Dieting versus Mindful Eating
Filed Under: Mindful Eating
23 August 2016 | Written by Xenia Ayiotis
Mindfulness is a buzzword. Mindfulness is applied to stress, depression, anxiety, illness and eating. And there are many interpretations of Mindful Eating. When I tell people I am a Mindful Eating Coach they often say they don’t eat “mindfully” at all, implying healthily.
But mindful eating isn’t just about WHAT we eat, WHERE we eat, it is also about WHY we eat, HOW we eat and WHAT is going on for us while we eat. Traditionally, when people have eating challenges they turn to dieting as a way out but dieting only makes the eating challenge worse.
So let’s look at the differences between dieting and mindful eating…
Dieting…
- Relies on willpower and control.
- Is inflexible, strict and rule based.
- Focuses on weight loss as the only goal.
- Is about denial and deprivation.
- Implies that our body and eating need to be “fixed”.
- Is a short-term quick fix and 95% of dieters gain the weight back and more.
- Creates feelings of guilt and shame.
- Restricts and often eliminates food groups.
Mindful Eating…
- Empowers us to listen to our bodies to guide us as to what, when and how much to eat.
- Relies on awareness and consciousness around food and eating.
- It’s about freedom of choice, flexibility and acceptance around food.
- Focuses on health versus weight. The focus is on the process of making small changes to the way we eat versus an outcome at the end.
- The process is slow and permanent, mindful eating addresses ways to deal with emotional eating, stress eating and binge eating.
- Through mindfulness we become aware of our triggers to overeat and once we see the patterns we can change them.
- Is a long-term approach that focuses on peace with food and emotional and physical well-being.
- All foods are welcome, there are no forbidden foods.
- The emphasis is on celebrating, enjoying and savouring food also, accepting, caring and loving our bodies.
- Acknowledges that there is no perfect way to eat. It is a kind, patient and non-critical way of eating and living.
After about 27 years of yo-yo dieting and a dysfunctional relationship with food, I am so grateful that I discovered Mindful Eating and Intuitive Eating. Through applying the tools and principles I learned in these approaches, I have finally found the peace and freedom that I was yearning for with food.
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