Meaning Of Being Mindful

There are many different psychological illnesses in the world, each with different causes. While eating is an key function of life, some people may be doing harm to their body with their eating habits. Eating disorders occur when a person has a bad relationship with food and can be deadly. The book Elena Vanishing, by Elena Dunkle and Clare B. Dunkle, gives a better understanding of the background of eating disorders and many reviewers are impacted by the book’s vital message.

What is mindful eating? There is a bundle of ways to describe it but precisely it “…reconnects you with your body’s signals. Whether you are overeating or undereating, you have lost track of your hunger and fullness. Mindful eating plugs you back into your body’s cues so you know when to stop and start eating” (15). This book really opened my eyes and made me more aware that

Studies have shown that people eating alone eat considerably less that people that eat with others; however certain factor such as dieting or afraid to eat in front of other may have some effect on this situation. Having too many choices or different foods can increase the intake of food because as you eat one food you naturally lose some positive-incentive to eat but as you take on a whole new taste the effect comes back for the new food and will continue with each new subject.

However, (Kidd, Graor, & Murrock, 2013) proposed a theoretical basis of the self-regulation theory (Schwartz, 1975), which suggests that the regulation of internal physiologic processes such as heart rate, blood pressure, etc., relies upon on the capability to observe internal responses (Schwartz, 1975). The authors noted that emotional eaters might be unable to differentiate between hunger (an internal physiologic process) and automatic, emotion-driven eating, which then leads to overeating and thus contributes to obesity. However, treating the dysfunction of self-regulation may restore balance between emotional and internal physiologic cues, leading to weight regulation (Kidd et al., 2013). Research shows that mindfulness-based interventions have successfully treated disorders of self-regulation, as the psychological and emotional benefits of mindfulness, such as the containment and down-regulation of negative emotional responses (J. J. arch, & Landy, L.N., 2015; J. J. Arch et al., 2016; J. J. Arch & Craske, 2006), may create the space for more positive responses, as evidenced by findings by (J. J. Arch et al., 2016). This study found that their brief mindfulness intervention led to consumption of less calories from unhealthy foods, which was mediated by greater eating enjoyment (Arch et al., 2016). One would think that if the enjoyment of eating were increased through a mindful intervention, one

Eating Disorders (ED) are a real “epidemic” plaguing industrialized and developed societies, affecting mostly adolescents and young adults (Benas & Gibb 2011). In general, the flawed thinking of people suffering from such diseases is characterized by an obsession with perfection of the body. The impact that eating disorders have on women has always been more prevalent than on males. (Benas & Gibb 2011; Polivy & Herman 2002). The culture-bound syndromes are constellations of signs and symptoms, that are restricted to certain the cultural pressure to lose weight, which is considered a key element of the etiology of these disorders, therefore, along with biological, psychological and family factors have been generating an excessive preoccupation with the body, an abnormal fear of becoming fat and anxiety markedly accompanied by changes in the body schema. These are therefore the characteristics of Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Anorexia Nervosa (AN). The following ten literature review attempt to demonstrate and support the theory of cognitive approach on eating disorders, briefly understanding the neurobiological mechanisms.

Maria Konnikova in her essay “Why Do We Eat, and Why Do We Gain Weight?” talking about how our bodies deal with hunger. Why do eat more than we actually need? Obesity is a big problem nowadays and we don’t really know how to deal with it. A lot of times we call oversized people lazy and say that they can’t control what they eat. But how many times we caught ourselves of not being able to stop eating even though we were already full? How does it work that we can’t resist food? It’s because we’re unaware of what’s going on in our bodies. All the chemical reaction and tricks that our body can serve us leads to false hunger that we feel. We have to learn to read the signals that our body is sending us, to stay healthy. There’s a lot of research that explains how our body deals with hunger.

Engel, B., Reiss, N., & Domback, M. (2007, February 2). Introduction To Eating Disorders. Retrieved

Towards the end of Tarullo’s article, she explains that there may be healthy snacks if one does end up resorting to snacks. Another eating habit to stray away from are large proportions of food and on-the-run meal.

The podcast, “Stuffed”, states that eating is mindless. In other words, we tend to eat with our eyes not our stomach when it comes to multitasking. Combining eating with multitasking leads us to overeat because of two reasons: first, we do not pay attention to what to eat and secondly, we eat to the pace of what we are doing. I strongly agree that the environment in which I eat, affects my diet in terms of amount eaten. Majority of the meals I eat are in front of the television and the snacks I consume are during study sessions. Therefore, I am unaware of the amount of food I am consuming. As well, it also takes 20 minutes for your body to send signals to your brain saying that you are full. Unless I am in a social environment, such as a restaurant, I never take more than 20 minutes to finish meals (Eisen, 2015). I understand that the time period and the settings in which I eat, negatively impacts my eating

This paper is about the book “Mindless Eating” by Brian Wansink. This paper will contain a coversheet, an abstract, a discussion about the book, and a reference page. In this paper I will discuss several things. I will talk about the author and his research into eating and eating habits, the surprises that I had when reading about his research and the contents of the book, a discussion about what intrigued me, who I would recommend this book too, and whether or not reading this book may change the way I eat.

With the help of various studies, data has shown the sociocultural factors that yield the most eating disorders as well as warning signs that a disorder may be developing. For example, eating disorders affect 62 percent of athletes in sports pertaining to aesthetics, such as gymnastics and figure skating (“Mirror Mirror Eating Disorders”). It is imperative that a movement is made to encourage these impressionable individuals to practice intuitive eating and a positive body image, for it has been found that prevention programs can take the attitudes and behaviors that lead to eating disorders and reverse them (NEDA). Intuitive eating is when an individual eats according to their bodies natural schedule; eating when one is hungry, and stopping when one is full. The human body will also crave the nutrients it is in need of. For instance, if the body is deficient of glucose, one might crave the natural sugar found in fruits. Although it takes practice to master, learning to eat intuitively is the healthiest “diet” one can partake

The premise of mindful eating is simple, wait for the body to signal that it is hungry, eat what the body is truly desiring, and take time to savor the food. According to the article, this concept has its roots in Buddhism. However, some doctors and nutritionists

Binge-eating involves excessive and unnecessary eating which can at most times, involve unhealthy food. Being in control of your diet sounds easier than it is, but is essentially the most important thing you can do for your health. A more thorough idea of all the ingredients and constituent of the food going into your body, makes you incredibly insightful. These insights help you notice both the good and bad changes your body experiences from these ingredients. This is why a large body of supporting research suggest the alternative way of “mindful eating”. Researchers suggest a more aware state of eating, with a full disclosure of everything you eat in order to separate the healthy food from the unhealthy one. But that’s not all, in fact, mindful eating really does involve the full presence of the mind during eating. Researchers suggest that the sensory experience of food makes a deep bond between the gut and mind.

The journal “ From mindless eating to mindlessly eating better” discusses how certain environmental factors such as; size, shape, color and layout contribute to the amount of food a person consumes. A point made in this journal was that these factors influence our eating behavior by increasing the amount we eat and decreasing our observation on how much we are consuming. Another point made in the journal was that education on nutrition would be simply ineffective in reversing our eating behaviors. Lastly, the journal provided results that suggest principles that can help people overcome mindless eating by making small changes that can help diminish bad eating habits.

In the article “Mindfulness meditation may ease anxiety, mental stress” discusses that mediation can be beneficial in everyone’s life. Article explains how her mother had performed mediation many decades ago before it became practiced. Similarly, mindful mediation practice involves “sitting comfortably, focusing on your breathing, and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present without drifting into concerns about the past or future”. However, back then there was not enough evidence to prove that this can be beneficial, because many studies did not have quality control to compare with mindful meditation. In contrast, many volunteers could already show an interest in this experiment so the results could show a positive success.