It’s all in the approach: Mindful vs Intentional Eating
When it comes to healthy eating, how you eat can be as important as what you eat. Sitting while you eat, eating slowly, and chewing your food well can aid in digestion and prevent abdominal discomfort during and after eating. It also encourages you to take a pause in your day, slow down, and do something meaningful and supportive for you.
Yoga teaches you Mindfulness (Sati) and Intention (Sankalpa) and when it comes to eating, these are both useful principles that will benefit you in different ways.
Mindful Eating
Mindfulness is noticing what you are doing right now, and bringing your full attention and awareness to it. When you eat mindfully, you are paying attention to what is on the plate. Then you put the food on the fork. You notice the aroma and the colorsl. When you put the food in your mouth, you notice the taste, texture, and sensations. Then you begin to chew. You chew, feeling the food in your mouth, the saliva mixing in, the food breaking down. Eventually you swallow, and start the process over again with the next bite.
Mindful eating encourages slowing down and experiencing your food. It gives your brain time to catch up with your stomach so that you stop when you are no longer hungry, as opposed to stopping when you are full to bursting. It also raises your enjoyment levels. How often do you make time for joy during your day? Shouldn’t eating be one of those times?
Treat vs Cheat
This is essential when it comes to what I call “treat” type foods or meals. Notice I said “treat” and not “cheat.” The word cheat implies that you are doing something wrong and should therefore feel shame about what you are doing. Nothing good comes from shaming yourself. A treat is a gift you are giving yourself. There is permission, from you to you, so there is no shame.
These are not foods you eat all the time, they are special. Maybe it’s a birthday meal, or when you are on vacation. In my house we have “treat night” once a week, and that’s when I go for the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (specifically Phish Food or Karamel Sutra). I scoop out the ice cream into a bowl and have about a serving size. This is usually enough, because I use mindfulness when enjoying said ice cream. I am tasting it, feeling the creamy, frosty goodness on my tongue, enjoying the chocolatey, marshmellowy goodness. Because I am fully present when I eat, 1 serving is enough and I feel satisfied.
Eating to Numb
I am not always mindful. When I use food to numb (aka eat my feelings), there is no tasting or enjoying the food. There is only shoveling in an attempt to squelch whatever unpleasant feeling I am feeling. This kind of hunger will never be sated with food (you can read more about that here). That empty feeling inside is not seeking food, it’s actually seeking connection, sleep, amusement, companionship, or many other possible things. Food isn’t going to fill that void.
Thankfully, this is less of a problem for me in recent years. When I notice the behavior I can employ mindfulness and pause to notice what I am actually feeling. In that pause I can tend to my actual needs and change how I feel with something useful. Like a nap or a hug.
Intentional Eating
Intentional eating is similar to mindful eating, but a bit different. While mindful eating is being present with your food, intentional eating is eating on purpose. Like I mentioned above, when you eat mindlessly to squash a feeling (boredom, anxiety, sadness, frustration, etc), there is no choice involved. You grab whatever’s there and eat until you are going to burst.
When you eat intentionally, there IS choice. You are choosing the foods you eat and are doing so on purpose. You intentionally choose the chicken and broccoli, or the grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Maybe you even choose the ice cream. The point is, you are making a choice, and in choice there is no shame. The decision comes from a place of grounded intention. There is no rush, only space to make the best decision for yourself at that moment.
If you choose to treat yourself, that’s fine. Maybe you feel like you need more protein, also fine. If you realize you haven’t had a fruit or a vegetable lately, perhaps that is your choice. The idea is to move away from shame and emotional eating, and take back control over yourself.
Shame eating
When you feel ashamed, you might turn to food to manage that feeling. This is not a grounded place, but rather a wounded place. Shame makes you feel small, alone, and isolated. No good decisions come from a place of shame. In order to make good decisions for yourself, to make yourself feel good, you need to feel empowered.
When you eat on purpose, you take responsibility for the choices that you make. When you take responsibility, there is no shame. Shame comes from feeling like you did something bad. If you make the choice, and own it, you have no reason to feel bad. There are no good or bad foods, there is only food.
It’s up to you to decide what to do with it.
More Support!
Join me for Intentional Eating: Finding Peace and Balance with Your Relationship to Food. Using principles of yoga and brain science, this program will help you feel more confident and more in control over your eating habits. There are no diets, no restrictions, and no shame. This 6 week online program will help you regain power over yourself and help you make the best decisions for you. Limited to 5 people to encourage support, sharing, and success! We start April 23rd, registration is now open! Click here for more information or to sign up!
