Mindful Eating During A Pandemic (4 tips to use now!)

For the last year, the world has been turned upside down and everyone’s daily lives have been interrupted. From “commuting” to work to social events, there is no normal anymore. Every aspect of life has been disrupted, which includes eating.

Scientists have studied the impact that the pandemic has had on eating habits. They have found that incidents of mindless eating and snacking were higher during the first wave of the pandemic. This doesn’t come as a surprise given the disruption everyone has faced to their daily routine.

However, as more and more people are becoming vaccinated, the world is slowly starting to open back up again. People have been returning to life, and unfortunately, that means that advertisements for fad diets are starting again. You may have already heard empty promises of “shedding the pandemic weight.”

This makes now an even better time to start the Intuitive Eating journey you’ve bee thinking about, and become more mindful of your eating habits.

4 Reasons to Say No to Fad Diets

With the summer quickly approaching and a somewhat return to normalcy, body-shaming messages are on the rise. Every media platform features some form of advertisement advocating for the next fad diet that is sure to help you “lose the pandemic weight.” However, these diets are fruitless and will end with frustration.

Here are 4 reasons to say no to the fad diets:

You are not listening to your body:You are born with an innate ability to identify feelings of hunger and fullness. When you start a diet, you are ignoring those hunger and fullness cues to follow the rules of the diet.

You are wasting money: Hundreds and even thousands of dollars are thrown to diet companies every year. From dieting books to scales, so much money is spent keeping up with the latest trend.

You can be hurting your mental health:All the stress from dieting and not seeing the results you hoped for can affect your mental well-being. This stress can impact your eating even further, interrupt your sleep, leave you feeling defeated, which can ultimately cause your mental health to suffer.

You’re hurting your physical health:Many diets have an exercising component that may ask you to push your body past its physical limits. Pushing yourself physically while also restricting the amount of food you’re eating is a recipe for disaster.

4 Ways to Become More Mindful

Now that you know why you shouldn’t be dieting, you are probably wondering what you should be doing. Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework where you get back in touch with your inner signals as your guide to eating.

Mindful eating is an important step on your Intuitive Eating journey so you can have full pleasure in your meals. There are some easy tips that you can try to become more mindful when eating:

Set aside time to eat: When you’re eating, just focus on the food and don’t multitask while enjoying your meals. Even if you are short on time, take that five extra minutes to just eat and focus on the food in front of you.

Sit down to eat: Step away from your desk or away from the kitchen counter and find a separate space to eat in. When you are sitting down in a designated eating space you are more likely to focus on the food in front of you.

Turn off all distractions: Put away your phone or other devices to just simply enjoy your food, free of distraction. You can always check your emails after your meal or return that phone call later.

Consider leftovers: You don’t have to eat everything on your plate. Whatever you don’t eat, whether it be at home or a restaurant, you can always wrap up your leftovers to eat later.

If you are still looking for more help, feel free to contact me. In my practice, I use the principles of intuitive eating to help my clients trust their bodies to guide their food choices. Feel free to contact my office if this sounds like something you are interested in.

Your Turn to Action: How are you going to eat more mindful? Let me know in the comments below.