The concept of mindfulness is not new, it has been extracted from the ancient Buddhist meditation. A few psychotherapists and doctors in America created a few courses on mindfulness in the 70s, to counter the rising stress levels.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program has become very popular and seen as an effective method to reduce stress. Jon Kabat-Zinn is credited to have designed the program, which is in fact inspired from the Buddhist meditation techniques like vipassana and anapanasati.
The aim is to stay in the moment and not worry about the past and the future. There are majorly two ways to stay in the present moment, the first one is focusing on the breath. The second one is the ‘body-scan’, the entire body is observed, being conscious of the sensations in the body. Thousands of people have experienced the positive effects of being mindful, including Hollywood celebrities.
Mindfulness Diet
We can add thousands of calories when we eat food ‘mindlessly’. Experts say that we may add about 100 calories by eating just three bites mindlessly. When food is eaten without paying attention, especially the unhealthy processed food, the temptation to eat more is natural. Eating more becomes a habit, which results in obesity.
Today it is a proven fact that eating mindfully reduces stress, fights depression, boosts immunity and the overall health. Patrizia Collard and Helen Stephenson, the two experts on mindfulness have created ‘The Mindfulness Diet’. In this plan only by changing the way you feed yourself, you would come to know the precise requirements of the food. Therefore, excess eating is taken care off. So, there is no dieting, fasting or making note of the calorie intake and making die-hard efforts in deducing the calorie count.
Eating Mindfully
Slowing down the process of eating and being aware of what you eat is mindfully eating. Cholecystokinin is a hormone that informs the brain that you are content. This hormone takes about 20 minutes to release, when you eat slowly, Cholecystokinin is released in the body to tell your brain when you are full.
Before you start eating, you got to ask yourself certain questions about your appetite. Like, are you actually hungry? Is it healthy? How much should you eat? Also, it is important to keep a check on what you eat.
Some critics are of the opinion that “Overall, this is a practice we would encourage but wouldn’t call it a diet.” On the other hand, some say it is a cautious way of eating, although there is no special food specified eating mindfully is an approach to good health.