We’ve all been through a diet craze, where we try cutting out whole food groups in an effort to lose weight and feel better. The results are often less than desired, with quick weight loss often being followed by gaining it all back plus more.

The truth is, the quick weight loss we achieve from most diets aren’t sustainable. We lose weight because we are cutting out whole macro nutrients, at the expense of our bodies. The moment we go back to our normal diet, we often gain all the weight we lost plus more.

Luckily, the secret to fixing it may not be as far away as you think. The answer may not be in changing what you eat, but how you eat.

Mindful eating could be a solution to dieting

Mindful eating is the practice of paying attention to your food, and being aware of it while you are eating it. We’ve all sat in front of the TV and pounded down cheese crisps, and you probably might have trouble estimating how much you ate—unless you ate the whole bag.

When you eat mindfully, you’re not changing the fact that you are eating cheese crisps, but that you’re not paying attention while you eat. Mindful eating lets you eat the crisps, but ask that you be present for it. As you taste the powerful cheese flavor and feel the soft crisp crunch between your teeth, be aware of each moment while you’re eating.

This also means acknowledging and accepting all the feelings you have for this food. Whether you feel guilty because it is “junk” or great because it tastes amazing, acknowledging those feelings is a critical step to eating mindfully.

Why it helps

People eat for lots of different reasons, and simply getting enough calories is not the only one. People eat to comfort themselves, out of habit, or because it tastes really good. Many people on diets also starve themselves, and then bolt their food down because they skipped a meal or are restricting calories.

Mindful eating helps you to slow down. When you take a moment to taste for seasonings, to try to identify the flavor of ingredients, to smell and listen and feel as well as taste, it slows you down overall. You get a lot more out of a meal that you used all of your senses on, and you may not eat as much as you would if you were just zoning out and gobbling.

Even if you don’t lose weight through mindful eating, it may be a huge help with your relationship with food. Too many people are worried about eating in some way, and that can cause them to have an unhealthy relationship with the food they eat.

Whether you want to lose weight, or simply want to get more out of the meals you make, paying attention to your food can make you healthier, happier, and yes perhaps thinner as well.

https://www.tastecooking.com/the-best-advice-after-trying-every-fad-diet-just-eat/