Mindful Eating
The Japanese have a concept of mindful eating called ‘Hara Hachi Bu’. This concept comes from Confucian teachings and roughly means to eat only 80% of your food. The idea is to eat slowly and focus on the tastes and textures of your food. Rather than assuming that a plateful is your allocated amount of food, you only eat until you’re 80% full. This helps ensure that you don’t eat too much as eating slowly helps give the connection between your stomach and your brain time to communicate fullness.
Basically, stop, look and feel your food. Appreciate what you’re eating and look after yourself by not eating too much. Forget about dieting, instead try mindful eating.
Here are some tips for mindful eating:
- Sit down and give yourself time to eat
- Use a plate and utensils, give yourself a pleasant setting for eating – even if it’s the same place as usual.
- Turn off the TV or other distractions so you can focus on the pleasant aspects of eating.
- Eat slowly and chew at least 30 times each mouthful.
- Consider the foods you are eating.
- What colours are the parts of your meal?
- What does it taste like?
- What textures are apparent when you chew?
Take these steps to appreciate the good things in food, eat well and be mindful and extend your journey to mindfulness.
