went?
In this fast-paced busy world of ours, it could be a challenge to slow down enough and experience and really feel what we are eating and realize its effects on our health, especially our weight.
Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment. When we are mindful, we have a much better choice of determining what we need.
Mindful eating is the basis of a healthy relationship with food. This is important in a task as automatic and as mundane as eating. What we have been used to is eating like robots because we know we need to eat, not realizing what and how much of a certain type of food we have consumed – more often than not, unhealthy ones in amounts more than what our body needs.
Mindful eating is a wonderful practice to notice the hunger and then determine what the body really craves. We do this by paying attention to the taste, texture and colors of food. Literally, savoring it, smelling, tasting and hearing the crunch. Eating mindfully then naturally allows the body to sense when it has had enough, thereby help reduce the amount consumed.
In one exercise, students were asked to eat a single raisin and during that exercise it took them several minutes to finish it up. In another exercise, participants were surprised that when they were eating mindfully, they tend to leave something on their plate. Not that it is encouraged though as it is important not to waste food. But the exercise gave them a much easier time determining when they have reached a comfortable fullness and can push away from the table before becoming overly stuffed.
Mindful eating is when you eat because you are truly hungry, not because you are stressed, upset or bored and more importantly, stopping when you are satisfied, not stuffed or sick. Mindless eating, on the other hand, happens when we are rushed and eating on the go, or when we sit down and watch TV or read newspaper after a stressful day. This then leads to poor food choices, overeating and bad health effects that come with these choices.
So how do you practice mindful eating? Try to start with something small like a snack or a cup of coffee. Try not to be distracted by other activities like reading the newspaper to see how different it feels. You may try to put your fork down between bites or try using chopsticks to slow you down. Eating with your non-dominant hand is another technique. The purpose of these is to make you more aware of the activity. You may then proceed practicing one meal a day and eventually become an expert.
Mindfulness and its benefits though goes far beyond the dining room table. It also helps you prevent anxiety and depression as well. This will be our topic next week.
Jessica P. Segovia-Yap, M.D., FPAFP is a Diplomate and Fellow of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians. She is a practicing Family Medicine Specialist and holds clinic at the Medical Arts Building of Iloilo Mission Hospital. For comments, questions and suggestions, you may email at drjec.is.in@ gmail.com./PN
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