When it comes to eating, managing our weight, and staying healthy, it’s crucial to understand the mind-body connection. Our busy, hectic lives might be dragging us down more than we realize. A recent poll found that 38% of adults have eaten or overeaten in the past month to cope with stress, and about half of them did this just in the past week.
If you can relate to this, you’re not alone. The good news is there are steps you can take to manage or even lose weight, and meditation is one of them.
Understanding the terminology around meditation for weight loss
Practices like meditation, mindful eating, and intuitive eating can teach us how to develop a healthier relationship with food and let go of any negative feelings we might have around eating. While weight loss might happen as a result, it’s important not to make losing weight the main goal. If we do, it could make it harder to truly eat intuitively or mindfully.
Instead, try to focus on enjoying your food—eat because you’re hungry, not because you’re stressed or overwhelmed by work or family issues. These practices can help you learn to appreciate and love your body for all it can do.
When discussing meditation for weight loss or for developing a healthier relationship with food, it’s helpful to understand what these terms actually mean.
Stress or Emotional Eating
Stress or emotional eating happens when we turn to food because of strong feelings or emotions, not because we’re actually hungry. Sometimes, these emotions can overpower our sense of fullness, leading us to overeat. In these moments, food becomes a way to cope, temporarily dulling the intensity of our emotions. However, this can create a cycle: stress leads to overeating, which brings feelings of guilt or shame, and then those negative emotions trigger more stress. It’s a tough pattern to break.
Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is a practice that helps us rebuild a healthier relationship with food. It encourages us to be present and really tune into our senses—how the food tastes, smells, and most importantly, how it makes our bodies feel. By paying attention to our true hunger and fullness cues, mindful eating can help us slow down and reduce emotional or binge eating. While it might lead to weight loss, that shouldn’t be the main goal. If we’re focused on a specific physical outcome, we’re no longer truly eating mindfully. The Headspace app even offers a 30-session program to guide you through mindful eating.
Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach that focuses on health and wellness by teaching us to trust our bodies and listen to our physical hunger cues. Unlike dieting, intuitive eating helps heal our relationship with food by encouraging us to eat when we’re hungry and stop when we’re full. It shares some principles with mindful eating but goes further, promoting movement that feels good and using nutrition information without judgment.
How meditation may help us manage our weight
Just like meditation can help us with stress, sleep, focus, and more, it can also improve our relationship with food and help us manage our weight.
When we think about losing weight, we usually picture going to a spin class or choosing a salad over a burger. So, it might seem strange to consider sitting quietly and meditating for weight loss. But that’s only part of the story. Weight loss isn’t just about the physical; it’s not as simple as black and white. We’re emotional beings, and recognizing that is key to building a healthy relationship with food, which can lead to losing body fat or maintaining the weight that’s best for our bodies.
For example, a 2017 meta-analysis of 19 different studies found that traditional weight loss methods like diet and exercise work in the short term, but participants often regained the weight after the programs ended. However, when mindfulness practices like meditation were added to eating well and exercising, participants were more successful in losing weight and keeping it off.
So, why does meditation help with weight loss? Both physical and psychological factors are at play. Another 2017 study found that meditation reduces cortisol and C-reactive protein levels. High cortisol levels are linked to long-term obesity, so lowering them can help with weight management.
On the psychological side, research shows that meditation can curb overeating. A 2014 review of 14 studies found that using mindful meditation as the main intervention reduced binge eating and emotional eating. Meditation lowers stress levels—Headspace, for instance, can reduce stress in just 10 days. This is important because stress often leads to overeating. Meditation teaches us to sit with our emotions and observe them without judgment, instead of turning to food as a coping mechanism.
5 ways meditation can help promote a healthy relationship with eating
Meditation can make us more mindful eaters and help tackle emotional eating issues that might be lingering.
- Let Go of Shame and Guilt
For those who struggle with emotional eating, stress often leads to overeating as a way to cope, which then brings on feelings of guilt or shame. Meditation can help break this cycle. It not only reduces stress, which removes the trigger, but also makes you more aware of your emotions. This awareness helps you recognize when you’re eating out of stress versus actual hunger. Plus, meditation boosts compassion, making it easier to accept others with different body types, including your own. - Keep the Weight Off for the Long Term
Meditation can help you maintain your weight loss. While diet and exercise are essential for reaching your weight goals, adding meditation to the mix makes your efforts more sustainable in the long run. - Reduce Stress and Inflammation
Meditation lowers cortisol and C-reactive protein levels, which is great for overall health and can support weight loss. High cortisol is linked to belly fat, and elevated C-reactive protein indicates inflammation, a root cause of many diseases, including obesity. - Control Cravings Better
If you struggle with emotional or binge eating, handling those intense cravings can be challenging. Research shows that mindfulness meditation can help manage these cravings more effectively. - Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Losing weight requires effort, and keeping it off can be stressful, sometimes causing anxiety. Using the Headspace app for daily meditation over 30 days has been shown to reduce stress by a third, proving it’s a valuable tool for managing these challenges.
Also Read: 7 Top Mindfulness Apps for On-the-Go
6 mindful eating techniques to try
Mindful eating is all about being aware of your feelings around food and tuning into your body’s signals. It helps you figure out the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Need some easy tips to get started?
- Say Goodbye to Distractions
When you’re eating, turn off the TV, keep your phone off the table, and step away from the computer. - Take Your Time and Chew Well
Eat slowly and really chew your food. Halfway through your meal, check in with yourself. Are you still hungry, or are you starting to feel full? - Use Your Senses
Engage your senses while you eat. Focus on the smell, taste, and the way the flavors come together. Notice the different textures, too. - Notice How Food Makes You Feel
Pay attention to how you feel after eating. Do you feel energized or sleepy? Are you bloated or have an upset stomach? Did your meal satisfy you, or are you still hungry? - Be Kind to Yourself
Mindful eating can be challenging, and it takes practice. Don’t be hard on yourself if you slip up. It’s all part of the learning process. - Check In with Your Feelings
Ask yourself if you’re eating because you’re hungry, or if emotions are driving your cravings.
