So…what do you mean by “mindful eating?”
Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention to both our internal and external environments without criticism or judgment with the goal of enhancing well-being (Kabat-Zinn, 1994 and Slyter, 2012).
According to the former organization known as the Center for Mindful Eating, mindful eating, a branch of mindfulness, consists of becoming aware of the positive and nurturing aspects that are available through food not only through eating, but by preparation through a process of letting your inner wisdom guide. The Center also notes that by using all the senses in the body, one can acknowledge in a factual manner a preference, such as like, dislike or neutral in a nonjudgmental way. Mindful eating, the Center explains helps identify hunger and satiety in an effort to inform decisions about eating and helping foster healthy relationships with food.
Bays (2009) explains that eating mindfully is an experience in itself – you are engaged in paying attention fully to the entire experience of eating both internally and externally. The exploration of awareness extends to being mindful of different textures, smells, temperatures, flavors and sounds of the food to awareness of thought processes and emotions that may arise while eating, such as anxiety and how this might influence our eating and impulses that distract us into doing something else.
Through these sensations, as Bays (2009) explains, you start to ask questions to keep you engaged in the experience, such as Am I satisfied, Where in the body is there hunger, what does full feel like…etc? This experience of being fully aware without judgment or criticism also brings our awareness to our experience of thoughts and the thought processes at play as we eat.
Have you tried eating mindfully? What has been your experience?
Sources:
Bays, J.C., (2009). Mindful eating: A guide to rediscovering a healthy and joyful relationship with food. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Food for Thought Blog (formally Center for Mindful Eating). Retrieved Febuary 4, 2026 from: https://blog.thecenterformindfuleating.org/.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go there you are – Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyperion.
Slyter, M. (2012). Treating eating disorders with the Buddhist tradition of mindfulness. Ideas and Research You Can Use: VISTAS, 1(32). Retrieved 3 August 2016 from: https://blog.thecenterformindfuleating.org/http://www.counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas12/Article_32.pdf.
