How to improve your menopause health with mindful eating

If you find yourself constantly rushing around and feeling like you are on the treadmill trying to get everything done in a day, chances are that you are also rushing when you are eating your meals. Mindful eating is a practice that makes you consciously aware of what is going on within, and around you when eating food, and the impact this has on you and your health. Adopting mindful eating practices into your daily life can improve your menopause health and wellbeing, by helping you to slow down and be present, not just when eating, but can be adopted across all areas of your life.

What is happening when we eat rushed and distracted?

The gut-brain axis is the connection between the brain and the gut. It’s a very complex system that is very important in communicating hunger, fullness and digestion between the brain and the gut. When you are feeling rushed or stressed, your brain is not talking to your gut to get ready for a meal. What that means is that the digestive juices aren’t being secreted in the stomach, salivary glands aren’t responding and the enzymes to catalyse all the chemical reactions to digest or break down the food are not responding in the most optimal way. Instead, stress hormones are released which halt digestion, because, in a time of fight or flight, digestion is not important. Being rushed or feeling stressed does not set your body up to be ready to receive the food and deal with it appropriately.

When we are distracted while eating we tend not to chew our food properly and eat too fast. The food cannot be made smaller, our stomach doesn’t have teeth- so it is up to the chemical processes to break down the food as much as possible. What happens is that not all the food is broken down enough into smaller units to pass through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream to deliver nutrients to our cells.

What also happens when we aren’t practising mindful eating, is that we develop a disconnection to our fullness and satiety cues. If you eat too fast, your brain cannot keep up with what’s going on in your stomach and you end up overeating because you aren’t giving your brain and gut enough time to talk to each other and decide if you have had enough to eat.

What is Mindful Eating?

Before understanding what mindful eating is, we need to understand what mindfulness is. A good definition of mindfulness is:

Being present, with a purpose and observing (your thoughts, feelings, sensations and actions) in a non-judgemental way.

Mindfulness has many benefits for health and wellbeing and can be used across all areas of your life, including:

Increased self awareness
Improved focus and concentration
Less stress
Increased compassion towards self and others
Increased ability to introduce choices that support your health and wellbeing

Mindful Eating is the practice of where you eat with all of your senses, giving the food and the experience of eating our full attention. It is an act of eating while being in a state of non-judgemental awareness, shifting attention to the food and our mind-body connection.

Mindful eating includes all of our choices from the time we first feel like eating, through to completing our meal or snack, and afterwards.

Mindful eating improves your connection to hunger and fullness cues, slowing down helps with knowing when you have had enough to eat, decreasing the chances of overeating as you are able to make a decision about what to eat and you will know when to stop. There is no judgement around the type of food eaten, if you decide you want chocolate for a snack, there is no judgement, you will be able to enjoy it and be fully present in the experience of eating the chocolate and doing so rationally, not impulsively. Mindful eating is process-driven, not outcome driven with a focus on appreciating the food and not being concerned about calories, carbohydrates, protein or fats.

How do I eat mindfully?

In order to adopt a mindful eating practise, a series of questions can be asked during the eating experience:

Pause and ask yourself, Am I hungry?
I am not hungry, then why do I want to eat?
I am hungry, what do I feel like eating?
How much do I need?
How do I feel during and after eating?

If you are not hungry, try to determine what it is that you are feeling. Is it boredom, stress, convenience, to soothe emotions, a habit or reward, or a distraction from something?

If you are hungry, decide what it is you feel like eating and how much you need. Ask yourself if it is a snack or a meal and consider where you are. Are you at home or out and about? This will influence what you decide to eat. It’s always best to start small when deciding how much to eat and then reassess how you feel, and have some more if you feel you need it.

There are many tools you can use to help you with the process of mindful eating, including apps, journaling, meditation, mindfulness practices and yoga. One tool I use with my clients is a behaviour awareness worksheet which I have seen great success with mindless snacking time and time again.

Try to use mindful eating on a regular basis and do it with intention, this will help you to make it part of a regular routine and habit. You will eventually notice your triggers and when you aren’t eating mindfully. Always be aware of your automatic actions, stop and take a moment to notice what you are feeling before deciding what to eat and always eat without distractions.

References:

1 Cherpak CE, Mindful Eating: A Review of How The Stress-Digestion-Mindfulness Triad May Modulate And Improve Gastrointestinal And Digestive Function, Integ Med Vol 18 No 4 August 2019

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7219460/pdf/imcj-18-48.pdf

2 Healthline, Mindful Eating 101 – A Beginner’s Guide

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mindful-eating-guide#binge-eating

3 Nelson JB, Mindful Eating: The Art of Presence While You Eat, Am Diab Assoc Vol 30 No 3 Summer 2017

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5556586/pdf/171.pdf