Mindful Eating is … (adapted from The Joy of Half a Cookie by Jean Kristeller, PhD)
- Deliberately paying attention to your experience of food and eating without judgment
- Becoming aware in each moment both internally ( thoughts, emotions, hunger, flavor , fullness) and external (nutritional value)
- Appreciating the difference between physical hunger and other triggers for eating such as strong emotions, thoughts and social pressure
- Choosing to eat foods as much as possible that you enjoy and that nourish your body
- Experiencing the flavor of a food as it shifts and evolves from one bite to the next
- Noticing how fullness develops in your stomach and how you feel once you have eaten enough
- Using information about the nutritional value and energy of food to meet your personal needs and inform your choices of what how much to eat
- Freeing energy from worries about food and giving it to other important areas of your life