Our bodies tell us so much. The catch? We have to really be listening closely! Especially if we have spent years and years ignoring the signals our body is giving us (as many of us have). The longer we ignore the signals our body gives us the harder they tend to be and pick up on. For many of us who have spent years dieting, this often means that when we initially begin this journey of mindful eating, we will have many moments of feeling unsure. Feeling unsure of whether we are hungry or not, feeling unsure of what we want to eat, what we don’t want to eat, or even what foods we actually like and dislike.

This can make eating mindfully seem like an exhausting chore in the beginning, and it can be. It actually can be helpful to just acknowledge what we are feeling, how unsure we are, and try to sit with that in those moments. You have full permission to just tell yourself, “I don’t know what I want to eat right now, I’m not sure if I’m hungry or not right now, or even, eating mindfully just feels to hard right now”. This sounds simple but can actually be a very powerful first step.

It also can be helpful to just focus on eating with as much awareness as you can for now. For example, when you do eat taking the time to notice if you are really enjoying the food or not, what emotions you are feeling, when the food starts to taste less good then it did initially etc. We may not always make a perfect choice at mealtimes but the more we can just practice noticing these things regardless, the easier mindful eating will become. This awareness is how we start to get back in touch with our body and what it is telling us. It takes time and patience but it will get easier. Food can actually become an enjoyable, but not stressful or thought consuming, part of your day.