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By Debra L. Benfield, M.Ed., R.D., LDN

At the end of a long day, she finds herself rummaging through the pantry to find something, just a little something, and the next thing she knows, the box of crackers is empty.  She feels a little uneasy after she hangs up the phone, opens the freezer and turns on the TV.  The next thing she knows, she feels embarrassed by how much of the ice cream she has carved away. She becomes so disgusted with herself because “ she knows what to do but she can’t do it!”   Unconscious, or mindless, eating can undo all of your efforts to eat healthily and manage your weight.

The missing, and essential, ingredient to changing habits “for good” is to develop conscious, or mindful, eating habits. The place to start developing these skills is to develop an understanding of your personal relationship with food and eating.  No matter how much you know about food and nutrition, you may need to become aware of how you use food.

The first step is to start a conversation with yourself as you eat throughout the day.  Ask yourself “am I hungry from my stomach?”.  Another way to ask this may be “am I really hungry?”  The objective of this conversation is not to start limiting your eating, but to study yourself.   Begin to notice the difference between meeting your body’s needs for nurturance, versus eating for other reasons.  Most importantly, you cannot get this wrong!  You are simply being a student of your behavior.  Beating yourself up will just make things worse.

This sounds easy, but you may find it is very difficult to do. As you begin to ask yourself if your body is really hungry when you eat, it may be hard to know at first. You are simply not accustomed to eating when your body needs nutritional support.
You may find that you eat because it is just time to eat, or because you don’t really want to start the project on your desk, or because you feel tired, or because everybody else is, or because you want to wind down at the end of the day, or because you feel emotionally uncomfortable.  And sometimes, you eat because it is just habit!

If you are not being conscious or mindful of yourself as you eat, it is difficult to know if your body is hungry.  Developing the practice of mindful eating is a challenge in your world of distractions and busyness.  If you are distracted by the television or the newspaper, or by driving to work, or packing the kids’ lunches, how can you hear what your body is telling you?  If your mind is somewhere else when you take the next bite, can you know if you are still hungry, if you are satisfied and can stop eating now, or if you were hungry in the first place?

The following behaviors can help you become more conscious of your body’s hunger and fullness: 1) slow down; 2) decrease distractions; 3) take a deep breath; 4) say grace, or voice gratitude; and 4) use your senses to enjoy looking at the food on your plate, smelling it, and then really tasting it.  These strategies may allow you to stay connected to your body’s signals.  You will become more and more attentive to your body’s feedback about your hunger, your level of satisfaction, and if you become uncomfortably full.

As you practice mindful eating, you will become more aware of your eating behaviors and your body will start to let you know when to eat and how much to eat and even what to eat.  You can then feel more in control of your eating behavior.  When you add mindful eating practices to your smart food choices and more activity, you will be free of following a diet plan EVER AGAIN.  Now, you will be able to DO what you KNOW to do.