Eating With More Awareness

Eat with more awareness & create a better relationship with food. 

Eating with awareness requires focused attention to the complete eating experience and involves being cognizant of what is happening within your body, and how it affects how you think and feel. Ultimately, giving you the longitude for you to know the impact that certain foods have on your overall well-being.

To have an awareness of the foods you eat and their impact upon your wellbeing, listed are (10) eating strategies to help you to be more aware of the foods you are eating. 

Being aware of how food affects you long term.

Research shows^[1] that by imagining things, our brain has the ability to simulate the response as though what has been imagined had actually occurred.  So, one might reason that the process of thinking how certain foods will affect our bodies even in the long term may help a person to be better aware of food choices within the moment in order to gain a better sense of wellbeing. 

Have an awareness of your own reasons for eating healthfully

Be aware of your reasons for wanting, or perhaps even needing to eat healthfully.  Consider making a commitment to eating foods that make you feel whole, nourished, and healthy.  Set and align your goals for better eating, which may likely be an aide to you successfully reaching your goals.

Remove addictive or unhealthful foods

Do you have trigger foods, those foods that may be in your cupboard or frig that you seem to eat mindlessly?  Often times foods that contain processed sugars, unhealthy fats, salt, caffeine, and alcohol may be the culprit that can derail your healthy eating goals.  Having trigger foods in the home may scream at you to eat and eat more.  For this reason, it might be your best option to not keep trigger foods in the home if you are to derive any benefit to eating healthfully.  You decide what will work best for you.

Have an awareness of what your body needs

As you are thinking of your food choices, it might be advantageous to consider what it is that your body needs for overall health and wellness.  Will processed fats, sugar and salty foods get you where you want to be healthwise?  When you look at foods, smell foods, what foods signify health and wellness for you?  Are they the vibrant colors of the foods in the produce aisles of your local market? Give it some consideration.    

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Be aware of calm before eating

Research shows^[2] that our digestive system may be adversely affected when we eat at a time that our bodies are not feeling calm and relaxed.  So, it can help to first arrive at a place of calm before beginning to eat. 

So, what can be done to calm our body’s if the time before eating had been chaotic and rushed?  Would listening to music that relaxes help bring you to a place of calm?  Do you prefer the classics, contemporary or smooth jazz music?  After a long day working and possibly a long commute home, some may enjoy a warm bath or shower before sitting down for a meal.  What would work for you? 

Evaluate your hunger cues

A person may want to evaluate where their hunger for food initiates. For example, did hunger stem from something that you saw, a visual stimuli?  Did it come from something that you smelled, a sensory stimuli?  Did you hear the cooking of food, like bacon sizzling or coffee brewing, an auditory stimuli to eating? 

Perhaps you just had a little bite of food, like those samples at your local market, or food left for all in the breakroom at work that left you wanting to eat more.  Has most of the morning, afternoon, or evening passed without you having something to eat, and now your tummy is growling?  Or maybe it is just that time of day that tells you it is time to eat, like breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. 

How are you feeling emotionally?  Are your emotions stirred up, maybe with feelings of sadness, loneliness, or anxiety that move you to want to eat?  Lastly, perhaps you just have a craving to eat something memorable, a craving for a certain desirable food.  These are questions to ask in the process of becoming more aware about the foods you eat. 

What Prompts Your Eating Response

• Visual: The seeing of food
• Sensory: The smell of food.
• Audible: Heard the cooking of food or heard someone eating food
• Taste: Tasted food and desired more
• Physical: Stomach growl or hollow feeling in the stomach
• Time: Routine of eating food at a particular time of day
• Emotional: Feelings of loneliness, anxiety, or other feelings
• Craving: A craving to eat a certain food

Awareness of your company and environment

When eating with others, try to keep the conversation positive, not discussing problematic or troublesome issues while eating.  You can save those conversations for a time after the meal.  It might also be advantageous to avoid being on your device, watching television, or reading while eating, so as to be fully aware of your food, as well as to be aware of those whom you might be eating with and the environment around you.  These basic steps may help to ensure that your parasympathetic nervous system^[3] helps in the digestion of your food.

Being aware of each bite

As you are eating, pause and listen to your body.  How is the food you are eating making you feel?  Does it seem to be agreeing with your digestive system?  Are you feeling any adverse symptoms?  If you are going through menopause, does the food you are eating trigger hot flashes or sweats?  If you suffer with allergies or migraine headaches, is the food that you are eating triggering an episode?  Does the food you are eating leave you feeling tired and lethargic? Pausing as you eat, and being truly aware, can help you to have a sense of how the food you are eating affects your overall wellbeing.

Be aware of mindless eating

Food will not adequately satisfy emotional hunger. A person eating to soothe emotions may find themselves eating mindlessly.  It might be more appropriate to seek other positive outlets to help with frail emotions, like taking up a craft, hobby, or sport.  Or, in more serious matters, speaking to a friend or professional therapist. 

Have an awareness of cellular hunger and micronutrients

Your body’s cells may need important nutrients such as specific vitamins and minerals.  However, if you are eating the wrong foods for your body’s needs, you may not fill that void, resulting in you being continuously hungry at a cellular and micronutrient level.^[4]  Exploration may be needed to fill this void.  So, eating new and different foods that are healthful may be needed.  It also would not hurt to have a candid talk with your doctor or nutritionists.  They may be able to order blood work that can help you narrow in on the nutrients your body might be lacking. 

In Conclusion:

To eat with awareness requires diligent effort and a willingness to be responsive, open, and accepting of changes that are needed in order to be aware of the foods you are eating, when you are eating and why you are making specific food choices. 

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[1] Your brain on imagination: It’s a lot like reality, study shows, December 10, 2018, University of Colorado at Boulder, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181210144943.htm

[2] The gut-brain connection, April 19, 2021, Pay attention to your gut-brain connection – it may contribute to your anxiety and digestion problems.  https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/the-gut-brain-connection

[3] Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS)

[4] Fuhrman J, Sarter B, Glaser D, Acocella S. Changing perceptions of hunger on a high nutrient density diet. Nutr J. 2010 Nov 7;9:51. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-9-51. PMID: 21054899; PMCID: PMC2988700.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2988700/