How to Create Mindful Eating Habits

Do you not allow yourself to eat certain foods? Do you find that fighting with yourself about the foods you allow yourself to eat drains your energy and robs the joy out of eating? Many of us have a list of foods we "shouldn't" eat. Being healthy is not only what you eat, but how you eat.

One of our favorite books on the art of eating is Eating Mindfully: how to end mindless eating & enjoy a balanced relationship with food by Susan Albers

Albers offers 3 tips on How to Create New Eating Habits

1. Make two lists, one of the foods you eat "mindfully" and the other of the foods you eat "mindlessly." Foods eaten "mindlessly" are those you avoid, restrict, define as "bad", those that produce strong emotions of guilt, and/or induce over- or out-of-control eating. Mindful foods may produce emotions, but they are mostly positive or neutral emotions. Mindful foods are eaten willingly, without reservation or fear. If you don't divide foods into these categories consciously, you may have an internal sense of your emotional reactions (carefree eating verses eating that results in guilt, stress, or fear). Getting in touch with the way you react to each of these categories of food is important. The first step to changing any behavior is to become more aware of it. Bring these categories into your conscious, deliberate thoughts.

2. Next, think about how to take food out of the two categories. Remove the "bad" label from a cookie by giving it a purpose. Is your intention to have a snack? If so, eat the cookie in mindful bites, or use it to satisfy a craving for sweets. Or, give yourself a prescription for a once-a-day dose of a cookie. Start with the foods you eat mindlessly. As you begging to be more comfortable, start to experiment by sampling foods you've completely cut out of your diet, or foods that you are intensely afraid of or are reluctant to eat. Conquer your fears.

3. Break out of your standard routine. Whether you go to the grocery store and buy the same items week after week, or zoom down the aisles looking for the Specials, do something different. Examine and buy an exotic fruit like a mango, papaya, or an Asian pear. Or try a loaf of gourmet whole wheat bread. Add a touch of spice and variety to your meals. Walk through the store mindfully examining each item. Be aware of the products you never noticed before. Touch and turn over packages, smell fruits, examine everything, and buy new food.

About the author: Dr. Susan Albers is a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic Women's Health Center who specializes in relationship and weight issues. She is a College of Wooster graduate and obtained her masters and doctorate degree from the University of Denver. Susan completed her APA internship at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana and her post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University in California.
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