As someone who lives pretty far away from friends and family, using technology to stay in touch has been my number one way of maintaining and strengthening these relationships. What’s my favorite way of communicating, you ask? Through text message! Like most people, I am pretty busy and texting allows me to stay up to date with my closest peeps. These days, I find myself using more and more emojis- I have found that they most often convey what I am thinking, feeling, or want to say in just a using a simple image that combines emotion with icons aka “emoticons”.
The emoji explosion got us thinking about how these cute emoticons could be used to better communicate about the concept of mindful eating, leading to the creation of mindful eat-mojis! In case you are not familiar with mindful eating, mindful eating is a process that engages your awareness about how the food you eat affects your feelings, emotions, and body. Mindful eating has been show to decrease binge eating, aid in weight management, and positively impact your relationship with food.
While there are a variety of strategies on how to practice mindful eating, here are a few of my top faves:
- Sloooooow down your eating. I get it- we are all busy. Some days I am dashing to the metro with breakfast in hand and before I know it, the first meal of the day is done. Lately, I have been making a point to wake up 10-15 min earlier a few times a week so I can have the time to sit down and actually enjoy my breakfast.
- Sit at a table (or anywhere!) when you eat your meals. Another one that needs some work for me. Luckily, my coworkers make it a point to eat lunch together nearly every day, not in front of our computers. This has really transformed my lunchtime routine. When you eat in front of a distraction (like your computer or TV) you can end up eating more than you need to because you are not aware of how much you are eating.
- Become more aware of your hunger levels. Avoiding the hangry (eat-moji #2, which we will get to soon, I promise!) phase is key for me. Being more aware of my hunger level has definitely made appreciate portion control and also allow for me to enjoy food more. With enhanced awareness I can now tell if I am just bored and think eating will make things better, actually hungry, or just need a small snack.
Speaking of hunger levels, let’s take a look at the Mindful Eat-Moji Scale! On a scale of 1 to 10 (with one being starving and ten being stuffed), it’s important to stay away from the extremes of the scale and focus on the middle. This means you should be eating when you are between a four and seven. Eating when you are starving can cause you to make less than ideal decisions about how much and what type of food to eat. On the flip side, if you eat when you are stuffed, than you probably don't need the extra food. Personally, I am most happy when I am at about a 6 (satisfied) or 7 (pleasantly full) but have definitely had my fair share of hovering in the 9-10 range (uncomfortably full or stuffed-oh hey, Thanksgiving dinner!). I’ve had more than a few instances of being a 2 (very hungry, “hangry”), which has led to my husband purchasing a large box of granola bars to keep in the car for hangry emergencies. I’ve also been at level 3 (stomach is growling) far more times than I’d like to admit, unable to control my noisy stomach.
Remember that mindful eating is not just for when you are at home. Even when you’re at a busy restaurant or a cafeteria, you can practice these techniques. Stop when you’re satisfied, and take the rest home as leftovers.
Now that I have this mindful eat-moji scale, I can use this helpful resource to help me establish a more mindful relationship with my food and support a healthier lifestyle.
