Postpartum Weight Loss
Tips for Mindful Eating
Do you find yourself overwhelmed during your day? Is your schedule becoming packed with baby play-dates, meetings, chores, deadlines, and social obligations? You are now managing a new baby, maybe work, and a multitude of other responsibilities. You may become so busy adjusting to your new baby in your life you might overlook your eating habits. You may feel that you have to function at “maximum” level and wound up eating lunch in front of the computer or in the car, missed a meal completely, or inhaled something that your taste buds did not even catch. Perhaps despite it all, you do sit down and have a meal, however you are so preoccupied while eating, that you still didn’t taste the food.
With a new baby in your life, mindfulness can be wonderful tool to invite into your life. Mindfulness is the opposite of being on “auto pilot.” In today’s busy information-loaded world, multi-tasking in all arenas has become the accepted norm and eating is no exception. However, mindless and unaware eating can have an effect on us both psychologically and physically and can be a barrier when attempting to lose the post-baby weight.
More and more research is showing that mindfulness can play a role in managing stress, depression, anxiety, and medical conditions such as heart disease, obesity and disordered eating. Obviously, it can be a key role in getting back into shape after your pregnancy. The beauty of mindfulness is that it is simple and available to you at all times.
What is Mindful Eating?
As babies we eat instinctively when we are hungry. Over time most of us have trained ourselves to eat in response to certain emotional or environmental cues, which have us bounding for food even if we are not hungry. Mindful eating is about starting now and understanding why and how you eat. The attitude of mindfulness that we apply to eating is patience, acceptance and trust.
To practice mindful eating, do a quick minute or less assessment of how hungry you are before you start to chow down on the food in front of you. Remember to check in as you eat and acknowledge how full you are when you are done eating. You always have a choice in how much you eat –no matter how busy you can become with your “new mom” lifestyle.
We all have unique triggers for mindless eating; acknowledging personal triggers (fatigue, boredom, watching TV) and coming up with an alternative can minimize mindless emotional eating. Paying attention to how something tastes can provide another entire level of satisfaction to your eating experience. For example, how do limp cold fries taste versus crispy, piping hot fries? Also, mindfully chewing your food many times before you swallow seems so basic but it helps in digestion and flavors are different with each bite. In a world where most of us gobble our food; this basic step of taking time to appreciate the sensual aspects, such as, flavor, smell and the sizzle of food and spices, can lead to a more enjoyable experience. Noticing the nuances helps us cultivate an appreciation for the food we are eating and how it nourishes us.
A Lesson in Mindfulness After Pregnancy
As a registered dietitian, I find that when people want to lose weight, they often focus only on cutting calories by restricting their eating, but sustainable success is not about restricting food but rather it is about observing non-judgmentally what and how you eat. Mindfulness while I eat and “check-ins” throughout the day are tools that have carried me a long way –in fact more so than nutrition knowledge.
After having a baby, you may find yourself aware of the extra post-pregnancy pounds. For example, after putting baby to bed your body may be screaming to go to sleep out of exhaustion. This is the time where you might ignore rules of mindful eating and proceed to seek out unhealthy foods. Below are some tips for figuring out the best way to correct eating habits, even with a new baby around.
Tips for Mindful Eating
- Arrive. Come to your meal and eat in a specific place. Acknowledge – I am eating.
- Check in. Ask the simple question: Am I hungry and if so how hungry? This helps teach you to eat until you are full rather than until the food is gone.
- Slow down. Take the time to eat and appreciate the food. The entire experience can be completely different than eating quickly.
- Be Curious. Think about the food you eat and where it comes from. A healthy dose of gratitude for each grain of rice we eat can affect us.
- Savor. Take pleasure in eating. Food is not just about calories or restricting them rather, it is about pausing and soaking it all in.
The Gift of Mindful Eating
Mindful eating helps uncover parts of ourselves that we usually bypass as we rush through our day focusing on either the past or the future. Mindfulness is about the present. Most importantly, mindful eating is the opportunity to enjoy your eating experience at a new level.
Consider mindfulness as you go through your pregnancy and see what personal discoveries come your way. Mindful eating is ultimately about your life attitude. Do you choose to be present in the moment and enjoy the food that nourishes you? The gift of mindful eating is to give you a richer experience. Over time, the practice of mindfulness seeps into the rest of your life.