How do you rate? A Mindful Eating Assessment

I've been reading the book Savor by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung. I started reading this book because I was doing some research to write a workshop on mindful eating. As I learned more I came to some startling realizations about my own relationship with food. My mindfulness practice seemed to be put "on hold" each time I sat down to eat. I would do anything other than pay attention to my food. I'd mess around on my Blackberry, check facebook (haha), read a magazine, listen to the radio...the list goes on. How interesting! I decided at that point to take some time to work with my mindfulness practice--and eating--in a whole new way.

For those of you that are not familiar, mindful eating simply means eating or drinking while being aware of each bite and each sip. Eating mindfully has so many awesome benefits. People who eat mindfully tend to:

• Have decreased risk of obesity
  
• Have more awareness of physical and emotional sensations around eating
  
• Make healthier food choices
• Eat out of true hunger, not emotion
• Stop eating when they are full
  

In order to start working with food and mindfulness it's important to understand our own eating habits. As a part of this process I did a self assessment. The assessment is not meant to give you a "score", instead to identify some areas of opportunity where you could improve your own mindful eating.

The questions included in this assessment are drawn from a variety of sources including Savor and the web. I would encourage you to answer the questions for yourself and see how you rate.

Mindful Eating Assessment

1. Do you pay attention to how your food looks, tastes, and smells?
2. Do you eat in response to sadness or stress?
3. Do you eat in response to environmental cues like seeing an advertisement in a magazine or on TV?
4. Do you focus on other things like the computer or television?
5. Do you continue to eat even when you are full?
6. Do you live or work in an environmnet that makes it difficult to eat healthfully?

If it seems from the assessment that you eat mindlessly (as so many of us do), never FEAR! The upcoming blogs will give you tips to eat more mindfully.

Until then, I recommend that you simply pay attention. Pay attention to when you eat, how much you eat, and how you feel after you eat. This is a great place to start with a mindful eating practice.

Be well.