How to eat both mindfully and intentionally
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 sufficiently aids in digestion and can prevent abdominal discomfort, both during and after eating. It also encourages you to take a pause in your day, slow down, and do something meaningful and supportive for your body and mind.
The Winter Holidays is a time of overindulgence, and if you already struggle with your eating habits, this just adds to your stress. Yoga teaches Mindfulness (Sati) and Intention (Sankalpa), and when it comes to eating, these are both useful principles to help you regain control over your eating habits without feeling deprived or guilty.
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 pay attention to what is on the plate. Then you notice as you put the food on the fork. You notice the aroma and the colors or your food. When you put the food in your mouth, you observe the taste, texture, and sensations. When you begin to chew, you feel the food in your mouth, the saliva mixing in, the food breaking down. Eventually you swallow, and, after a breath or two, 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 feel when you are no longer hungry. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to register your fullness, so when you eat quickly, it’s common to overeat, because you aren’t connecting to the sensations of hunger and satiety. Mindful eating also raises your enjoyment levels. How often do you make time for joy during your day? What if eating were 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 that you give yourself. There is permission, from you to you, so there is no shame.
The Thanksgiving meal, which we just had in the United States, often ends with pie (or multiple pies). Overeating is common with this meal because there are so many wonderful foods, pie being one of them. What would it feel like to allow yourself to experience the joy and pleasure of eating pie? In my experience, when you give yourself permission, you don’t overeat because you are mindfully enjoying the treat. You end up eating less because you reach satisfaction and don’t need more.
Treats are not foods you eat all the time, but are special. When my kids were young, I enacted “treat night” once a week. This is the one opportunity per week to indulge without guilt or shame. For me, that’s when I go for the ice cream. I scoop it out into a bowl and have about a serving size. This is usually enough, because I use mindfulness when enjoying said ice cream. I taste it, feeling the creamy, frosty goodness on my tongue, enjoying the delightful flavors. Because I am fully present when I eat, one serving is enough and I feel satisfied.
Eating to Numb
Because I am human and therefore imperfect (it’s fine, I’m fine), I am not always mindful when I eat. 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 is never going to fill that hole.
Thankfully, this has been less of a problem for me in recent years. When I notice the behavior I can employ mindfulness and pause to notice my feelings. In that pause I can tend to my actual needs and change how I feel with something useful. Like a nap, a hug, or some journaling or meditation.
Intentional Eating
Intentional eating is similar to mindful eating, but slightly 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 choose the foods you eat and do 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 regain control over yourself.
Shame eating
When you feel ashamed, you might turn to food to manage that feeling. Shame feels terrible and many people, including myself, use food to numb that pain. This is not eating from 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 better decisions for yourself, you need to feel empowered.
It’s not easy to let go of shame. Here’s where your yoga practice can help. Empathy and self-compassion guide you out of shame and into a rational and centered state. Shame sends your brain into Fight or Flight. Empathy and self-compassion move you back into your rational brain where you can make supportive decisions.
When you eat intentionally, on purpose, you take responsibility for the choices that you make, so you avoid shame completely. Shame comes from feeling like you did something bad. If you make a choice and own it, you have no reason to feel bad. When you have choice, you have power over yourself and can make decisions that serve you best in that moment.
Support with mindful and intentional eating
It takes practice to default to mindfulness and intentionality when it comes to eating. If you’ve ever struggled with food, it may not come naturally to you at first, but with understanding and support, it gets easier.
If you are a DIYer, you might be interested in my book, Intentional Eating: Finding Peace and Balance in Your Relationship with Food. This book helps you understand why you eat, the different types of hunger, and how to treat yourself with more kindness and less criticism with regard to food. We need food to survive, but when you eat too much, like you do when you numb, it can have lasting negative effects on your health. Shifting your relationship with food helps you feel more in control over your eating so that you eat what you need without harm, shame, or guilt. Click the graphic below for more information on this book.
If you want individual support, join me in January for Intentional Eating: Finding Peace and Balance with Your Relationship to Food. This 6 week online coaching program offers personal support as you go through the process of observing your habits as they are, so that you can regain agency over yourself. This program will help you feel more confident and more in control over your eating habits without diets, restrictions, or shame. Limited to 5 people to encourage support, sharing, and success! The book is included when you sign up for this program. We start Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 7:30pm EST. Click here for more information or to sign up!
