August Featured Service: Ayurvedic Nutrition & Digestion ~ Blog #1: Mindful Eating

 

In a busy world with stacked schedules, it is easy to feel as though it is more productive to skip or grab meals on the go. However, changing our perception around eating a meal can have extensive benefits on our mental and physical health, including maintaining or achieving a healthy weight, controlling diabetes, managing depression/anxiety, aiding digestion, and countering disordered eating patterns.

            We often mindlessly eat while watching television, scrolling, driving, or in the middle of work. As we multitask during mealtimes, we often neglect paying attention to our food and before we realize it, the plate is empty. This often leads to overeating, trouble with digestion, and long-term gut health conditions. To counter this habit, “mindful” or “conscious” eating allows us to form a deeper mind-body connection, better understand our satiety levels, and create a better relationship with food. 

The Body’s Digestive Patterns

Our digestion is controlled by the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. When eating a meal while multitasking with watching a TV drama, for example, you may feel mixed emotions like fear or anger as you eat your food. When this happens, the “fight-or-flight” sympathetic nervous system is triggered. This causes an increase in blood supply to peripheral muscles rather than the digestive organs. As a result, the movement of food through our digestive tract is slowed, causing discomfort and indigestion pains. This delayed digestion also results in skewed hunger cues. Our brain needs at least 20 minutes to register the digested food. Therefore, rushed eating often leads to us feeling hunger very soon after a meal. This often encourages overeating that lead to metabolic conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular issues, and obesity.

However, when practicing mindfulness while eating, the “rest-and-digest” parasympathetic system is active. This aids in regulating the involuntary body functions while you are at rest, which include heart rate and digestion. This strategy has been shown to help treat those with binge eating disorders and depression. This is largely due to forming an intrinsic recognition of emotional versus physical hunger through deeper awareness and mindfulness practices. 

Mindful Eating in Ayurveda 

We can create a heightened sense of awareness during meals by bringing more attention to each sensation we feel while eating. This includes the flavors, textures, and the positive energy we may feel after nourishing our bodies. By creating a log of this sensory experience, we are often left feeling more satisfied and grateful for how the food we eat is able to fuel the body. 

The concept of mindful eating has roots in Ayurveda, which places a huge focus on the link between the mind and digestion. According to Ayurvedic practice, we should eat as much as is enough to not feel hungry, rather than eating until full. This means that ideally around ¼ to ⅓ of the stomach should remain empty. A sign that this limit has been reached is the first full burp, which means the stomach is likely three-quarters full and we should stop eating. 

How to Eat Mindfully

To practice mindful eating, we can implement small changes to gain a greater sense of mind-and-body connection, and therefore a better relationship with food. Some changes we can implement include:  

●       Taking a moment to be conscious of why you are eating to avoid emotional/stress eating

●       Being present when grocery shopping to buy nourishing foods, such as seasonal fruits and vegetables

●       Cooking your own food to create a stronger relationship to the source of each ingredient and appreciation for the time and energy you infuse into each meal

●       Favor cooked food with spices over raw foods as it is easier to digest and strengthens metabolism and digestive capacity

●       Avoiding “incompatible foods” that may negatively impact digestion, adversely affecting your constitution resulting in accumulation of ama, or toxins in the body 

●       Making lunch your biggest meal, as this is when the body’s digestion is at its peak

●       Avoiding meals within three hours of bedtime to give the body enough time to fully digest and wind down

●       Examining portion sizes to ensure that we are not eating to much or too little

●       Eating without distractions or multi-tasking to draw more attention to our food and digestion

●       Chewing slowly and taking manageable bites to avoid rushed eating

●       Taking note of the sensory experience of each meal, including taste, aroma, texture, sounds, and aftertastes

●       Eating with gratitude to remind ourselves of the strong value that food has to our physical and mental health

●       Sitting quietly for a few minutes after eating to stay present and fully acknowledge each meal 

August 2024 Featured Service: Ayuvedic Nutrition Program

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Reference:

●       Chaya’s Guidebook: Introduction to Ayurveda & Healthy Living
Free with an Ayurvedic Discovery Consultation with Chaya