Mindful eating is the new way to eat for health, weight regulation and pleasure maximization. Don’t let these five myths about mindful eating bring you down.
Myth #1: Mindful eating requires you to eat in silence
Fact: You can practice with as much noice around you as you want. Mindful eating is an inner practice about directing your awareness towards the sensing of your food and your body. Just let the noice be as it is.
Myth #2: Mindful eating is boring
Fact: Mindful awareness changes even the most simple experience so that it becomes interesting. Just try with one mouthful. Even your breath becomes interesting when you focus on that.
Myth #3: I don’t get the enjoyment of socializing while I’m eating
Fact: Eating while you are socializing actually makes you avoid quite a lot of both the social pleasure of being with people and the sensual pleasures of eating. When you socialize, socialize. When you eat, eat.
Myth #4: Mindful eating makes every food healthy and slimming
Fact: No, it does not. But mindful eating allows you to better transfer your knowledge about nutrition into your food choices in your everyday life. A donut still contains a lot of calories even if you eat it with mindfulness.
Myth #5: Mindful eating requires me to become a Buddhist and meditate a lot
Fact: No. Mindful eating can be a part of a “hardcore” buddhist meditation lifestyle. But it can also be a part of a lifestyle where you simply take inner small steps motivated by your primitive, animal craving for maximum pleasure.
Mindful Eating Awareness – Weight Loss With Wisdom by Uffe Damborg and Per Brændgaard