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Mindful eating is routinely sold as a weight loss technique and it is not one. Nothing here is about eating less, and the practice makes more sense once that is out of the way.
What this practice is
The practice is attention on an ordinary act that almost everyone performs while doing something else. Most meals are eaten in front of a screen, and a considerable number are finished without having been noticed at all.
What it involves is the plain business of tasting: what the food actually tastes like, what the texture is, when it stops being interesting. That last one is the part people find strange, because food generally becomes less pleasant partway through a plate and almost nobody registers it.
It also brings attention to the physical signals around eating, which for many people are genuinely hard to read. That is offered as information rather than as a technique for eating less, and the distinction is not a technicality.
The tradition treats eating as one more activity attention can be brought to, alongside walking and working, and makes no claim about the body. What people commonly report is enjoying food more and noticing meals they used to lose. Any claim about weight would need clinical evidence and is not made here.
When to use it
Use it for one meal rather than all of them. Every meal eaten mindfully is an ambition nobody sustains, and one a week is a practice.
It suits meals eaten alone, at least at first. Doing this at a dinner table with other people is a lot to manage and the conversation is the better thing to attend to there.
Do not use it around meals you already find difficult. If eating is charged for you, this practice is not neutral and the cautions below matter more than the instructions.
The sessions
Mindful Eating, one practice at four lengths, 9 to 24 minutes. Every session in this collection needs Premium. Four other meditation collections have a free session in them, and the free tier covers twelve guided sessions across the app.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 9 min | Premium |
| 12 min | Premium |
| 18 min | Premium |
| 24 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
Match the session to a real meal rather than to an ambition. The shorter ones fit a snack or the first part of a meal, which is a reasonable way to practise.
The longer sessions assume a whole unhurried meal, which most weekdays do not contain.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Put the screen away entirely. This is the single change that does most of the work and it is the one people skip.
Start with the first few mouthfuls rather than the whole plate. Attention on an entire meal is more than most people can sustain and the beginning is where the most is available.
Notice when it stops being interesting. That point exists in nearly every meal and passing it unnoticed is ordinary rather than a failing.
Do not narrate. The practice is tasting rather than describing, and commentary about the food is one more way of not being at the table.
What usually goes wrong
Treating it as a diet. It is not one, and using it as one turns eating into a task with a target, which is the opposite of what attention at the table is for.
Doing it at every meal. Nobody sustains that. One meal, occasionally, done properly is the practice.
Keeping the screen on. The screen is the main thing the practice is addressing. Half-attention with a video running is not a lighter version of this.
Using it to control eating. Attention on food as a means of restriction is a different activity with different risks, and for some people a serious one.
One meal, without the screen
PanchPrana offers this as attention practice rather than as anything to do with weight, and the sessions are short enough to cover the start of a real meal rather than an imaginary unhurried one.
Who should take care
This practice puts sustained attention on food and on the body, which is not neutral for everyone, and this is the caution that matters most in this collection.
If you live with an eating disorder, or have a history of one, or if food, eating or your body is a charged subject for you, AVOID this collection unless a clinician who knows you has said otherwise. Attention on eating can feed restriction and monitoring rather than ease, and doing that alone is the specific risk.
If you are dieting, or in any period of deliberately controlling what you eat, take care. A practice of attention can slide into a practice of surveillance without it being obvious from inside.
Stop if sessions leave you anxious, guilty or preoccupied about food rather than more at ease. Difficulty around eating, and preoccupation with food or body shape, are treatable and worth taking to a doctor. Nothing here is a treatment for either.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Does mindful eating help you lose weight?
That is not what it is for and this app makes no claim about it. It is attention on eating, and treating it as a weight method changes what the practice is.
Do I have to do this at every meal?
No, and nobody does. One meal now and again is a practice; every meal is an ambition that lasts about a week.
Is it strange to do this with other people?
It is difficult, mostly. Practise alone, and let a meal with other people be about the people.
What if I notice I do not like the food?
That is ordinary and quite common once attention is on it. Most meals get less interesting partway through and almost nobody registers it.
Should I do this if I have had an eating disorder?
Not on your own. Attention on food is not neutral in that case and it needs someone clinical involved.
