Mindful eating practices help create a healthier relationship with food during eating disorder recovery. Utilizing sustainable mindful eating tools lets you improve your habits and build a balance over time. Learn how to reconnect your body and mind and why it can work for you.
Connect Mindful Eating with Eating Disorders
Eating disorders can lead to unhealthy relationships with food and harmful eating habits. With mindful eating, you learn to limit these behaviors, including starving oneself, binging, mindless eating, and over-exercising. It is possible for you to let go of food rules and have flexible, relaxed eating habits. Start by asking yourself if you know what it means to observe your hunger. And remember it is a way to listen to your biological needs to feed your body and honor your natural instincts to sustain your body. Making this connection can help you realize that there’s no such thing as good and bad foods and that it’s okay to eat what you like if you’re able to.
Benefits of Mindful Eating During Recovery
Mindful eating is a practice used in recovery from eating disorders to manage signs and habits as well as improve balanced eating. It works by helping you change your approach around eating by increasing your trust in yourself and letting go of guilt. It is a huge step away from feelings such as loss of control or depriving yourself of your needs. There are reliable steps you can integrate into your day-to-day life to help you through your recovery.
When you implement mindful eating, you will:
- Choose nourishing foods that you enjoy eating
- Rely on all your senses to observe food while eating
- Be aware of thoughts & feelings around food without judgment
- Acknowledge physical hunger cues
- Recognize what triggers your eating disorder responses
Ways to Exercise Mindfulness
Habits to Practice
Useful Tools
Try this mindfulness journal
Dalila Mumic
Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics