Eating as mindfully as we might on vacation, for example, is not realistic for many of us, especially with work, busy families, routines, and all the other daily distractions.

Here are seven simple ideas to help you establish more mindful eating habits and perhaps start to reconnect the body and mind again.

1. Tune in to your body’s signals

Rather than just eating on emotional cues (different for each of us, like sadness, anger, frustration, loneliness, stress or even just boredom), we can learn to tune into and be better listeners of our body’s actual hunger signals. For example, is your stomach growling, is your energy low, are you feeling a little lightheaded, or even hangry?

2. Put food on a plate

Too obvious? Think about this: eating out of a bag is not a very mindful practice! So, get in the habit of placing even snacks on a plate before eating them. This helps you to take notice of exactly what and how much you’re actually eating.

Also, acknowledge the time, effort, and passion you put into creating your meal - consider all the ingredients and the preparation and intention involved in getting the food from stove to plate.

3. Sit at a table

Now that you’re eating from a plate, continue “formalizing” your gastronomic experience by always sitting at a table. This helps to pull your attention back to your food and to your eating habits. It has also been shown to dramatically reduce overeating - especially for those who tend to eat in front of the TV.

4. Absolutely, positively NO devices at the table

Now that you’re sitting at a proper table, designating the first few minutes of a meal for quiet, mindful practice can be beneficial - for everyone at the table. This includes putting away the devices and turning off the TV.

5. Slo-o-o-o-w down (and chew!)

Slowing down is one of the easiest, and most effective ways we can get our body and mind to coordinate in their signals of what we really need for nutritional purposes.

The body actually sends its “I’m full” signal about 20 minutes after the brain - a little glitch in human physiology and also why it can be easy to overeat. But, if we slow down, we can give our body a chance to catch up to our brain, hear the signals properly, and eat the right amount.

Chewing your food more thoroughly and more slowly is probably the simplest and most effective way to begin developing the habit of eating mindfully.

6. Put down that fork!

Putting your fork down between bites of food reinforces your enhanced chewing habit, rather than mindlessly picking at your plate or preparing to shovel in your next bite. Yet another opportunity to really taste your food!.

7. Make it more difficult to feed yourself

Making things more difficult is a great way to force yourself to pay attention to a more intentional act of eating - you can apply this to many areas of your life!

One way to up the challenge is to eat with your non-dominant hand. For 90% of us, that’s our left hand. While this may seem tedious to do at every meal, try it for breakfast or maybe just at snack time - or even at a dinner with friends for some entertainment value! 

So, there you have it - seven super easy, but actionable ways you can start practicing mindfulness when you’re eating. Your whole body will benefit from simply slowing down and being more intentional and present while eating.