Transitioning to Mindful Eating

Now, imagine yourself on a peaceful, quiet beach, laying in the warm sand. Feel the sand grains beneath your fingers, and getting stuck between your but cheeks.....or not.

This is my favourite guided meditation, it does feature explicit language, but is surprisingly effective. 

Mindfulness does have a bit of a reputation for being some new age bullsh*t that takes years of practise and green tea to achieve. I don't believe so, at least not how I practise it (or try to at least, it's not a perfect art, but a developing thing *perfect sucks anyway*)

When I first transitioned to a vegan diet, I was still calorie counting and restricting. At my worst, I would be eating around 1200 calories, running 5 miles. and trying to study for my finals. Yeah, not good.However, the more I looked into veganism, and exploring the vegan community on Youtube, I heard more and more about mindful, intuitive eating.

This involves;

• eating when you're hungry, 
• stopping when you are full, 
• listening to the food your body wants, 
• no calorie counting. 

I didn't consider myself to have an eating disorder at the time, I thought I was just stressed, (I understand now that this was a full blown relapse, and my weight dropped to it's lowest ever...so yeah...) but this way of eating seemed so liberating, and to make so much more sense.

There was no way I was giving up on my calorie counting, or my Fitbit tracking (I still always kept a negative calorie deficit), but I did start to listen to what my body needed, and upped my portions/calories to 1600-1800 a day. I began to feel better, and had a lot more energy.

Eating a wholefoods, plant based diet, in large portions, was a big change for me. My body wasn't used to this much food, and I missed a lot of hunger cues/food needs in the beginning because I had spent so long ignoring them anyway.

It has taken the 5 months I have been vegan to now to understand what it feels like to be hungry, to sit with that feeling, and listen to what my body needs/wants. I understand fullness cues, and know that feeling full/satisfied is not something to be ashamed about or disgusted by, but a natural way for my body to tell me it's happy and renourished! I am beginning to learn my body is a strong and powerful thing that deserves to be happy and well treated! Hell, I haven't been treating it right for a long time, and the resilient little bugger has stuck by me, and still works (kinda)!

I have gone cold turkey from my Fitbit, and I am slowly weaning myself off calorie counting. I have been counting since I was 13, so it will be a hard habit to break, but I am working on it.

Here are some of my favorite tips for mindful eating;

1. Sitting down and being real with yourself.  Sit down and really pay attention to your belly, feel, recognise, and accept the feeling of hunger. Understand that it is not a sign of weakness or success, or anything else other then what it is, a cue to eat! 
2. Ask, and listen to what you want. The dreaded, "Where do you want to go to dinner?" question....always followed by, "I dunno, wherever, I'm easy...". Well no, that isn't going to cut it anymore, you need to take responsibility to fueling the powerhouse that is your sassy being, and that means listening to what your body wants. When eating a wholefoods, plant based diet, your body craves the good foods and nutrients that it needs, and this becomes easier with practise (trust me, there will come a day when you crave that lentil curry with kale and quinoa.....because it is sooo good). Other days, you just want a big bag of chip shop chips, with no shame. Both are fine, in appropriate proportions, and you won't gain masses of weight, or get heart disease from a bag of chips every now and again! (just no meat, at least not for me....ethics and all that) 
3. Look at what your eating! Before, I would eat while reading my lecture notes, answering emails, or while gorging myself on mindless Youtube videos. I payed no attention to the food I was putting into my mouth, and would finish my (tiny) dinner without tasting a bite. This is no way to enjoy food or life. Really take mealtimes as an opportunity to be present with your body and refuel and reconnect with it. While eating, I now savour the food, appreciate the flavours and check in on whether this is the food my body wanted and needed. I am also more in tune to my fullness cues this way and know when I have had enough or I need to go back for seconds.

I hope these tips can help you to bust out of a food rut, or that my experience can help anyone else struggling with an eating disorder.

DISCLAIMER! I am not a medical professional (yet), I can only share my experience, and I have never even finished a full round of treatment, so yeah....if you need help, there are many trained professionals/helpline that can offer confidential when you need it.

B-eat  and their helpline is 03456341414, call if you ever feel like it is getting to much, or when you are ready to reach out for help. I reached out to my Mum, and she helped me through. It is a long process, but it is doable!