Mindful Eating During the Holidays and Always

by Dr. Linda Miles Do you have a habit of overeating during the holidays?

Do you fill your plate, disconnect as you eat, stuff yourself, and then feel regret?The holidays offer unique opportunities to become aware of eating habits and begin to practice mindful eating. Since food is such a huge part of the holidays, you have many chances to observe and begin to change destructive eating habits.

Over the years in my practice, I have heard from many of my clients how they zone out and eat large quantities of food without tasting or enjoying the experience. The description goes something like this: The first couple of cookies (chips, crackers, etc.) were pretty good and after that I kept eating until the bag was empty and my stomach felt bloated. What happened here?

Neuroscience is finding some answers from studying the pleasure chemical Dopamine. Scientists like Robert Sapolsky of Stanford report that the brain secretes this pleasure chemical before eating, in anticipation of a food reward. When the food reward is given less often, the dopamine levels go significantly higher. Another way of thinking about this is that just the IDEA that there may be a food reward motivates people to move toward that anticipated pleasure. The problem occurs because we often become numb and disconnected during the actual experience of eating.

Mindful Rewrites

So what is mindful eating?

Mindful eating is paying attention to the food we are eating in the present moment by using our senses. It asks us to take the time to experience smell, taste, texture. It is conscious consumption. Mindfulness- based interventions target unconscious eating patterns by increasing awareness of bodily and emotional signals. Mindfulness helps you stay awake and aware of what you are eating.

All of the pictures, associations, and expectations of a Holiday feast flood the brain with dopamine in the anticipation of pleasure. The disconnect happens because when we begin to stuff ourselves unconsciously, we do not notice the lack of pleasure. At the end of the day, disappointment creates the feeling that maybe if we try some other treat we will get the pleasure we expect. The cycle happens again: Anticipation-Dopamine-Maybe this time I will love this food-uncertainty of the rew ard-more Dopamine-eating frenzy-disconnect-disappointment-discomfort, and then the cycle begins again.

Dr. Miles has appeared on national television, radio and in magazines such as Woman's World, Parents and Entrepreneur. She wrote the award-winning book The New Marriage,