Mindful Eating for Obesity: Strategies to Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Food

Do you often end up binge eating your favourite foods and hampering your weight loss efforts when following an obesity diet plan? Later, do you feel guilty about overeating; so, you decide to ignore your body’s natural hunger cues? If you nodded affirmatively with concern, practicing mindful eating and developing a healthy relationship with food can help you beat obesity healthily. Age is another factor that impacts your weight management. The renowned nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee states, “Everything changes after forty. Your metabolism slows down. Your sugar cravings increase. You begin feeling less energetic.” The expert nutritionist further mentions, “One of the main reasons why women over forty gain weight is that their metabolism slows down. They simply don’t burn calories as efficiently as they did a few years ago. Even women who exercise experience weight gain around their abdominal region.” Thus, you understand that as you age, you may gain undesirable weight that may contribute to obesity. This is why you need to practice mindful eating and have a healthy relationship with food. So, you might be wondering how to improve your relationship with food and adopt mindful eating, aren’t you? Discover everything about it by giving this blog a read.

7 Easy Ways to Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Food

It may be the case that you may have attempted various diet plans randomly to get rid of obesity. And, after every failed attempt to lose weight, your relationship with food happened to end up a little more skewed. After trying several diets, you may have become more confused thinking about why your chosen diet plans are not working and which diet plan for obesity should you go for. The chances are that you may have developed an unhealthy relationship with food. So, when trying to achieve our weight loss targets and adopting an obesity diet plan you need to have a healthy relationship with food.

Developing a healthy relationship with food takes conscious efforts and adopting healthy practices pleasantly, and you can succeed in it. Relaxed eating, mindful eating, practising balance, and having flexibility in your eating are some of the practices that can help you cultivate a healthy relationship with food while trying to lose weight.

1. Eat Mindfully

Mindful eating encourages you to eat at the moment by being fully attentive to the eating experience which is free of distractions. When you eat mindfully, you enjoy eating without any distractions, such as television, books, phone, and more. So, you end up making gentle observations, such as the aroma, texture, and taste of the food, how fullness and hunger cues happen to change, and how you savour the food delightfully. As you enjoy the food you eat, you sync in with your body’s natural appetite and satiety regulations. Furthermore, you end up making healthy food choices.

When practising mindful eating, you know when to start eating. You do not eat food because you are in stress or bored. You prefer to consume food only when you happen to be hungry physically. Also, during mindful eating, you know when to stop eating. So, you do not end up consuming excess food than necessary. When you feel full, you curb eating.

Also, when practising mindful eating, you not only avoid overeating but also are aware of your overall health and prevailing conditions that you need care. You care for your weight along with your overall health. So, you do not eat any of your favourite food out of proportion. For instance, if it is mango that you love to relish and if you have diabetes or prediabetic condition, you will eat the summer fruit in limit.

The renowned nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee explains the significance of mindful eating elaborately with an apt example. She explains this in a simple but interesting way by elaborating, “Let’s say, you are diabetic, you have high uric acid levels, you have high triglycerides, you are overweight. Can you eat a lot of mangoes? No, you can’t eat a lot of mangoes because they are sweet, you will raise your blood sugars. However, if you are physically very active, you don’t have high uric acid levels because fructose raises uric acid.”. The expert nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee further states, “In India, we have a very specific condition called “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease”. It happens because we consume too many carbs in this country. So, when you take a lot of mangoes, this fructose, will not only raise uric acid, it will also raise the blood sugar and cause problems with your liver. So, you can’t just indiscriminately eat more of these foods just like that. Yes, if you are physically very active; you are taking a lot of antioxidants; you really are following a healthy protocol; your weight is in control; and there is no central obesity, yes, go ahead, you can have a lot of mangoes. There is no problem with that.”

So, you include your favourite foods, such as mangoes, in your obesity diet chart in the right quantities such that it does not affect your weight and health adversely while you relish it.

2. Do Not Skip Meals

Whether you are in a hurry or wish to cut back on your calorie intake, be sure that you do not skip your meals. If you happen to skip breakfast, you may end up eating more food for the rest of the day. Also, when following an obesity diet plan, it is healthy to eat your lunch and dinner on time without skipping them and with no distractions. This enables you to take an interest in what you are eating.

3. Ensure That no Food is Off Limits

Although it is the fact that certain foods are more nutritious than others, do not label foods as “bad” and “good”. Usually, most people term foods high in sugar, salt, and fats as “bad”. However, when you instruct yourself that you can’t eat them, you will crave more and wish to relish them. So, do not eliminate any foods or food groups from your obesity diet plan. When you have all foods in your diet, you can regulate your intake of foods in a better way as you are aware of the presence of your favourite foods in the plan. On the contrary, when you limit the intake of foods, you may overeat them when you get a chance to have them and step into an endless cycle of guilt. When you allow all foods in your diet, you will observe that your cravings for certain foods that you might have labelled “bad” reduce.

So, unless you have any medical condition or reasons to restrict any foods, don’t label any food as “off limits”. View all foods as equal without labelling any food as worse or better. Certainly, consider foods, such as doughnuts, sweets, and ice cream, as treats that you should not savour daily. You can enjoy these foods once in a while when following an obesity diet chart. Over time, you won’t overeat the less nutritious food when it’s on your plate.

4. Avoid Comparing Your Plate

Each individual has unique nutritional needs and unique body types. So, the ingredients in one’s plate are bound to differ from person to person. Foods that may work well for someone might not work well for you. So, never compare your obesity diet chart and food plate with that of anyone else. Enjoy relishing food that is right for you. It is wise to focus on listening closely to what your body is signalling you. And, be sure that you treat your body with the right nourishment and great respect that it deserves.

5. Let Yourself Enjoy Your Food

One of the prominent aspects of developing a healthy relationship with food is allowing yourself to enjoy the food you eat. Food nourishes your body. Besides nourishment, you should eat food for pleasure and satisfaction and respect it. Foods come in varieties of aspects, such as aromas, colours, and flavours; and you should enjoy them all while you eat food. You should not eat food as a burden or chore. Also, your daily meal planning should not be stressful. To build a healthy relationship with food, you can have a word with certified dieticians or nutritionists.

6. Maintain a Food Journal

Keeping a record of what you eat, how much you eat, and at what time you eat what foods can help improve your relationship with food. You can also write what you are feeling to eat at times. Documenting your emotions and eating habits will help you improve your dietary patterns and love the food you eat. Also, maintaining a food journal will help you notice when you are backsliding from your healthy eating habits and snacking on chips, junk foods, pastries, and cookies when you are feeling low or anxious. Beat such challenging times when following a diet plan for obesity, by opting for some healthy snacks, such as whole fruits or nuts. Practising some deep breathing or going in the open air for a short walk can help you manage your cravings.

7. Spend Some Time Cooking Food

Taking some time out of your busy schedule and cooking food for yourself and your loved ones is an effective way to bond with food. Instead of ordering food from a food joint or heating your meal in a microwave, spend some time cooking food in the kitchen. Visit the grocery personally to buy the ingredients for culinary delights that you plan to cook. You can use a steamer, indoor grills, and other cooking appliances to make your cooking experience convenient. Besides this, cooking and eating homemade food is good for your health and aids in weight loss when you are on an obesity diet plan.

So, if you are struggling to get rid of obesity and wish to get in shape healthily, follow these helpful tips to improve your relationship with food. This will help enjoy eating food when following a diet plan for obesity. The guidance of certified dieticians and nutritionists, such as health experts at Health Total, can help you receive a customised obesity diet chart comprising the right healthy foods. Our obesity diet plan not only helps you burn fat and extra calories but also satisfies your nutritional requirements, boosts your immunity, and prevents or lowers potential health risks. So, think no further, reach out to us at Health Total and embark on your weight loss journey while enjoying food with our personalized obesity diet plan.

Sign up for a FREE consultation with Health Total experts to get more tips for improving your relationship with food and losing weight healthily with diet or managing any other health condition. Call toll-free at 1-800-833-171709 and Book Free Consultation!