Features

Mindful Eating

Girl smiling as she looks at her food
© Outcast India / Unsplash

Mindfulness means focusing on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting your feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. The tenets of mindfulness apply to mindful eating too, but the concept of mindful eating goes beyond just eating food. Mindful eating means being fully attentive to your food — as you buy, prepare, serve and consume it. Let’s see how mindfulness helps us. 

1. Eating slowly

Do you wonder why your parents insist that you eat slowly?
Here’s why. Science has shown that the body takes 20 minutes to send a signal to the brain to say that it is full. So, when we eat quickly, we tend to overeat simply because we don’t realise that we are full.

2. Chew your food 20 times

Why is this so important? When you chew your food, the saliva gets a chance to mix with your food and helps in the digestion process. Many digestion-related problems, including weight gain or weight loss, occur due to food not being digested properly.  

3. Distractions

Why is it important to put away that phone while you eat? When you are distracted with your phone, you are not paying attention to the food that you are eating. There is a high chance of you missing the signals that your body is giving you when you are distracted. Enjoy the company and the food completely. This will help you slow down too.

Cover of the December 2022 issue of The Teenager Today featuring Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur

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Rupa Mehta is a senior trainer, facilitator and coach with over 16 years’ experience. She finds immense pleasure in coaching the young and adults on mindfulness, communication, leadership and etiquette. She is the founder of CorporatEdge-Training & Beyond. She can be contacted at corporatedge@gmail.com for her latest training batches for teens.

Rupa Mehta

Rupa Mehta is a senior trainer, facilitator and coach with over 16 years’ experience. She finds immense pleasure in coaching the young and adults on mindfulness, communication, leadership and etiquette. She is the founder of CorporatEdge-Training & Beyond. She can be contacted at corporatedge@gmail.com for her latest training batches for teens.