Does practicing mindful eating create food obsession?

anewell28

So I pose this question because of my own personal experience and would like to know your thoughts. Here is what I am talking about:

I love food and I love eating. When I started tracking my calories this past summer to lose some weight I had gained, I did a lot of research in the beginning to make the reduction of my calorie intake easier. One of the main things I saw here on MFP and other online articles was to not eat distracted. These articles said to sit down and eat your meal without any electronic device in front of your face, and to take small bites to savor the food. I did this at pretty much every meal since starting my lower calorie diet.
Fastforward six months later, I look back and think that this practice created food obsession in myself. I became a recluse because I valued eating my meals in private so I could savor every bite without having the distraction of social interaction. Once I finished my meal, a count down clock began to the next time I could eat. Yes, you could call this disordered eating or whatever you like. I have realized that I wasn't normal and have slowly readjusted myself back to normal (while still eating within my diet).

I thought of this early again today, and was interested in your thoughts and experiences. Do you think there is a link between these two things? Is there a fine line between mindful eating and obsession? Where do you find the balance?

Happy Friday!

mph323

anewell28 wrote: »

So I pose this question because of my own personal experience and would like to know your thoughts. Here is what I am talking about:

I love food and I love eating. When I started tracking my calories this past summer to lose some weight I had gained, I did a lot of research in the beginning to make the reduction of my calorie intake easier. One of the main things I saw here on MFP and other online articles was to not eat distracted. These articles said to sit down and eat your meal without any electronic device in front of your face, and to take small bites to savor the food. I did this at pretty much every meal since starting my lower calorie diet.
Fastforward six months later, I look back and think that this practice created food obsession in myself. I became a recluse because I valued eating my meals in private so I could savor every bite without having the distraction of social interaction. Once I finished my meal, a count down clock began to the next time I could eat. Yes, you could call this disordered eating or whatever you like. I have realized that I wasn't normal and have slowly readjusted myself back to normal (while still eating within my diet).

I thought of this early again today, and was interested in your thoughts and experiences. Do you think there is a link between these two things? Is there a fine line between mindful eating and obsession? Where do you find the balance?

Happy Friday!

In my personal experience, eating mindfully did lead to disordered eating (and I know this is an issue with me, not with mindful eating in general). I would obsess about every bite and whether I was satisfied and should I stop eating because hunger was satisfied after each one. Then I started putting off eating at all because of all the agonizing over every bite, then I'd mindlessly binge. I found that for me, eating while reading, or talking or watching TV was my best approach - fill my plate with the food I intended to eat, enjoy the food without focusing on every bite because of other distractions, and when finished feel like I've eaten the appropriate amount.

I know this method works for many people, and I will sometimes recommend trying it if it seems like a possible fit with the poster asking the question, but for me the experiment was a disaster.

seska422

There's a whole spectrum between distracted eating and mindful eating. I've benefited from being more mindful but not super-mindful.

I used to eat while paying almost no attention to the food and eating quickly. It has really helped to take my time and pay more attention to what I'm eating and whether or not I'm enjoying it.

I don't feel for fullness cues or pay 100% of my attention to the food during meals.

I enjoy each bite rather than eating so fast that I barely even remember eating. I read or talk between bites. It might take me an hour or more to eat a meal when I read while I eat.

GaleHawkins

anewell28 wrote: »

So I pose this question because of my own personal experience and would like to know your thoughts. Here is what I am talking about:

I love food and I love eating. When I started tracking my calories this past summer to lose some weight I had gained, I did a lot of research in the beginning to make the reduction of my calorie intake easier. One of the main things I saw here on MFP and other online articles was to not eat distracted. These articles said to sit down and eat your meal without any electronic device in front of your face, and to take small bites to savor the food. I did this at pretty much every meal since starting my lower calorie diet.
Fastforward six months later, I look back and think that this practice created food obsession in myself. I became a recluse because I valued eating my meals in private so I could savor every bite without having the distraction of social interaction. Once I finished my meal, a count down clock began to the next time I could eat. Yes, you could call this disordered eating or whatever you like. I have realized that I wasn't normal and have slowly readjusted myself back to normal (while still eating within my diet).

I thought of this early again today, and was interested in your thoughts and experiences. Do you think there is a link between these two things? Is there a fine line between mindful eating and obsession? Where do you find the balance?

Happy Friday!

@anewell28 you make some great points especially about the countdown clock. Not thinking about food and just eat all I want when I get hungry has been a game changer for health in general plus leading to not being obese any longer. Thanks for sharing.

kommodevaran

First I was "what!!", but this is actually something that I have experienced too: I would obsess about every bite and whether I was satisfied and should I stop eating because hunger was satisfied after each one. For me, it's absolutely not "disordered", but definitely annoying; I decided I don't want to spend time and mental energy on gauging hunger and satiety, so instead I just portion and eat my meals, enjoy them, but try to leave it at that. I know that I'm eating enough, but not too much, when I feel happy and energetic, and my weight is stable over time.

lemurcat12

It depends on what you call mindful eating. The focus only on your food and every bite thing wouldn't work for me (I don't think, I never really tried it, and I don't think it would become disordered, I just lack the patience for it), but it IS important to me to eat sitting down and not when totally zoning out. I refuse to eat when driving, for example (it doesn't really come up anyway, but I've consciously stopped and eating a protein bar when that was my only option vs. eating it while driving, and I'll put off dinner until I get where I'm going, even if quite late, if driving around). Similarly, I mostly eat lunch quickly at my desk (while MFPing, often), but I try hard to eat breakfast and dinner at home.

With dessert items I try to focus more on the food and appreciate it and find that helps with smaller portions, but I don't eat dessert that often anyway.

Mostly for me mindful eating isn't about some kind of orgasmic appreciation of the food (even at really nice restaurants I focus on my companions and the social occasion), but about using my mind to decide what good portions are and following rules about not eating between meals. My focus on appreciation is more about cooking and appreciating how the meal looks before eating it and thinking about how taste combination works and going to the green market and getting excited about produce in season and so on.

Oh, I'll add that the idea of thinking through whether I am hungry or whatever just doesn't work for me, especially since satiety often kicks in a bit after you finish eating anyway. I decide a portion is sufficient, eat it all, and then afterwards I am generally not hungry. If I really was after waiting some, I suppose I'd have a piece of fruit or veg or nuts or something, but it really hasn't happened (not that I don't overeat, but not because I am still hungry after a calorie-appropriate meal, more because I just want to eat something).

kimny72

I have to agree with @lemurcat12 what you are describing is not what I think of as mindful eating. I have always heard about mindful eating as putting thought into what you are eating and taking the time and focus to actually taste it and enjoy it. Not sitting alone in silence slowly eating small bites of food.

I think it's possible to take any "diet tip" too far and develop a problem. Food logging, calorie counting, exercising, food type restriction etc can all either be healthy additions or taken too far can become disordered obsessions.

I'm so glad you recognized the situation and have made corrections to get back to a healthier place :drinker:

murp4069

mph323 wrote: »

anewell28 wrote: »

So I pose this question because of my own personal experience and would like to know your thoughts. Here is what I am talking about:

I love food and I love eating. When I started tracking my calories this past summer to lose some weight I had gained, I did a lot of research in the beginning to make the reduction of my calorie intake easier. One of the main things I saw here on MFP and other online articles was to not eat distracted. These articles said to sit down and eat your meal without any electronic device in front of your face, and to take small bites to savor the food. I did this at pretty much every meal since starting my lower calorie diet.
Fastforward six months later, I look back and think that this practice created food obsession in myself. I became a recluse because I valued eating my meals in private so I could savor every bite without having the distraction of social interaction. Once I finished my meal, a count down clock began to the next time I could eat. Yes, you could call this disordered eating or whatever you like. I have realized that I wasn't normal and have slowly readjusted myself back to normal (while still eating within my diet).

I thought of this early again today, and was interested in your thoughts and experiences. Do you think there is a link between these two things? Is there a fine line between mindful eating and obsession? Where do you find the balance?

Happy Friday!

In my personal experience, eating mindfully did lead to disordered eating (and I know this is an issue with me, not with mindful eating in general). I would obsess about every bite and whether I was satisfied and should I stop eating because hunger was satisfied after each one. Then I started putting off eating at all because of all the agonizing over every bite, then I'd mindlessly binge. I found that for me, eating while reading, or talking or watching TV was my best approach - fill my plate with the food I intended to eat, enjoy the food without focusing on every bite because of other distractions, and when finished feel like I've eaten the appropriate amount.

I know this method works for many people, and I will sometimes recommend trying it if it seems like a possible fit with the poster asking the question, but for me the experiment was a disaster.

This really fits me to a T. I have found that eating with a distraction works better for me. Because I go through phases where I obsess, anything I can do to make my life NOT all about food is important.

Need2Exerc1se

I could see it leading to obsession. I thought I ate mindfully but when I read up on it I realized I did nothing close to that. We always eat in front of the TV. I think intuitive eating is more what I do than mindful eating. I enjoy my food but I don't think about each bite as I eat.

CSARdiver

anewell28 wrote: »

So I pose this question because of my own personal experience and would like to know your thoughts. Here is what I am talking about:

I love food and I love eating. When I started tracking my calories this past summer to lose some weight I had gained, I did a lot of research in the beginning to make the reduction of my calorie intake easier. One of the main things I saw here on MFP and other online articles was to not eat distracted. These articles said to sit down and eat your meal without any electronic device in front of your face, and to take small bites to savor the food. I did this at pretty much every meal since starting my lower calorie diet.
Fastforward six months later, I look back and think that this practice created food obsession in myself. I became a recluse because I valued eating my meals in private so I could savor every bite without having the distraction of social interaction. Once I finished my meal, a count down clock began to the next time I could eat. Yes, you could call this disordered eating or whatever you like. I have realized that I wasn't normal and have slowly readjusted myself back to normal (while still eating within my diet).

I thought of this early again today, and was interested in your thoughts and experiences. Do you think there is a link between these two things? Is there a fine line between mindful eating and obsession? Where do you find the balance?

Happy Friday!

The purpose of MFP is an exercise in awareness so you first become aware of how much food you need to eat to fulfill your goal, whether this be loss, maintenance or gain. Replace food with money and ask yourself if this still makes sense:

I love money and I love spending. When I started tracking my money this past summer to gain control over my spending habits, I did a lot of research in the beginning to make the reduction of my spending easier. One of the main things I saw here on MFP and other online articles was to not spend distracted. These articles said to sit down and use your money in a responsible mindful, purposeful manner.

Fast forward six months later, I look back and think that this practice created money obsession in myself. I became a recluse because I valued spending my money in private so I could savor the experience without having the distraction of social interaction. Once I finished my transaction, a count down clock began to the next time I could spend. Yes, you could call this disordered spending or whatever you like. I have realized that I wasn't normal and have slowly readjusted myself back to normal (while still spending within my budget).

I thought of this early again today, and was interested in your thoughts and experiences. Do you think there is a link between these two things? Is there a fine line between mindful spending and obsession? Where do you find the balance?

Awareness of what my caloric budget is and what I can eat has been liberating. I know now I can eat whatever I want, but I do have to adhere to certain quantities or my future self will suffer. As in all things I must sacrifice the present in order to reap the rewards in the future.