Mindfulness Tip: How To Enjoy Sweets Mindfully
What is mindful eating?
Mindful eating is based on mindfulness, a Buddhist concept. Mindfulness is a form of meditation that helps you recognize and cope with your emotions and physical sensations. Mindful eating is about using mindfulness to reach a state of full attention to your experiences, cravings, and physical cues when eating.
A more in-depth definition would be that mindful eating is maintaining an in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you put into your body. It involves observing how the food makes you feel and the signals your body sends about taste, satisfaction, and fullness. Mindful eating requires you to simply acknowledge and accept rather than judge the feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations you observe. It can extend to the process of buying, preparing, and serving your food as well as consuming it.
Mindful eating isn’t about being perfect, always eating the right things, or never allowing yourself to eat on the go again. And it’s not about establishing strict rules for how many calories you can eat or which foods you have to include or avoid in your diet. Rather, it’s about focusing all your senses and being present as you shop for, cook, serve, and eat your food.
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WHY YOU SHOULD TRY IT
In today’s world, distractions have shifted our attention away from the actual act of eating and more toward televisions, computers, and smartphones. Eating has become a mindless act for many, and is often done quickly. Some may find themselves eating in the car commuting to work, at the desk in front of a computer screen, or on the couch watching TV. When you eat mindlessly, you’re usually shoveling food down regardless of whether you’re still hungry or not. And sometimes mindless eating can be an emotional response rather than a physical response to your hunger.
Mindful eating vs. Mindless eating
When it comes to eating it’s important to know how to distinguish mindful eating and mindless eating. And if you regularly eat mindlessly, finding the difference between the two might be a little more difficult. But there are clues you can look for to help tell the two apart.
The signs of mindful eating can be any or all of the following:
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Focusing all of your attention on food and the experience of eating
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Eating only to satisfy physical hunger
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Eating nutritionally healthy meals and snacks
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Eating slowly and savoring every bite
The signs of mindless eating can be any or all of the following:
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Eating on autopilot or while multitasking
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Eating to fill a void like stress or depression
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Eating junk or comfort food
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Eating food as quickly as possible
Mindful eating can also help you distinguish between emotional and physical hunger, which can increase your awareness of food-related triggers and gives you the freedom to choose your response to them.
How to practice mindful eating
In order to practice mindfulness, you need to participate in an activity with total awareness. So when it comes to mindful eating, you’ll want to eat with all your attention rather than on autopilot or while you’re doing something else. Here are a few simple steps to get started with mindful eating, with each step having powerful benefits of their own:
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Eat slowly and don’t rush your meals
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Chew thoroughly
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Eliminate distractions by turning off the TV and putting down your phone
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Eat in silence
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Focus on how the food makes you feel
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Stop eating when you’re full
Try practicing mindful eating for short, five-minute periods at first and gradually build up from there. You can also begin mindful eating when you’re making your shopping list or browsing the menu at a restaurant, it doesn’t have to start when you’re already eating.
Why we crave sugar
Sugar is an earthy elemental taste, and when we think about the taste of sugar it brings us energy. It also brings us comfort and provides us with this sense of being wrapped up in something yummy and delicious. That’s often why we crave it a lot, because of the ‘good’ feelings it brings us.
Additionally when it comes to sugar, instead of just wanting to have a bit more you’re often compelled to have more. A combination of mindset, environment, and anatomy creates this draw or pull that sugar can have. The following discuss the why and how this impacts you when you are trying to mindfully enjoy sweets.
Restriction and the labeling of bad food
We have to discuss the concept of assigning morality to food. This is when we say nourishing foods are good, while more enjoyable foods are bad. This is assigning morality to food. By creating a negative connotation in our minds surrounding an entire category of foods that we enjoy eating, something called the scarcity mindset is kicked into gear.
You believe that you shouldn’t have said bad food items, so you restrict them to the best of your ability. Maybe you don’t keep them in the house, only have them on special occasions, or only have them when someone offers them to you and then you can’t refuse.
When you’re in one of those situations and do end up having the sweets, scarcity kicks in. Your brain essentially says, “This may be our only opportunity to have this bad food, we gotta have it all.” This then instantly triggers overeating, mindlessness, bloating, excessive fullness, guilt, stress, and resentment.
Environmental cues
Is there a certain environment you can think of where you consistently feel out of control around food? Maybe it’s buffets, or social gatherings, or when you order pizza on Friday nights, maybe at the movie theatre.
We’re creatures of habit and we love routine. The environment you are in plays a role in this. If you’re used to eating whatever whenever you go out to eat with friends, a habit has formed. Your brain now associates social gatherings with mindless eating. It may have nothing to do with your hunger levels, the kind of food that’s being served, or how you feel that day, it’s simply the environment that’s influencing you.
This is particularly common with sweets. It can result in you feeling out of control around them simply because your environment is influencing you so heavily. Cravings, like your craving for sugar, are a way for you to take a deeper look at what your inner needs are and what your motivations for eating are.
Blood sugar and hunger
Sweets are made of sugar, which is a type of starchy carbohydrate, and starchy carbs are the body’s primary and fastest source of energy. That means the body needs it to feel energized, and is able to turn it into energy faster than any other food item.
When your blood sugar is low, and you’re not feeling energized, the body looks at sweets like a gold mine. The body craves them and compels you to eat them because it needs to bring blood sugar up. It can make you feel out of control and completely mindless around them. Low blood sugar can happen as a result of not eating enough starchy carbohydrates - whether intentionally or unintentionally - or an overall restricted intake of any and all foods.
Tips on how to mindfully eat sweets
Intentionally eating mindfully will allow you to enjoy sweets with ease. Part of a positive relationship with food, which is needed for long-lasting and supportive eating habits, is to be able to enjoy the foods that you like without feeling out of control or guilty when you do.⠀⠀⠀
Ask yourself which sweets you really enjoy
When eating mindfully, you’re able to choose and mindfully enjoy sweets that truly sound delicious to you. The ones you look forward to and can’t wait to have. In turn, you’re able to turn away the stale cookies that have been out for hours or the cupcakes that just so happen to be at your work today.
You’re not saying no to these sweets because you feel like you need to or should, but simply because you know they aren’t really enjoyable to you. You’d prefer to choose the sweets that you think are really good.
Try plating the sweets you want to eat
Oftentimes, where people may find themselves mindlessly eating sweets rather than intentionally choosing to enjoy them, is when they walk by a candy jar and pick up a Hershey Kiss, or there’s a plate of cookies on the buffet and you grab one every time you walk by.
This really doesn’t allow you to evaluate if you truly want the sweet or actually enjoy it if it is something you really would like. Plating your food can be a supportive habit that helps you better pause and reflect on what sweets you’d truly like to enjoy, rather than mindlessly grabbing chocolate from the stash as you walk by.
Be present so that you can fully enjoy the sweets you are eating
mindful eating is something you should practice regularly because it allows you to connect with your food, appreciate the tastes, texture, and smells which helps you to enjoy your food more and be more satisfied.
To do this, you have to be present for what you’re eating. That means eating without distractions like the TV, scrolling Instagram or TikTok, or working. A helpful cue to remind you to practice this is to eat at the table where those distractions tend to naturally be less present. Then, as you’re sitting to eat and enjoying your sweets, really practice slowly eating it and tasting each bite, and noticing the taste and textures.
Try not to label sweets as bad
Eating mindfully means eating food for both enjoyment and nourishment, rather than just one or the other. If you label sweets as bad or off-limits or say to yourself you can only have them just this one time, you’ll have a stronger desire to eat more sweets.
Take a holiday party as an example. Let’s say there’s a couple of desserts that sounds really delicious to you. If you go into it thinking, “I’m only allowing myself to have sweets today, and then they’re back off-limits,” you’ll likely end up overindulging and not really enjoying what you eat.
Maybe you’re forcing yourself to have a slice of pumpkin and apple pie because you want both but you don’t really have the room. It would be much more helpful to say, “I’m going to have a piece of pumpkin pie now and also take home a slice of apple pie to enjoy as leftovers.” You’ll then be able to fully enjoy both and you’ll be less likely to overindulge or feel compelled to eat sweets out of scarcity. You instead can choose to mindfully enjoy sweets when you really want them.
3 reasons behind your sugar cravings
While there can be many reasons why some of us crave sugar, there are three main reasons that should be acknowledged. So lets look into them and see if there are other solutions other than simply cutting sugar out cold turkey. And if some of these reasons may even give you a deeper understand as to why you’re craving sugar.
1.Loneliness
Loneliness can range from being a state of solitude or being alone, to feeling sad and unhappy about being socially isolated. More often than not, loneliness is associated with negative feelings, and often times can lead to the fear that loneliness is going to mean that we are not worthy or that we will be alone. These feelings of unworthiness and negativity caused by loneliness, can be one of the root causes of your sugar cravings.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
The first thing to do is honor that you most likely have an emotional need for loneliness. Feel into the emotion and reach out to a safe friend. This should be someone who you know that makes you feel that way sugar makes you feel, homey. By reaching out to this person instead of indulging in your craving for sugar, you might find that your cravings with subside along with your feelings of loneliness.
2.Exhaustion
Sleep is the main way your body renews its energy levels, but another other way to obtain energy is eating foods that provide the calories the body needs to turn into energy. If you aren’t getting enough sleep or you have poor quality sleep, then your body can drive you to eat more to keep up energy levels. Poor sleep quality also changes cortisol levels, which will increase your appetite, and then likely lead to your craving for sugar.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
The first thing you’ll want to do is to establish a regular sleep schedule, and make sure your body has enough natural energy. You want to make sure that you are having a solid amount of cortisol in the morning to keep you energized throughout the day, and that your hormones are properly balanced.
3.Low blood sugar
Energy is needed to maintain yourself and your body throughout the day, and this energy comes from food. If you don’t eat enough, then your blood sugar can fall to a level that triggers cravings because your body needs energy. This craving is most often for sugar, because sugar raises blood sugar and improves energy the fastest.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure that your are maintaining your blood sugar levels. You can do this by eating small and frequent meals every 2 to 3 hours, and by combining the meals with a protein and a fiber. By doing these things, your sugar cravings should be under control.
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Mindful eating is a powerful tool to regain control of your eating. It can help with eating disorders or even those who just wish to eat more mindfully. Part of a balanced relationship with food is to be able to enjoy the foods that you would like to without feeling out of control or guilty when you do. So remember that while you will want to eat mindfully, you can still enjoy the sweets you love in a mindful manner.
Extra tips for mindful eating
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Ask yourself why you’re eating, whether you’re truly hungry, and whether the food you chose is healthy.
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Try taking a few deep breaths before eating a meal or snack to quietly contemplate what you’re about to put into your body.
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Ask yourself how well the food you’re eating makes you feel after you’ve eaten it. How much better do you feel after eating? How much more energy and enthusiasm do you have after a meal or snack? Asking these questions can be extremely helpful.
