Mindful Eating

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TOPIC OVERVIEW

Mindful Eating

The Gale Encyclopedia of Fitness

Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2012. p562-566. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale, Cengage LearningRebecca J. Frey and Laura Jean Cataldo

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Mindful Eating

Definition

Purpose

Demographics

History

Description

Preparation

Risks

Results

Definition

Mindful eating is an approach to food and nutrition that is one of several applications of mindfulness practice to health issues. One group of contemporary psychologists has defined mindfulness as “a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is.” Mindfulness has two dimensions: a focus on immediate experience rather than past or future issues; and an attitude of

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curiosity, openness, and acceptance of the present moment rather than a judgmental attitude. Applied to food and eating, mindfulness implies learning to detach from the strong emotions associated with specific foods, dieting, weight control, and body image, and making conscious choices about eating rather than falling back into reactive, emotion-driven, or automatic eating patterns.

Some dietitians describe mindful eating as focusing on the actual acts involved in food preparation and meal consumption rather than multitasking while cooking or eating. The theory underlying this definition of mindful eating is that distractions caused by such other activities as reading, watching television, or working at the computer while eating interfere with the body's messages to the brain about satisfaction with the food and fullness, thus, increasing the risk of overeating.

Purpose

Mindful eating grew out of research carried out since 1980 of the effects of mindfulness practice on a range of health issues, including stress-related illness, depression, anxiety, chronic...