Art of Mindful Eating and Exercises for Better Health and Happiness

Enjoy great health, peace of mind and happiness by following these wonderful exercises and having healthy food and mindful eating. Promoting health and enjoying great peace of mind is the desire of every person. The art of mindful eating and regular exercise aids to fulfill these dream.

People all around the world love to enjoy taking the delicious and scrumptious meal. Many of the people find great temptation in it. Some people start eating a lot when they are nervous or stressed while some do not like to eat at such condition. Foodies love to keep on feasting their taste buds with a number of brilliant and yummiest meal. Their love for food never ends. Indeed, there is a strong bonding between the food and foodie. Likewise, the love for junk food is quite deeper in children, especially the school going kids. Working women and men hardly find time to eat healthy food due to their busy and hectic schedule.

There are different eating behaviors and frequencies. Healthy food should be taken to promote good health. Some patterns are necessary to be followed in order to enjoy good health. The huge challenges and difficulties are kicked out when we make a sagacious decision of transforming our eating habit and experience with food.

Art of Mindful Eating

Are you pleased with your relationship with food? If not then focus on mindful eating. Mindful eating is basically an awareness that let the people know about the foods which they intake. If you are not pleased with your food relationship with your body and health then the mindful eating can help you out. The art of mindful eating is the fabulous guide which comprises of various stunning and splendid health benefits. Now, you can enjoy eating the right meal by using your sense. Make the most appropriate and right choices about the food. It is like living and eating by keeping yourself aware.

Fabulous BASICS of Mindful Eating:

The mindful eating is not a secret or mystery to unveil. It is quite simple which have the ability to marvelously switch your future experience with food in the most efficient manner. Eating frequently or randomly and having no idea about the nutritional value of your food can damage the health. Do not turn on the autopilot mode by keeping your self-ignorant about what you are doing to your health. Pay attention to what we eat and how does it affect your body. Apply the knowledge of food to your eating with the help of mindful eating. It is not a science but an art which contains various logic behind it.

In the world of mindful eating, BASIC is not merely a word but an entire set of guidelines. This guide is of great significance as it makes grants worth to the eating process. It instructs about the aspects of food such as what it does to the body. Surely, one cannot follow these guide perfectly all the time. Let us have a look at the BASICS of mindful eating in order to adopt it.

BASICS - Breathe and Belly Check

Before taking the food, it must be ensured that you are hungry.  Being it by taking a deep breath and by belly check, decide about your hunger either you are striving for food or not. Taking a few deep breaths are necessary as it relaxes the body. Afterward, check the status of your belly. If you found any sensation of hunger and get success in figuring what you are desirous to eat then satisfy your hunger with it. Might be you are hungry or thirsty. Carefully listen what your body demands from you. The prime mindful rule is to take the food when are hungry and avoid it when you are not hungry.

Do you know that eating mindfully does not merely promote good health but also let your taste buds enjoy the taste of food in a more better and efficient way? The better digestion and positivity to the health and wellness are the outcome of mindful eating.

Significance of a Deep Breath

It is mandatory to breathe deeply as it enables the human's body to brilliantly metabolize the food and stay mindful. More oxygen reaches to your body through the deep breathing and signs of stress are kicked out by the activation of PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System). For the mindful eating, deep breathes matter a lot. Taking shallow breaths represents stress. You will feel stressed and anxious by taking shallow breaths.

  

Significance of Belly Check

Carefully check your belly in order to notice the physical symptoms. If you notice grumbling or mild gurgling in your stomach then it indicates the biological hunger and the demand of body for the nutrients. Irritability, lightheadedness, lack of energy, difficulty to concentrate, stomach pain, faintness or headaches occur when you ignore the first signal and symptom of hunger. Our body keeps on speaking with us. All we need to do is to notice it that what it speaks and what it requires in order to fulfill the body demand. Neglecting the body’s requirement lead to serious consequences and for sure leave a negative impact on the health of both mental and physical health.

Hunger and Satisfaction Scale

When you learn to deep breathly and check in your belly then use the most precious asset of mindful eating which is none other than the hunger and satisfaction scale. The hunger stages are starved, very hungry, slightly hungry, not hungry, satisfied with the meal, beginning of a feeling of fullness, little full and uncomfortable, quite full to not take even a single bite and stuff. Among these hunger states, the most appropriate one and mindful state are when there is an indication of physical hunger such as in case of slight hunger.

BASICS – Access your Foods

Let's move a step further in order to learn about the art of mindful eating. It is about accessing your food. One does not start eating randomly the food merely because it was present over there. Take time to assess your meal. After all, it is going to contribute its part to your body. Hence, assessing cannot be neglected. How does it look? Does it smell pleasant to you? Is it a natural one or processed food?  Does your body demands it or not?

After assessing the meal, start eating it and reassess to know that either you should continue it or not. Learn to know the reactions of your body towards different foods. Hold a cupcake in your hand or grab some fruits. Likewise, study the speaking up of your body towards the burger or fires. Know the impression of food on your body. Using the highly processed food mask your senses and you become least able to recognize or access your food properly. Accessing the food mindfully does not mean to consider or evaluate fats, calories, carbohydrates, recommended daily allowance and salt. The neurochemicals present in our brain triggers the response towards the yummiest and delightful meal and aids in making an assessment. Our body shows the response to food. Assessing the healthy food letys geel various positive changes in our body.

BASICS – Slow Down

You can easily get the maximum out of minimum. Slow down is one of the most important steps of mindful eating which bring your attention to the meal. Practice slowing down by adopting these simple tricks such as taking a breath and pauses between bites, putting folk down between bites and chewing the food entirely. You can easily modify the pace of meal by listening or paying attention to them by putting utensils down. Slowing down becomes quite tough or sometimes impossible when you are engaged in a number of tasks and have to sort out all quickly. Similarly, it becomes quite hard in certain environmental conditions such as in break rooms at work especially when it is loaded with several delicious goodies and loaded buffet tables. Majority of the people are under strict time constraints and hardly find few minutes to eat.

The challenging life does not allow us to eat our meals slowly and mindfully. Feel calm and relaxed by mindful slow eating. You can master it in a day or two. Be slow and steady. It is a fact that the brain takes about 20 minutes to register fullness. Follow some simple tricks as per your convenience to slowly shift to this habit. Chew your bite for a longer period of time. Pay attention to the meal and does not consider to just finish it. Feel the taste at each bite an observe the response of the body. Take pauses even little but frequent pauses between bites. If you are naturally a slow eater then you are blessed.

BASICS – Investigate status of Hunger

Maintain your attention towards your food and keeps on assessing the status of your hunger throughout the meal. Be aware regarding the distractions. A mindful eater can easily discover it that his stomach is satisfied and he does not require more food although his plate contains food. The feeling of satisfaction should be recognized. Do not eat to just finish the food on the plate. Both assessing your hunger before taking meal and even during a meal is quite necessary. You may feel that the food is no longer appealing. Mindfully determines when you want to stop eating. Now no more adherence to the rule of finishing the plate.

For the greater health, peace of mind and happiness, eating mindfully by stop eating when hunger gets satisfied is important. If you remain unaware of your hunger and keep on eating without paying attention to your body need then you should use this trick. At least half of your meal, you should STOP and breathe.

Stop simply means to take a pause at the halfway and take a breath. Afterward, observe carefully the sign of stuffed, hunger and taste. If still feel hungry then proceed else just skip. If there is no biological hunger then continuing eating is a mistake which would burden you. Indeed, one may feel symptoms of acidity due to overeating or indigestion. The stomach may get upset. DO not make your body use to of it. Rather, take out your precious time to learn the amazing art of mindful eating which is best for your wellness.

BASICS - Chew the meal thoroughly

 Do not rapidly move to the next bite until you finish the first one. Take time to chew every bite as it would help you to slow down your eating too which we have discussed earlier. Besides this, the proper flavor of food can be rejoiced by using this strategy. The function of the teeth gets improved.

Mindful eating involves paying attention to appeal, taste, and odor of meal. Take as much time as you can to relish your meal. Chewing meal for longer quenches the thirst and provides a good deal of energy as well. This is the reason that the prisoners keep the food in their mouth for longer and keep on chewing it to avail these benefits. The father of Lino Stanchich was a prisoner of World War II who used to follow this strategy.

BASICS - Savor your food 

Taste buds produce the peculiar sensation and let us know what our body desires. Savor your food means to honor the taste bud with the meal of their choice. When the taste buds demand something sweet then feast it with cupcakes or chocolates. The whole body experience is explained by the sensation of our taste buds. Savor your food in order to enjoy the remarkable experience ever.

It is a fact that every meal which we eat does not provide us with a gourmet experience. When you do not bother about the taste your meal then simply you are trying to be cruel to your own body. Listen to what it demands. Relishing delightful taste allow you to comprehend the sensations of your body and studying the body requirements become quite simplified. You can grant good experience to your body after making the journey of food successful in the mouth.

Approach to the food which is fresh and healthy. Mindfully aware regarding the taste of food. Satisfy the carves on time. Savoring mindfully lets you make a strong and unbreakable bond with the food and body.

Mindful Eating Exercises:

Hope you have good some idea about the BASICS of mindful eating. Start following the BASICS with a little bit of concentration and soon you will be succeeded in it. Here come some exciting mindful eating exercises which may sound a bit silly in the beginning, but these worthy exercises works wonder. Execute the steps of BASICS in the exercises to get the most fantastic outcomes and learn mindful eating quickly.

Eating Some Raisins Mindfully

Learn the amazing art of mindful eating with the help of this exercise. You need to take a paper, a pen and three raisins for this mindful eating exercise. Use the pen and paper to write down about your experience regarding this exercise.

Place all three raisins on the palm of your hand and start following the BASICS of mindful eating. Use all your senses to know about the raisins. Use the sense of sight to know how they actually look. Observe them carefully. Rotate them and touch them to know how they feel. Likewise, keep them close to your nose to notice their odor. IT may sound a bit silly but place it closer to your ear and use the sense of hearing to notice its sound. Place it on your tongue to feel the taste but do not chew it. Feel to know either you wish to chew it or not. Write down all your experience on the paper.

Eating Meal or Snack Mindfully

Normally, all of us enjoy taking snacks and meal at several times daily. Choose a particular time and start following the guides of BASICS in it. Begin it by determining either you are hungry or not through the deep breath and a belly check method. Then assess the meal, eat it slowly, savor your meal and when you feel satisfied then stop the meal. Follow this exercise daily at that specific time and soon you become used to of it.