Mindful Eating: Check the Health and Environmental Benefits

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If you are practicing a minimalist lifestyle or a sustainable lifestyle, you may have heard about mindful eating. Mindful eating is a way of eating that focuses on paying attention to food and tasting it.

Mindful eating is beneficial in a fast-paced life because it helps you distinguish between hunger driven by physiological needs and hunger stemming from emotional conditions. In addition, mindful eating also has positive impacts on the environment.

Do you want to know more about mindful eating, including its health and environmental benefits? Read this article until the end!

What Is Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating is a habit of eating consciously, where you can feel hunger, savor the taste of food, appreciate its texture, and engage all your senses to enjoy the food thoroughly.

Essentially, mindful eating urges you to eat slowly without distraction, eat only until you are full, and when you are hungry, differentiate between physiological hunger and emotional hunger, engage with every aspect of the food, practice reducing anxiety around food, feel the effects of food on your body, and appreciate the food you consume.

This can undoubtedly lead to a more conscious response, which is good for overall health.

In addition to its health benefits, mindful eating also offers environmental benefits. A study published in Sage Journals shows that people who order food as needed are more likely to have environmental considerations, an appreciation for food, and a better understanding of hunger and satiety.

Benefits of Mindful Eating for the Environment

As previously explained, mindful eating can also have a positive impact on the environment. Here are some benefits of mindful eating for the environment:

1. Reducing Food Waste

The first benefit of mindful eating is reducing food waste. There are times when you may feel like eating all the dishes served on the table. However, mindful eating prevents you from that habit because you are required to pay attention to the amount of food consumed according to your satiety limit.

This habit will certainly reduce the amount of food that is wasted because it is not eaten, while also decreasing the emissions produced from that food.

2. Applying More Sustainable Food Choices

Mindful eating will also guide you to choose the foods you consume, including those that are more environmentally friendly. You can choose organic products, plant-based foods, or products that are produced with consideration for carbon emissions. This will certainly help you preserve the environment.

3. Reducing Energy Consumption

Still related to more sustainable food, you can also choose foods that involve very minimal processing, which can reduce the energy consumption associated with transportation, processing, and storage of food.

Some examples of minimally processed foods are fresh vegetables, fruits, and tubers freshly harvested from the garden.

4. Reducing Food Packaging Waste

Another benefit is reducing the impact of food packaging waste produced. This certainly starts from choosing more sustainable food options and habits of not making impulsive buys.

By practicing mindful eating, you can choose fresh foods with minimal packaging or go for products with eco-friendly packaging.

Benefits of Mindful Eating for Health

Mindful eating is a practice of eating that not only enhances the way you eat but also offers other benefits, including:

1. Preventing Impulsive Eating

The first benefit of mindful eating is recognizing hunger that is genuinely due to physiological effects or emotional desires. Mindful eating will help you create a regular eating schedule so you do not eat impulsively outside of the schedule.

2. Making Food Taste Delicious

Sometimes, you might eat in a hurry due to a packed schedule in one day. As a result, you are less likely to enjoy the food you consume. Mindful eating will help you appreciate food more while consuming it and savoring its delights.

3. Avoiding Binge Eating and Emotional Eating

Binge eating and emotional eating are often caused by unclear hunger and fullness signals, leading you to overeat. Mindful eating will help you recognize whether your hunger is due to emotional triggers or genuine hunger, allowing you to eat moderately.

4. Maintaining Digestive Health

Consuming food in balanced amounts and eating mindfully can help maintain digestive health, particularly in reducing the risks of acid reflux and bloating. Furthermore, mindful eating encourages you to eat on a schedule, which is beneficial for your health.

5. Healthy Snacking

Some members of Warga Asri may enjoy snacking in between main meal times. Snacking can be more mindful depending on how you do it.

A study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Food Science states that mindful snacking focuses on the amount of snacks consumed, their taste, texture, and enjoyment, and it is not done while engaging in other activities, such as watching television or working.

This way, you can snack sufficiently and recognize when it is time to stop snacking to prepare for a big meal.

Tips for Practicing Mindful Eating

If you are just starting to practice mindful eating, do not be confused because the following tips can help you implement it:

Eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly. You can chew your food at least 32 times before swallowing to aid digestion.
Create a healthy and nutritious eating pattern. For men aged 19-30, the caloric intake ranges from 2,400 to 3,000 calories/day, and for women aged 19-30, it is about 1,300 to 1,700 calories/day. Additionally, the daily sugar intake for adults should not exceed 30 grams or 7 teaspoons. Then, the daily protein intake for adult men is about 65 grams, and for women, 60 grams.
Appreciate the existence of food.
Eliminate distractions, such as television and phones, while eating.
Eat in the appropriate places, such as the kitchen or dining table.
Focus on experiencing the texture, aroma, color, and taste of the food.
Eat quietly and silently.
Ask yourself if you are experiencing physiological or emotional hunger.
Choose nutritious food.
Be aware of the effects of food on the body.
Stop eating just before or when you are full. You can apply the Japanese principle of hara hachi bu, where you only eat until you are 80% full to prevent overeating.
Avoid consuming food in too large a portion and not finishing it.
Schedule a snacking time about every 3 hours if you are used to eating large portions, so that you can feel fuller when it is time for a heavy meal. As a result, you will not impulsively eat.

That is all the information about mindful eating that you need to know. Mindful eating is not only healthy for the body but also helps to preserve the environment, especially in reducing food waste.

Moreover, you can choose foods that are processed in an environmentally friendly way and use recyclable packaging, making it safer for nature. So, make sure not to waste food to avoid polluting the environment and wasting resources!

Mindful eating also marks the beginning of a sustainable lifestyle. If you want to contribute more to the environment, you can consider joining Indonesia Asri.

By participating as a Warga Asri, you can practice implementing an eco-friendly lifestyle by participating in #AksiAsri and other interesting programs! Let’s give our best contribution to the Earth and register now!