Tips to help you practice mindful eating during the lockdown

It is common to lose ourselves in the patterns of our daily life. Some of our daily activities tend to lend themselves to the state of pushing and pulling us to and fro leaving us with little opportunity but to experience life as what we are coping with at the very moment. Now that we are all confined to our houses, more than ever, we need to practice mindfulness so as to be able to break habitual patterns including the manner in which we eat.

We can practice mindful eating so as to be more awake to our lives and discover the finer things like joy and peace while at it. Here are a few tips on how you can embrace mindful eating:

Eat with others

Eating alone promotes a lot of mindless eating. To be able to practice mindful eating, you need to stop eating alone while on your phone or watching teli. Try eating with your family. It is not only healthier, it will also help you be mindful of the way you eat since you have people around and you have to present your meal with some kind of attention that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Serve smaller portions

It is normal to prefer larger quantities of food because you want to be fully satisfied once you are done. However, this does not mean that your body actually needs all that quantity of food you’ll be consuming. You can try using smaller plates so that you can serve smaller quantities. By having you smaller plate or bowl looking full, you can trick your brain into thinking that you are having a bigger portion.

If you don’t feel satisfied at the end of a meal, instead of going for a second helping, you can round off the meal with a fruit or add some leafy greens or salad.

Put down your utensils

You need to take your time whenever you set to have a meal. When you leave your utensil (spoon, fork or knife) on the table, you are fully present to each bite that you take. With mindful practice, you need to work on the multi-tasking where you take a bite and immediately start preparing the next bite while still chewing the original bite. How about you make it a point to be fully present for the bite in your mouth?

Cut down on snacks

By stocking too many ready-to-eat snacks in the house, you develop the urge to constantly eat since the food is available anyway. You need to be careful with the foods that you stock. You don’t want yourself pacing to the kitchen every time your mouth feels idle because you can readily get something to bite. You need to regain control of what you eat and how much you eat, and with snacks, the easiest way to do this is by limiting the snacks in your stock.

Be mindful of emotional eating

Are you eating because you are hungry or because you are trying to relieve stress and your emotions? You need to learn how to manage your emotions for you to be able to regain control over the food you eat, and the frequency of eating, as well as that of your feelings.