Mindful eating involves paying attention to your eating experience, fully rooted in the present moment without distraction. There are numerous benefits to mindfulness, and there are also numerous barriers to overcome.
A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that eating slowly, a characteristic of mindful eating, helped improve feelings of pleasantness and satisfaction after eating and reduced the likelihood of overeating.[1]
That said, mindful eating can feel inaccessible at times, and I speak from personal experience both as a recovering compulsive eater and an eating psychology coach. So, before we dive into this roundup of mindful eating quotes, I want to add a quick preface for anyone that, despite knowing the benefits of mindful eating, struggles with putting it into practice.
Preface: What Comes Before Mindful Eating
In order to understand mindful eating, it helps to understand the opposite: compulsive eating. Compulsive eating involves eating beyond comfortable fullness without the ability to stop. The definition of compulsion is “an irresistible urge, especially one that is against one’s conscious wishes.”
This is why it’s unhelpful to ask a compulsive eater to “just eat mindfully”—unless the groundwork is there, mindfulness can feel inaccessible. In my past struggles with compulsive eating and binge eating, I remember feeling frustrated whenever I would eat while distracted, even though I knew mindful eating would be good for me.
I’d find myself eating while standing in front of the pantry at some ungodly hour, wishing I could stop but continuing anyway. Mindful eating never helped because I was subconsciously in full flight from my emotions, making it too difficult to pay attention.
Learning the nuances of “feeling my feelings” was a pillar of my recovery from compulsive eating. Through my tool, the Stop, Drop, & Feel®️, I made a habit of carving out two minutes of time to feel my emotions whenever I’d feel the urge to overeat, and those emotions were often at an edgy peak.
Through this practice, I developed emotional tolerance, the ability to sit still with uncomfortable emotions without getting swept away by them. This skill is absolutely critical for mindfulness and mindful eating. You need to be able to tolerate the present moment, especially when it’s uncomfortable, in order to access the present moment.
Just like running a marathon is a demonstration of endurance—not a means to cultivate it—mindful eating is a demonstration of emotional tolerance, not a means to cultivate it. You wouldn’t expect someone to run 26.2 miles without months of training; similarly, you can’t expect someone to eat mindfully without first building the emotional stamina to be present with their feelings.
Also, mindful eating is not the end-all-be-all. Yes, it’s helpful! But just like any food rule or tip for healthier eating, if it’s strictly imposed, it can spiral into a rigid, unhealthy relationship with food, and that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to accomplish.
Mindful Eating Quotes to Inspire an Attentive Eating Experience
When mindful eating is acknowledged for what it is—a beneficial practice that requires mental fortitude and strength— it becomes clear that self-compassion is essential for those moments when our mental energy is depleted. Just like you know that your physical muscles have their limits, treat your mental muscles with the same grace.
Now, with all that said, here are some mindful eating quotes to inspire your wellness journey:
#1 Mindful Eating Quote
“Mindful eating, or conscious eating, is the practice of being fully attentive to your food, your feelings, your hunger, and your satiety cues. It’s about eating consciously, engaging all senses, and acknowledging responses, feelings, and physical cues like hunger or fullness.”
-Christopher Willard
Mindful eating is about more than simply focusing on your senses, like the taste of food and physical sensations of hunger and fullness. It’s also about paying attention to feelings, and that’s the doozy.
On one hand, this means that you can actually use mindful eating as a tool to develop emotional tolerance by intentionally feeling your feelings while you eat. But in my experience, it’s less than ideal because you’re practicing with food right in front of you, which can make it much more difficult for those prone to emotional eating.
That’s why I prefer my Stop, Drop, & Feel method, which incorporates mindfulness away from food. Using the tool means going to a separate room to explore your emotions for just two quiet minutes—which often feels like twenty minutes due to the nature of the exercise.
Importantly, the Stop, Drop, & Feel also asks you to give yourself permission to eat if that’s still what you genuinely want after the SDF is over. This prevents the restrict-binge cycle, and places all the focus on developing emotional tolerance. It also helps reduce feelings of shame if you still want to eat after the SDF is over, because the goal was not to stop the urge to eat; the goal was to flex and build the skill of emotional tolerance, which helps reduce compulsive eating over the long run.
#2 Mindful Eating Quote
“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).”
-James Baraz
Mindfulness can often bring our attention to unpleasant feelings. This isn’t a bad thing, because ignoring unpleasant feelings causes them to fester and drive emotional eating.
This mindfulness quote reminds us that unpleasant feelings never last. What goes up must come down, and vice versa.
#3 Mindful Eating Quote
“It’s ‘normal’ to not eat ‘perfectly.’”
Although this quote isn’t directly about mindful eating, it can be a healthy mindset to embrace on your journey. You don’t need to eat mindfully all the time. In fact, rigidity around food is associated with negative health outcomes.
A recent study published in Eating Behaviors found that higher cognitive rigidity correlated with disordered eating behaviors such as overeating, loss of control eating, and excessive exercising to control weight and shape.[2]
The opposite of rigidity is flexibility, and flexible eating—or intuitive eating—is associated with many positive health outcomes. For example, a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that intuitive eating leads to improved eating habits, body satisfaction, psychological health, self-esteem, metabolic fitness, along with long-term maintenance of these benefits.[3]
Of course, just like mindful eating, intuitive eating is also a demonstration of emotional tolerance, because giving up the food rules can bring up many uncomfortable emotions, like uncertainty and a fear of gaining weight. By working on emotional tolerance separately, both mindful eating and intuitive eating can feel more accessible.
#4 Mindful Eating Quote
“Just like running a marathon is a demonstration of endurance—not a means to cultivate it—mindful eating is a demonstration of emotional tolerance—not a means to cultivate it—at least for the compulsive eater. You wouldn't expect someone to run 26.2 miles without months of training; similarly, you can't expect someone to eat mindfully without first building the emotional stamina to be present with their feelings.”
-Kari Dahlgren (that's me! shamelessly quoting myself from earlier)
It takes emotional tolerance to build emotional tolerance. On days where life challenges you, it takes a willingness to feel uncomfortable in order to eat mindfully.
Mindful eating isn’t always hard. As I live in recovery from compulsive eating, there are days where mindful eating is easy and days where it’s the last thing I want to do. My theory is that, on the days where it’s easy, life is at a delicious lull, and there are less stressors that otherwise wear away at emotional tolerance. Therefore, I have more left over to pay full attention to my meal and eat mindfully.
On the days where mindful eating is easy, relish it. And on the days where mindful eating is the last thing you want to do, don’t judge or shame yourself. Chalk it up to what it is—a day where emotional tolerance has been exhausted—and see if you can do the Stop, Drop, & Feel for just two minutes to build up that muscle. Two minutes of paying attention is all you need.
#5 Mindful Eating Quote
“Observe without judgment.”
As you begin to practice mindful eating, focus on non-judgment. Don’t judge yourself if your mind wanders from the present moment. Don’t judge yourself if you do well or do poorly, which is all relative and subjective anyways. There are days where mindful eating is easy, and days where it’s hard. Try to stay in the seat of the observer. Simply notice.
Mindful Eating Quotes That Work Better When Reframed
Up next, I wanted to share some mindful eating quotes that are both inspiring and, well, miss the mark. Some of them are really good quotes, but I wanted an opportunity to remove potential feelings of shame for anyone that struggles with implementing mindful eating.
Here are some mindful eating quotes that are both inspiring and could use some reframing:
#6 Mindful Eating Quote
“Mindful eating is very pleasant. We sit beautifully. We are aware of the people surrounding us. We are aware of the food on our plates. This is a deep practice.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh
I love Thich Nhat Hanh! I love Buddhism and mindfulness. With that said, I think this quote misses the mark for some of us. Sure, mindful eating can be a pleasant experience when you’re surrounded by good food, good people, on a good day.
But what if you’re at a party, surrounded by people that aren’t “your people,” and you feel socially uncomfortable? What if you’re halfway through your cake and you get full, but you know the host will feel hurt if you don’t finish every bite? In these moments, mindful eating is not pleasant. Stopping at comfortable fullness is the harder decision, not the easier one.
What I do agree with is that mindful eating is a deep practice. I think there should be separation between the belief that mindful eating is always pleasant—it isn’t—and the belief that mindful eating is always a deep practice—it usually is.
#7 Mindful Eating Quote
“Mindful eating replaces self-criticism with self-nurturing. It replaces shame with respect for your own inner wisdom.”
-Jan Chozen Bays
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to wave a magic wand and replace shame with self-respect? Alas, that’s not what mindful eating is. Simply paying attention to a feeling like shame does not transform it into self-respect, especially if you feel shame around food and you’re suddenly paying extra attention to it.
In fact, in the early stages of getting reacquainted with one’s emotions—after decades of ignoring them or having a “stiff upper lip”—paying attention to shame might actually make it stronger, at least temporarily. This is why it’s so important to know the nuances of “feeling your feelings.”
Over time, mindful eating can definitely help enhance feelings of self-nurturing and self-respect. But for some, it takes time to get there. Don’t put the cart before the horse, which many mindful eating quotes unintentionally do.
#8 Mindful Eating Quote
“Slowing down my eating made a significant difference. It’s essential even if it is unfamiliar to most of us. As an experiment, time your next meal. How long does it take to complete a meal as you normally eat? Then consciously slow down, chew, put your fork down between bites, avoid washing your food down with a beverage, and see how long it takes to complete a meal.”
-Renée Jones
I’m not generally a fan of “put your fork down between bites” advice because it can greatly diminish the joy of eating. Paying attention to hunger, fullness, and feelings is a big enough task without adding the pressure of putting down your utensil with every bite. With that said, I know that Geneen Roth uses this exercise during her retreats, and I really admire Geneen, so I try to stay open-minded with tips like these.
With that said, I prefer to focus on eating speed in regards to living speed. Because, to quote Geneen Roth, “the way we do one thing is the way we do everything.” If you eat fast, you probably live fast too. Learning how to eat mindfully is just as much about slowing down within a meal as it is about slowing down everywhere else.
If mindful eating constantly feels inaccessible, get curious about why it’s a struggle to slow down. Is it because you’re in flight from your emotions like I was? Or is it because you’re in flight—period. A fast-paced life doesn’t lend itself to a slow-paced meal.
And, of course, don’t shame yourself if you can’t get yourself to eat slowly all the time. Remember, you don’t have to eat perfectly. Focusing on flexibility over rigidity leads to healthier eating habits in the long run.
#9 Mindful Eating Quote
“How we prepare our food, how we consume our food really makes a difference in how our food satisfies us and shapes the role we give food in our lives. Is it something we stuff in to satisfy an urge or something we savor to feed us physically and sustain us spiritually?”
-Mary DeTurris Poust
This mindful eating quote is factually correct. Mindful eating improves feelings of pleasantness and satisfaction after eating and reduces the likelihood of overeating, as per the study I cited earlier.[1]
Sometimes, though, knowing the benefits of something creates frustration when that thing is inaccessible; sort of like knowing the benefits of sleep while struggling with insomnia, or knowing the benefits of mindful eating while struggling with compulsive eating. It can be frustrating! So, let’s not add shame on top of frustration. Eat mindfully when you can, and do the Stop, Drop, & Feel when you can’t. And always treat yourself with compassion and understanding.
Inspiration for Mindful Eating and Beyond
Mindful eating is a journey that requires patience, self-compassion, and emotional resilience. It’s perfectly normal to have days where it feels out of reach, especially if you’re navigating the complexities of compulsive eating.
Instead of striving for perfection, focus on small, consistent steps, and remember that every effort to build emotional tolerance is a step towards mindfulness in the long run. Embrace the process with kindness, and you’ll be well on your way to a balanced relationship with food.
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