28 Jul 5 Mindful Eating Techniques for Diabetics

In the food abundant world we live, eating is often inattentive and careless which in addition injects guilt in our minds. Most of us do not eat much out of hunger. We eat because of several reasons like friends, family, a good ambiance, some emotional turmoil or probably because of academic or professional stress. This is known as mindless eating.

To overcome the guilt of binging mindlessly we need to adopt the concept of mindful eating. Mindful eating is especially important for the people who are suffering from diabetes. Mindful eating is an essentially healthy and enjoyable activity for satisfying hunger. Mindful eating is an age old practice of management and carefulness with intelligent twenty first century implications and applications for ironing out the puzzled love-hate relationship we share with food. Mindless eating is a blend of eating with the intention of caring for yourself and enjoying your food at the same time and it can be followed anywhere and anytime. Mindful eating is an influential method for developing a healthier and happier life as it buttons down your non hunger provocations for eating.

For people suffering from diabetes, mindful eating is a very good solution as taking care of diabetes is a lifelong responsibility. Diet being an integral ingredient of the diabetes management plan it is important to indulge into mindful eating. People suffering from diabetes are asked to avoid a lot of food items as it may harm their bodies further like refined sugar must be avoided completely as it increases the blood glucose level of the diabetic person. Diabetic people are further expected to avoid fasting or feasting of extreme levels as skipping meals or binging too much unsettles the balance of the blood glucose as levels start wavering strangely in the body. Alcohol is like venom for a diabetic person as it can permanently damage the nerves in the body. There is a growing body of research in the area of mindfulness and mindful eating. It is a promising strategy for people who struggle with their weight, cravings, and binge eating. One study also found that mindful eating helped people with type 2 diabetes improve their food choices, lose weight, and lower their A1C over 6 months. The researchers from that study concluded that training in mindful eating could be a good way for some people with diabetes to improve their food choices and portion control, in addition to diabetes education.

Knowing the repercussions of mindless eating for diabetic people, here are some of the mindful eating techniques in which they need to indulge themselves –

1. The diabetic people should sit down at peace and form a mindful eating approach to the regular meals. They need to stop eating while they engage in other activities as this results in eating more. One should not multi-task while eating. The distractions make people less conscious of how much are they eating.
2. One should deliberately remind themselves to slow down before eating. They should take smaller bites and chew their food properly before swallowing it. To slow down the process of eating, try putting the fork or spoon down in between bites and don’t pick them up till you have completely gulped what you already had in the mouth.
3. Struggle against eating straight from the bag or from the box. Not only is it simpler to eat more when you can’t see how much you have eaten, but it is also more difficult to completely appreciate your food when it is hidden from the view.
4. Researchers have found out that consuming one apple, pear or some berries just before lunch or dinner can cut down on the amount you conclusively eat by about 15 - 18 percent. This is because the filling fibre in the fruit forbids you from overeating.
5. Studies have found out that chewing gum for about half an hour to forty five minutes can reduce the carving for sweets. It can further increase the fullness, and make you carve less for sweets and other unhealthy snacks which is very beneficial for the people suffering from diabetes.

Incorporating these little changes in eating can definitely bring great changes in the lives of the diabetics.