The practice of "mindfulness" helps us to relate to food in a balanced way and achieve a healthy weight loss

How can mindfulness or conscious feeding help us lose weight? Mindfulness is a basis for a more conscious and attentive life and, that life, includes the area of ​​food.

At present, the excess of stimuli, hurry, etc. they facilitate an inertia that drags us to dysfunctional eating patterns, in which we swallow food without conscience and for reasons unrelated to the sensations of hunger.

These reasons are related to eating styles, which consist of eating for reasons unrelated to the interoceptive sensations of hunger. In the styles of intake "the triggers of eating behavior are alien to physical signals, linked to external stimuli, are behind the way we relate to food and bad eating habits," says Dr. Cristina Martínez, specialist in psychology of the Obesity Unit of Quirónsalud Valencia.

There are three styles of intake: restrictive, related to the mentality of diet, prohibition, scarcity and that is unsustainable in the medium and long term, since the restriction of some types of food provokes the desire to consume them; the emotional, which consists of trying to manage emotions through food intake and, external eating, which occurs when the desire to eat is triggered by signals that are outside of ourselves, such as the presence of food, smells, colors, etc. "Intake styles", says the specialist "are not a problem in themselves when it comes to dieting, the real issue is the great inattention and disconnection with the signals of the body itself."

To help us take a healthy diet and lose those extra pounds, the specialist recommends mindful-eating practice. This practice consists of a conscious feeding model, oblivious to the prohibition or food restriction, based on the attention to the internal signals and that balances the satisfaction, understood as the pleasure and well-being, the care, understood as the attention to the own physical, psychological and emotional needs, and health. Basically, it consists of a series of attitudes, strategies and techniques that allow us to learn to eat more attentively, responsibly and healthily.

"It is very important for those people who want to lose weight to pay attention and intention to the experience, emotions, physical sensations and behaviors that take place before, during and after the act of eating," concludes the specialist.

Do not skip meals, key to losing weight

There is a false belief that skipping certain foods such as breakfast or dinner can help us lose weight. As indicated by Dr. Carolina Pérez, nutritionist of the Obesity Unit of the Quirónsalud Hospitals in Torrevieja and Murcia, "this practice can not be further from the reality as it is also dangerous to health and results in a rebound effect that will make us gain weight more quickly. "

Among its multiple effects is the rise in the glycemic index that occurs in the body after three hours without eating any type of food, "which leads to a greater sense of hunger and the need for more food to satisfy," warns the specialist. In addition, avoiding the intake of food does not lead in any case to the loss of fat reserves, "this is because our body goes on alert, and stores fat causing our metabolism to slow down in what we call the" rebound effect ", Explains the specialist.

Dr. Pérez also warns of the dangers of resorting to substitute bars or shakes of foods not endorsed by pharmaceutical laboratories because they are processed foods with very low quality proteins. "It's better for the body and will help us achieve our goal before a meal consisting of vegetables and grilled breast than any substitute food."

Experts warn of the importance of medical supervision when carrying out any type of diet or diet.