“Oh my god this salad tastes amazing!!

My colleagues turned around, stared at me and answered “Em, it’s just a salad, how can you be so excited about it?”

I had only been meditating for 2 or 3 months and food suddenly tasted so much better. Or maybe, I was just more aware about how good it tasted…?

It felt a bit like I was rediscovering what eating was. 

Usually, we think of meditation as a practice you need to do sitting still and quietly. But there are lots of different types of mindfulness exercises you can practice. Mindful eating is one of them. 

Mindful eating is a practice designed to make you more aware of what you are eating, how much you are eating and how it tastes. 

In this article, you will learn everything about it!

What can mindful eating help with?

There are many positive aspects of mindful eating. It can help you:

1. Enjoy your food more

By paying attention to the texture, the colours, the smell and the taste of food, you will enjoy your meals more.

2. Control the quantities you eat

One of the most common bad habits people usually have is to eat very fast while doing something else. When you practice mindful eating, you get away from distractions and you only focus on your food. You’ll surprise yourself eating exactly what you need because you will be available to listen to your body when it tells you it has had enough.

3. Understand cravings and tackle bad eating habits

Acknowledging what’s in your plate every day will help you recognise what food you should reduce and make better choices.

How can you become more mindful of your eating?

• Avoid distractions such as TV or phone. Use your meal as an opportunity to have a quiet time alone or a nice time to share with your family/partner/flatmate. 

• Before each meal, take just one minute to look at your plate: Which colours can you see? What smells can you smell? Do you feel like the amount of food you have on your plate is enough, too much or too little?

• Remember to put your fork down several times during the meal, to help you eat slowly. When the fork is down ask yourself “Am I still hungry?”. I know in a lot of cultures, we are raised by parents telling us that we should always eat everything we have on our plate. In my opinion, it’s not a great way to give children a healthy relationship with food. You should eat what you need to eat. And keep the leftovers for tomorrow. 

• When you feel like you’re craving for something unhealthy, take a moment to recognise it and ask yourself “Will I really enjoy it? Will it really make me happy? Or am I wanting this out of habit?”. (This method has helped me considerably reduce my consumption of croissants every week – please don’t judge – I am French!)

An extra nutrition tip just for you!

During lockdown number 1, I decided to improve my nutrition knowledge and passed a nutrition diploma. My teacher once gave me this simple advice to eat healthy, which I loved. She said: “What you have in your plate everyday should look like something you can find in nature. Can you find bread on a tree? No you can’t.” 

Loved it. 

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We’ve launched a new pillar on the BetterSpace platform: It’s about nutrition! 

If you have access to our platform, have a look at the different books, podcasts, group talks, etc.

And if you don’t have access to our platform (yet!)… Get in touch 🙂