Mindful Eating Exercise: Getting On Track To Food Awareness

Together with yoga, meditation, and other techniques that are designed to slow down the modern lifestyle, mindfulness is taking the world by storm. This is a rare case where something that’s remarkably popular is truly worth the hype. 

Mindful eating, in particular, is said to help you finally take control of your eating patterns, ease the weight loss process, and yield a plethora of other health benefits (1). However, the descriptions are sometimes quite vague and after scrolling through a bunch of articles, you may still wonder what mindful eating means in practice. 

This article provides you with mindful eating exercises that are used in specialized courses that are dedicated to this approach. It also isn’t that difficult to do at home and can save your wallet from a beating. 

What Is Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating is based on mindfulness, which is a Buddhist concept (1).

Mindfulness is a type of meditation that helps you recognize and cope with emotions and physical sensations you’re overwhelmed by during your daily activities. Essentially, it’s about being fully present in your body and in the moment. It’s about being fully aware of where you are, what’s happening, and what your role in the experience is, while not being distressed and frazzled by the events that are unfolding here and now (2). 

It’s something innate to a human being: you just need to find the keys to unlock this ability in yourself. There are various proven techniques that aim to cultivate mindfulness – yoga and meditation are among them. 

Mindful eating is a form of mindfulness – an approach that allows you to process mental and physical cues during a meal. It involves nurturing your sensitivity to hunger cues, enriching your perception of flavors and textures, and regaining control over your eating patterns (1, 3). 

Mindful eating is used as a treatment for a wide spectrum of health conditions that includes food-related behaviors such as binge eating and emotional eating, in addition to anxiety and depression (4, 5, 6). It has also been proven to be notably helpful in weight loss (7, 8). 

In essence, mindful eating involves:

• Eating slowly. For example, you can take breaks during bites, or chew at a slower pace
• Noting how your body tells you it’s hungry and full and learning how to recognize these signals. 
• Learning to distinguish real hunger cues from fake eating triggers, such as eating due to boredom. 
• Choosing food that is both pleasing and nourishing to all your senses (smell, taste, sight, sound) while you consume it. 
• Learning to tackle guilt and anxiety relating to food. 
• Paying attention to the effects of food on your mood, figure, and emotions. 
• Admiring the delicious foods you consume. 

Mindful Eating Exercise

There are some mindful eating exercises that involve various foods, from raisins to chocolates or apples (9). However, in structural terms, they’re quite similar. 

You should consider this mindful eating script that was developed by an expert from the VHA Office of Patient-Centered Care & Cultural Transformation (10). 

Practicing professional exercises requires some time, so if you’re looking for tips, read further. 

Start by connecting to your breath and body, feel your feet on the ground, and notice your experience of the moment. With your awareness in this moment, notice any thoughts, sensations, or emotions you’re experiencing right now. 

Now, tune into the awareness or sensation that you have in your body. Perhaps you feel hungry, thirsty, or full? If you were planning to eat or drink something right now, what is your body hungry for? What is it thirsty for? Pay attention and notice with awareness the sensations that give you this information.

Focus on the food item in your hand and imagine that you’re seeing it for the first time. Observe with curiosity as you concentrate on color, shape, texture, and size. Is there anything else you notice, sense, or feel?

Now, imagine what it took for this food item to get to your hands: sunshine, water, time, processing, and shipping. You may choose to be grateful for everyone involved in the cultivation and preparation of this food, and you may choose to bring in your own gratitude or spiritual blessing. 

Place the food between your fingers and feel its texture, temperature, and ridges. You may notice smoothness or stickiness. Again, notice if you have any thoughts, sensations, or emotions right now. Continue breathing and make sure you’re fully present in this moment. 

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Now, take the piece of food, bring it toward your nose, and smell it with full awareness. Notice if you have any memories, sensations, or reactions that are connected to the smell. Before you eat it, you may notice that you start feeling a digestive response in your body simply by noticing and smelling.

With full awareness of your hand moving toward your mouth, place the food into your mouth without chewing or swallowing it. Simply allow it to be in your mouth, rolling it around to different parts of your mouth and tongue. Pay attention to the flavor and texture, in addition to physical sensations in your body, particularly your mouth and your gut. Continue breathing as you explore the sensation of having this item in your mouth.

Now, take just one bite and notice the flavor and the change of texture. Very slowly, start chewing this piece of food and think about the parts of your mouth that are involved in chewing. Feel the sound and movement of chewing as you continue experiencing the sensations and flavor. 

When you’re ready, swallow the food and notice the path it follows from your mouth and throat to your stomach. Notice the sensation and taste that may linger in your mouth. Connect again to your body and your breath and feel your experience of the moment. 

Read more: How Do Somatic Exercises Work? Everything You Need to Know

The Two Plate Approach

The two plate approach is believed to be the best one to use when you’re unable to control how much food is served to you on a plate. 

Most of the time when you resort to this approach, you’ll be at a restaurant, but you can also practice it at a buffet, putting food on one plate and carrying a second plate back to the table with you. This method creates potential stopping points by using two plates instead of one. The space between the two plates creates the space where, in a sense, the mindfulness of the two plate approach is located. 

1. Start with a plate of food. Before you start cutting up the food, set your plate back away from you on the table and get another plate. This second plate can be the same size as the first, but try experimenting with what happens when the second plate is actually smaller. Your original plate (the one with the food on it) is now your Serving Plate, and the new plate is your Eating Plate. 
2. Take some bits of each food from your Serving Plate and place it on your Eating Plate. Exactly how much you take you’ll have to decide, but trust yourself to put a portion on the plate that makes sense to you. Remember, this isn’t to limit the amount of food you can eat.
3. Slice the food on your Eating Plate into bite-sized pieces. 
4. Eat the food on your Eating Plate as mindfully as possible, realizing that if you’re surrounded by friends, the experience will be different than when you’re at home alone. 
5. When you’ve finished the food on your Eating Plate, pause and evaluate. Shift your mind for a moment or two into your body, investigating and experiencing how you feel. A great cover for doing this is the process of taking a drink. You can hold the glass up to your mouth as if you’re clearing your mouth for a sip, and take that opportunity to ask yourself the questions, Am I full? and Do I really need more? If you decide you need more, move on to the next step. If you’re full and finished, ask your waiter to bring you a to-go container. 
6. Transfer half of the remaining food from your Serving Plate to your Eating Plate. Cut it up and eat it. 
7. When the food is eaten, repeat Step 5. Making intentional choices right at the moment when the choice to stop is still an option and finding the space to frequently ask yourself whether you’ve had enough and whether you need more is really important. 
8. If the answer is yes, repeat Steps 6 and 7.

Read more: 28-Day Somatic Yoga Challenge: Transform Your Mind-Body Connection

Tips for Mindful Eating

If contemplating a piece of food for 10 minutes feels too much, you can still make your daily food consumption more mindful by following these tips (12). 

• Slow Down

Because the brain takes approximately 20 minutes to register fullness, many of us overeat. Slowing down allows your body to catch up to your mind. Sitting down at the table to eat rather than inhaling your food, chewing each bite thoroughly, or putting your fork down between bites is a great start. 

Learn more about the Benefits of Eating Slowly in our previous blog post.

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• Randomness vs System

Planning your meals in advance may prevent you from developing toxic habits such as eating a carb-heavy snack to quell your hunger pangs during lunchtime. 

You can also organize your kitchen according to the principle of mindful eating. For example, you can consider the location of various foods, detecting which ones are available at hand and which are lost in the darkness of the cabinets. 

• No More Multitasking

You should stop scrolling through your Facebook feed or Instagram photos of your friends while eating a meal. That’s it, plain and simple. 

Do you remember going to the cinema and wondering about the magical disappearance of your big popcorn bag? This is the exact opposite of mindful eating – consuming food while you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing. Being distracted during a meal is a direct road to overeating.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you practice mindful eating?

Mindful eating means paying close attention to what you’re eating and how your body feels during meals. It starts with noticing the colors, textures, smells, and flavors of your food. 

While eating, try to chew slowly and savor each bite, focusing on the changes in taste and texture. Take deep breaths before eating to center yourself and assess your hunger level. 

Ask yourself if you’re eating because you’re hungry or because of emotions such as stress or boredom. Finally, stop eating when you feel satisfied, not overly full.

• What foods are good for mindfulness?

Foods that encourage mindfulness are those that fully engage your senses. Fresh fruits such as berries or citrus, vegetables such as crunchy carrots or ripe tomatoes, and whole foods such as nuts, seeds, or whole grains are excellent choices. These foods often have vibrant flavors, various textures, or interesting aromas that help you stay present during meals. 

Opt for minimally processed options, as they tend to retain more of their natural qualities, which makes them more enjoyable to explore mindfully and good for your health (13).

By choosing foods with interesting textures and flavors, you can foster a sensory experience that anchors you in the present moment. Combining this practice with eating slowly and without distractions deepens your connection to the food you consume.

We discuss healthy meal ideas that complement the mindful eating practice in our guide – Macrobiotic Meal Plan.

• Can you lose weight by mindful eating?

Yes, mindful eating can support weight loss. It helps by encouraging you to listen closely to your body’s hunger and fullness signals, enabling you to avoid overeating or eating out of habit. It also promotes healthier choices when it comes to food quality and portion sizes. Over time, this approach creates a better relationship with food, reducing emotional eating and fostering more balanced habits, which can lead to gradual, sustainable weight loss (14, 15).

Several studies support these benefits. Research has found that mindfulness-based interventions can reduce binge eating and emotional eating (16, 17), both of which are linked to weight gain (18, 19). In addition, individuals who adopt mindful eating practices often experience gradual, sustainable weight loss compared to restrictive dieting methods.

While mindful eating isn’t a quick-fix solution, it promotes long-term, healthy habits that can contribute to weight loss and improved overall well-being (20). Combine it with regular physical activity for optimal results.

• How do I teach myself mindfulness?

You can learn mindfulness through small, simple steps. 

Start by practicing deep breathing exercises for just a few minutes a day. Focus your attention on your breath, following it in and out, and gently bring your mind back when it wanders. You may also try guided meditations or mindful movement activities such as yoga. 

Incorporate mindfulness into daily tasks, such as savoring how your coffee smells in the morning, concentrating on the feel of water while washing your hands, or paying full attention during a walk. The more you practice being present, the more natural mindfulness will feel.

Explore more Mindfulness Tips you can try in our previous publication.

The Bottom Line

Mindful eating is a great tactic for regaining control over your eating patterns, in addition to being a way to enhance your sensitivity to the flavors and textures of food, thereby improving the overall sense of enjoyment that is gained from consuming a meal. Mindfulness and a nutritious diet is a great combo for healthy weight loss. While some mindful eating exercises are time-consuming, practicing them at home on a daily basis is still possible, even if you work at the office for 8 hours per day. All you need is good time management skills and dedication.