{"id":1100,"date":"2023-03-27T14:05:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T14:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2023-03-27T14:07:59","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T14:07:59","slug":"the-four-foundations-of-mindfulness-and-how-they-can-benefit-your-relationship-with-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/?p=1100","title":{"rendered":"The Four Foundations of Mindfulness and How They Can Benefit Your Relationship With food<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Four Foundations of Mindfulness and How They Can Benefit Your Relationship With food<\/strong><\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mindfulness is training the mind to recognize and interpret what is happening emotionally and physically as it interacts with itself, with others, and its environment.\u00a0 <\/span>This is when awareness happens.\u00a0 <\/span>Mindfulness is connected with interoception- the ability to sense\u00a0 <\/span>inward, accurately interpret what is presently happening to your body, and respond with precision and kindness.<\/p>

Most people are aware that mindfulness is the act of paying attention, the issue is HOW to pay attention.\u00a0 <\/span>Let\u2019s break it down into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and how they relate to eating.<\/p>

Mindfulness of Body:<\/b>\u00a0 <\/span>You respect your body and meet its basic needs unconditionally.\u00a0 <\/span>Feelings like hunger, fullness, satisfaction, the desire to move, and the need to rest are taken into consideration.\u00a0 <\/span>Dieting, which promotes time-restricted eating, eliminating foods, ignoring hunger and fullness cues, or encouraging exercise for calorie burn, is the opposite of mindfulness of body.<\/p>

Mindfulness of Feelings:<\/b> Being willing to feel what is happening in your body and in your heart, and staying with that feeling- even if it\u2019s uncomfortable.\u00a0 <\/span>Seeing your emotions clearly, helps you identify and meet your true needs.\u00a0 <\/span>Emotional eating- using food to address your feelings as opposed to accepting them- is the opposite of mindfulness of feelings.<\/p>

Mindfulness of Mind:<\/b> Identifying your thoughts about food, eating, your body, and weight and realizing they are just thoughts, they do NOT define you.\u00a0 <\/span>Negative thoughts like certain foods are bad (cake, coffee, gluten, chocolate, alcohol, etc), you should or shouldn\u2019t eating something, your body has to look a certain way, or your weight needs to be a certain number are the opposite of mindfulness of mind.<\/p>

Mindfulness of Dharma (or phenomena or truth):<\/b> Your relationship with food and your body speaks to your relationship with life.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHow you do anything is how you do everything\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Being on a strict, rigid eating plan and berating yourself when it goes wrong is the opposite of mindfulness of Dharma.\u00a0 <\/span>You wouldn\u2019t throw in the towel if one thing went wrong at work or in a relationship.\u00a0 <\/span>Learning and growing in all aspects of your life is the goal of mindfulness of dharma.<\/p>

If these foundations of mindfulness resonate with you, then mindful eating might be just what you need.\u00a0 <\/span>Learning and practicing mindfulness will take time.\u00a0 <\/span>Start exploring some of the options out there for you including websites, worksheets, podcasts, books, or workshops.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, we\u2019re hosting a workshop tomorrow night about mindful eating (register here<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 <\/span>We also have another blog post about how to dip your toe into mindful eating with a few easy steps:\u00a0 <\/span>Let\u2019s Practice Mindful Eating Together<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>Better yet, meet with a dietitian to support you on an individual level while you begin mindful eating.<\/p>

Now, be warned, practicing mindful eating isn\u2019t like your typical diet.\u00a0 <\/span>You need to sit back and get ready for a rollercoaster ride, with ups and down, good days and not so good days.\u00a0 <\/span>You might want to get off at some point, but hang in there, it\u2019s worth it.\u00a0 <\/span>And another warning?\u00a0 <\/span>This is for LIFE.\u00a0 <\/span>You will never stop being mindful, and I say that in a good way.\u00a0 <\/span>Your body will change, your needs will change, your life will change.\u00a0 <\/span>And with that, your diet (as in your eating pattern, not a calorie restricted diet) will likely change too.\u00a0 <\/span>Mindful eating is a tool designed to adjust and adapt with you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Stay Happy, Stay Healthy<\/p>

\"\"<\/span><\/p>

This blog was written by Chris Henigan MS, RD, LDN, co-founder of Simple Start Nutrition.\u00a0 For more blog posts and nutrition information follow @simplestartnutrition on Instagram and Facebook.\u00a0 Also feel free to contact us, by visiting our website (simplestartnutrition.com<\/a>) to schedule an appointment to discuss your nutrition related needs.\u00a0 We\u2019re here to help.<\/span><\/p>

Resources<\/b><\/p>

Hollenstein, Jenna MS, RD, CDN. Intuitive Eating for Life: How Mindfulness Can Deepen and Sustain Your Intuitive Eating Practice. Oakland, New Harbinger Publications, 2022.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mindfulness is training the mind to recognize and interpret what is happening emotionally and physically as it interacts with itself, with others, and its environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Untitled-design-17.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1100"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1105,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions\/1105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}