From what not to eat to the endless lists of the latest must-have superfoods, discussion about healthy eating tends to focus on what we eat. Much less attention is paid to the question of how we eat it. Yet a growing body of research suggests that changing our attitudes and practices around meals and mealtime rituals may be every bit as important as obsessing over what it is we actually put in our mouths.

Mindful eating (also known as intuitive eating) aims to reconnect us more deeply with the experience of eating — and enjoying — our food. Sometimes referred to as “the opposite of diets,” mindful eating is based on the idea that there is no right or wrong way to eat, but rather varying degrees of consciousness about what we are eating and why. The goal of mindful eating, then, is to base our meals on physical cues, such as our bodies’ hunger signals, not emotional ones — like eating for comfort.

Stay tuned for post #1 in the Mindful Eating series next week on ‘Key Signs That Your Body is Out of Balance and How Mindful Eating Can Help’.