Mindfulness Meditation Helps in Weight Loss, Obesity Prevention
Do you struggle to keep weight off? Well, you might have inched closer to your weight loss goals, but often wonder how to maintain the new, fitter you in the long run. It surely is not an impossible task, especially if you shift your focus to mindfulness meditation. Now you might start to ponder as to how being present can help you lose weight.
Mindfulness Meditation for Weight Loss
Too much weight gain is primarily because of overeating and eating the wrong foods at the wrong time. Research claims that stress is often at the root of overeating. You can eat better meals if you are mindful of your eating habits. This is where mindful meditation can help, focusing your attention on the present. Mindful meditation helps improve your psychological health.
So while eating, when your focus is on the food on your platter, you are more likely to eat healthy food and lose weight without dieting. A new research study reveals that mindfulness helps sharpen your ability to recognize internal cues that signal hunger and fullness. You may be surprised to learn that mindfulness can make unhealthy foods look less appealing and lower binge or emotional eating, as you become more aware of your body and its needs. So you are more likely to learn how to identify emotional eating triggers and become aware of negative emotions.
Mindfulness Meditation and Diet
Researchers at Indiana State University found that a regular meditation regimen can considerably reduce episodes of binge eating. The study was conducted on a group of obese women, who showed significant signs of improvement in their binge eating habits after incorporating a regular meditation practice into their regimen lives.
Mindfulness training under the guidance of a licensed trainer is a useful approach to improving your long-term dietary practices and meeting fitness goals. Researchers in a study published in the Journal of Obesity suggest that mindfulness training may improve stress coping ability in humans along with other negative emotions. Animal studies reveal that food preferences shift under stress. As a result, a stressed mind is more likely to consume more fat and sugar. The overload of fat and sugar results in fat accumulation in the body’s midsection.
The Mind-Gut Connection
Mindfulness meditation helps bring down cortisol levels – the stress hormone in the body. When cortisol comes down with meditation, stress is released and you experience a feeling of relief. With a relaxed mind, you tend to become more aware of your hunger sensations and are conscious of what to eat and what to avoid. When you practice mindfulness meditation, you can steer away from unhealthy and processed food.
When you get rid of all other distractions while eating, you are more likely to notice color, smell, texture, and flavor of food. Studies reveal that mindful eating might help treat eating disorders, such as overeating and binge eating.
When you make mindfulness meditation a way of your life, you lower the chances of obesity. Then you should be in a better position to manage weight, deal with weight problems, and prevent rebound.