For Carmen Cuadra, dietician, nurse and nutritional coach, when we eat it is essential to savour and chew the food well, in pleasant surroundings and at a special time of the day
With mindful eating, one of the fundamental questions is whether we know what foods are on the plate.
Rushing is part of our daily lives. We rush to get up, eat anything for breakfast, rush to work and are not aware of much of our behaviour. One of the keys to reducing stress and feeling physically and mentally energetic is to become aware of everything we do, pay attention and enjoy it.
Carmen Cuadra, dietician, nurse and nutritional coach assures us that «introducing mindful eating into our daily routine is fundamental for feeling better each day».
Although eating is a physiological necessity, «in our society we often aren’t aware of exactly what we are eating, or we eat standing up, without enjoying the moment, because we’re just hungry or we’re in a hurry,» the nutritional expert explains.
But what is mindful eating? Carmen Cuadra explains it very simply: «It’s being present and aware as you eat, observing and paying attention to your breathing, how you taste your food, the speed you eat it at, chewing it, without any distractions, and looking for a nice space where you can enjoy this essential ‘me time’».
Mindful eating is a healthy and satisfying experience
It’s important to answer: When I eat, what and where I eat?
To know if you are really hungry, ask yourself if you would like to eat an apple
Mismanaged emotions are often concealed with food.
Something so apparently simple involves a shift of paradigm and long-term habits for it to be effective. When these changes are achieved, «it becomes a healthy and satisfying experience, which makes you connect with food, your body and with yourself,» she explains.
To be able to apply this routine it is important to know the fundamental principles of mindful eating and to raise some basic questions:
1. How do you eat?
You may be eating healthy, bio, organic… but if you do it quickly, hurriedly, with distractions, then you are no longer being mindful.
So ask yourself the following questions:
– Are you hungry or is it just the time to eat?
– Do you chew and savour your food or do you just gulp it down?
– Are you thinking about your problems?
– Are you standing up, on your mobile or watching TV? 2. what you eat
– What food is on your plate? Do you know the ingredients?
– Are the foodstuffs nutritional?
– How are they prepared?
– Are they ultra-processed, with a multitude of food colours, preservatives, foreign ingredients?
– Are they raw, cooked, fried, steamed?
– What do they smell of?
– What do they taste of?
– Are you familiar with the textures? 3. when do you eat?
– Are you aware of the time?
– Do you eat dinner at eleven or twelve at night? 4. where do you eat?
– Are you at home? Do you eat standing up in the kitchen? In the lounge with the mobile?
– In the office?
– In a restaurant?
– In your car?
– Walking along the street?
The answers to these questions give us clues to whether we eat mindfully, that is, paying attention to what we take to our mouths.
When we eat dinner late, we wake up feeling tired.
The importance of biorhythms
Hygienic feeding biorhythms refer to each moment of the day. The schedules that govern the functioning of the body in our latitude, as regards the processes of nutrition are:
From 06:00 to 14:00: elimination phase.
In this cycle, our energy is directed to the expulsion of toxic waste, that is, the body is detoxifying and cleansing. Digestion is the process that consumes the most energy, so it is important not to hinder it. If necessary, while digestion is occurring it is recommended to eat only fruit, infusions or fruit shakes since they hardly require any digestion in the stomach.
From 14:00 to 22:00: appropriation phase
This is the period of intake. At this time the body is ready to accept food.
From 22:00 to 06:00: assimilation phase
During these hours the body extracts, absorbs and uses the nourishing substances. Absorption cannot occur until food reaches the intestines. Absorption allows the body to complete the assimilation cycle before it enters the elimination cycle, so it is important to go to bed after the digestion phase has completed. When we have dinner late, we feel tired when we wake up because the assimilation cycle, which occurs once the food leaves the stomach, has been interrupted. The reason is that when food has not finished being digested because of eating dinner late, it is not ready to be assimilated.
It is advisable to eat before you feel excessively hungry.
After these questions, to approach our health goal, Carmen Cuadra proposes a ritual to mindful eating:
Ask yourself if you are hungry
If so, would you eat an apple, for example? If you answer «no», you are not really hungry. The golden rule of mindful is to eat whatever you want, but only in the case of physical hunger and to stop eating when you stop being hungry. To achieve this, she recommends asking yourself: What do I eat? How do I eat? When do I eat? Why am I eating?
Carmen Cuadra is a nurse and dietician.
Stop eating when your hunger has been satisfied, not when you have finished everything on the plate. Nor is it advisable to wait until you feel excessively hungry.
Always ask yourself about your emotional state. Emotions if mismanaged are often hidden through food, so accept it and be aware that you are going to eat to satisfy your physical hunger.
BECOME AWARE of where you are going to eat.
Breathe deeply and slowly before each meal.
Give thanks for the meal.
Who do you eat with?
Focus on eating don’t do other tasks.
Eat fibre: vegetables, whole fruits.
Put the fork down on the table after each mouthful, while you chew the food. This will help you to slow down and focus more on the food and to savour it.
Put yourself in a nice space when you eat and surround yourself with nice things, e.g. use nice dishes and utensils, make your food special. Think about what you’re enjoying during this time.
Forgive yourself if you eat more than you should or overdo it sometimes. Feeling guilty will not help you.
Stay hydrated as thirst can often disguise itself as hunger. If you are hungry drink water, infusions or broths first.
Rest. Not getting enough sleep can maladjust your biorhythms and make you feel hungry.
Find a distraction before you eat such as listening to music, reading, walking or doing something you like.
Always plan your shopping list based on your menus, so you won’t eat in a chaotic way.
Consider a healthy dish to manage food portions.
Eat slowly, for at least 20 minutes.
MAKES NOTES and place them in visible places that remind you of the importance of mindful eating and your achieved goal.
If you manage to introduce these guidelines into your daily meal routine, you will achieve the goal of mindful eating.
