5 Steps to Start Mindful Eating Today

What if your weight loss journey had nothing to do with willpower... and everything to do with your relationship with yourself?

If you’re tired of diets, food guilt, and feeling like a failure every time you “fall off track,” this episode is for you.

Welcome to episode 18 of the Midlife Reset Podcast. I’m Cheryl Gordon, yoga therapist and educator for midlife women who want to lose weight, sleep better and feel stronger using the tools of yoga and mindfulness.

Today, I’ll walk you through 5 simple steps to start mindful eating

—a compassionate, body-aware approach that helps you tune into hunger, plan realistically, and enjoy food without shame or restriction.

This isn’t a set of rules. It’s a mindset shift. It’s about reclaiming your energy, your joy, and your power—one bite at a time.

Let’s get started.

At the end of 2023, I was gaining menopausal weight despite eating healthy and exercising. So upsetting! I make my living demonstrating healthy lifestyles and I did not look or feel my best. I know the research on fasting, calorie restriction, stress and belly fat, etc. But I needed a real world plan for putting all that knowledge to work in my own life.

And here it is for you. I lost 25 pounds in 2024. It was fun. No really. FUN. I used the tools that I’m about to share to really get to know myself… like meeting a new best friend. And I discovered that I’m a pretty cool chick and pretty fun to hang with. I still ate foods I love including pasta (could eat that every day!!!!) And chocolate. With no GUILT! Just enjoying my life.

Here’s the details:

1.    Planning

Most decisions throughout the day are handled by the habit brain.  This is efficient and saves energy.  We breathe automatically.  Walk without thinking it through.  And the brain produces habitual signals around getting fuel for the body as well.

To lose weight, one must begin to question or re-program those habitual eating patterns.

Bullying oneself with willpower will only take us so far.  Habits are deeply grooved pathways in the brain that have served us well in the past.  There is little motivation, as far as the habit brain is concerned, to change anything.  Many of us have had the experience of starting a diet with all good intentions but in time, the stresses of life just put up too many roadblocks. 

The brain is at peak capacity earlier in the day after a night’s rest.  This is the best time to plan for success throughout the day.

Many of us can relate to this.  Earlier in the day, it’s smoothies and salads but by late afternoon, it’s more about snacks and sweets.  It’s not our imagination.  As our overall energy is expended, the brain shifts more and more into conservation mode.  We experience “decision fatigue”.  It’s too hard to decide to have vegetables when our habit brain knows that muffin will be comforting and familiar.

ACTION:

Each morning, take five minutes to plan what you are going to eat for the day.  

  a)    Make the plan realistic by looking ahead to how much time and energy you are likely to have for meals.  Look for solutions if there are late meetings or special occasions such as take out, crock pot recipes or asking for help.

b)    Take into account what you like.  Don’t make the plan all about what someone else says is healthy.  Include foods that bring joy and pleasure.  Your morning brain will more easily consider your dreams and goals for weight loss and help you find a good compromise between eating healthy and living pleasurably.  There are no banned foods unless your doctor has indicated that it will compromise your medical condition.

 c)    Put plenty of food on your plan.  Most of us have a complicated diet past.  Deprivation and calorie restriction in the past has traumatized our habit brains.  It may seem noble at 8 am to only  list celery sticks but realistically, you will want more than that by 4 pm.  You don’t have to eat all the food you have planned if you’re not hungry.  But you can set yourself up to feel like a failure if you eat off plan later.

d)    Look over the plan when you’ve got it down on paper (or on your device).  How do you feel about it?  What you eat is not a moral statement.  There are no trophies for depriving yourself of fuel.  Are you happy and excited about the food you’ve planned?

2.    When to Eat

  Eat whenever you are hungry.  Big period stop.  Mindful eating is about re-attuning to your body’s cues about what fuel it needs and when.

It is helpful to remember this hunger scale:  Explain 1 is stuffed like Thanksgiving and 10 is ravenous and starving.

In Mindful Eating, do your best to respond to hunger cues before you get to #7.  

  It is expected that one would be hungry 3 - 4 hours after eating a meal.  If you think you may be hungry, check when you last ate.  If the window is shorter than 3 - 4 hours, drink a glass of water and choose an activity that is pleasurable or relaxing for another 15 minutes.  Does that change your impression of hunger?

Here are some common hunger cues that often go undetected.  It’s important to sensitive yourself to your body’s communication around hunger.  

a)    loss of focus

b)    feeling a dip in energy

c)    yawning

d)    small belly gurgles

e)    dull, almost unnoticeable headache

You may discover other symptoms and it is helpful to keep a journal of how you uniquely experience hunger.

3.    How Much to Eat

  Using the hunger scale, in Mindful Eating one aims to stop eating when at about 3 - 4.

There is no measuring or counting anything with Mindful Eating.  You are learning to listen to your body’s information.

Before you start your meal, stop and take a deep breath.  Look at your food.  Smell it.  This is your God given right to take pleasure from eating.  Utilizing more of your sensory capacity increases pleasure.

As you start eating, put down your utensil between bites.  Chew thoroughly.  Take your time.  Register the pleasure of enjoying this delicious food.  Notice your surroundings and derive pleasure from nice table settings, your company or pleasant music.  

Continually check in with your hunger scale.  Here are some signals that maybe you have eaten enough:

a)    you start wondering if maybe you’ve had enough

b)    you slow down eating

c)    it doesn’t taste quite so amazing

d)    you start to belch

e)    you have the urge to check your phone or you start thinking about other things

Here are some signals that you blew past stopping at 3 - 4 on the hunger scale:

a)    needing to loosen a belt

b)    excessive belching

c)    pushing to clean up your plate

d)    feeling like you need to nap

e)    pressured to keep eating because you’re worried you won’t get to enjoy this yummy food again on your diet

4.    Dealing with Urges to Eat Off Plan

Everyone has the urge to eat when they are not truly hungry.  This is NORMAL.

You want to change how and what you are eating to serve your higher dreams and goals.  The habit brain is not where those dreams and goals live.  The habit brain has some basic defaults.  It wants to avoid pain.  It seeks pleasure.  And, above all, it wants things to stay the same.  Changing what you eat…. Which is such a basic survival activity… freaks the habit brain right out.

When you have the urge to eat off plan, relax.  

Whatever has caught your fancy could be put on your plan for tomorrow or the next day.  You can have your desire whenever you decide.

When planning, decide how you will nurture yourself during the urge to eat off plan.  Many of my clients use:

a)    deep breathing

b)    guided meditation

c)    restorative yoga poses

d)    journaling

e)    walking with a friend

To tell if the urge is just that or maybe a true signal that you need more fuel, ask yourself… would you eat broccoli right now?  If you are saying in your own mind, “hmmmm, chocolate sounds good right now” then you are not truly hungry.

5.    Celebrating Wins

Many of us have started diets with a goal weight.  As we progressed through the plan, it became apparent this was going to take awhile.  And that is healthy.  Severely delayed gratification though does not appeal to the habit brain.  It needs pleasure now.

Plan how you will reward yourself for tiny accomplishments.  Following your daily plan.  Stopping at enough.  Remembering to fill out a daily plan.  Journaling instead of giving in to an urge.  Taking time for exercise.  All these healthy habits deserve recognition!

Ways to celebrate wins:

a)    Write out your accomplishment on a sticky note and put it up on your bathroom mirror.  Every day, you’ll be reminded of how you’re evolving.

b)    Make a list of five things in your evening journal that were on track for Mindful Eating.

c)    Ask a friend or family member to share a hug for each win.

d)    Call or text a loved one who supports your growth.  Receive their love in return.

Mindful Eating is THE way to find your healthiest weight for good.  Every experience along the path is an opportunity to learn more about you.  And you are the most amazing woman.  No wonder you want to get to know yourself better!   

When you lose track of the plan… eat more than hoped…. Have a week where the scale doesn’t budget… don’t worry.  Mindfully and compassionately inquire as to what you could marginally adjust today.  What can you do just 1% better today?  Patience and consistency will win the race.

This whole program is laid out for you in a FREE guide. I’ll put the link in the show notes. It includes some additional visual explanations and videos to enhance your understanding of this transformative way to look at eating.

Stop the diets. Stop demonizing your favourite foods. Stop saying no to social occasions because the temptation to eat is too strong. Take back your life!

Get your FREE Mindful Guide to Eating with that link in the show notes. I truly wish someone had laid this out for me years ago. The stress I could have saved myself! The guilt I have suffered with! Now I enjoy French fries or ice cream. I have an occasional glass of wine. It’s all so simple now. And I’m very happy with my weight and much more confident and relaxed about my body.

Come be mindful with me!