Teaching Mindful Eating To Children And Adolescents

Understanding mindfulness

Mindfulness is a learned technique that helps us to become more aware of the present. It allows us to become more conscious of both our environment and how we feel inside. Mindfulness encourages us to use our five senses, which include sights, sounds, smells, and tastes to connect with our environment. It also involves recognising our thoughts and feelings in the present moment.¹

What is mindful eating?

Mindful eating encourages an increased focus on our feelings towards food. This helps the child to nurture and enhance their connection with food. This can include the smell, taste, and texture of the food, as well as how it makes them feel. Practicing mindful eating is important as this approach equips the child or adolescent with the ability to recognise hunger and fullness. It slows down the pace of eating. This can make them feel more present and enjoy the moment. This slower approach is also beneficial for digestion!²

Mindful eating involves a deeper understanding of the food itself. For instance, rather than mindlessly eating the food, we take a moment to think about where it came from and how it was prepared. It requires us to ‘listen’ to our internal cues as well as appreciate  our feelings and thoughts towards the food. This enables us to tap into our five senses and reflect on how the food makes us feel. Some may practice breathing exercises before and after a meal. It is also common practice to express gratitude after your meal. This awareness and deep understanding of the food we eat and how it makes us feel can create a more enjoyable eating experience.³

Other studies have shown that mindful eating may help improve eating behaviors. Disordered eating, such as binge eating or emotional eating may decrease after introducing methods of mindfulness. Further research is needed to understand the long-term effects of mindful eating.⁴

Factors Influencing Eating Habits in Children and Adolescents

It is important to keep an eye on the eating habits of children and adolescents. Bad eating habits may lead to future health problems. Addressing the issue before adulthood will enable them to make healthier food choices as adults.⁵ Various factors affect eating habits, one being the family environment. A healthy family life has been shown to contribute to healthy eating behaviours. This is done through role modeling, providing healthy food, and creating a supportive and non-judgemental environment. Studies have also shown that restriction can be counter-productive. It may lead to an increased consumption of restricted food, which may lead to weight gain. A more moderate level of control will encourage positive eating behaviours.⁶

Furthermore, healthy eating habits are linked to low socio-economic status. A study on Chinese children showed that parental feeding behaviours, economic status, and knowledge of nutrition were linked to food preferences. People with lower socio-economic status are also more likely to be exposed to food advertising which is associated with to fast-food consumption. There are direct links between food advertisements and children's diets. Leading to an increase in snacking and calories, whilst fruit and vegetable intake decreases.⁶

Strategies for Teaching Mindful Eating to Children and Adolescents

Activities and exercises

• Breathing exercises can help us to ground ourselves to become more relaxed. It can also increase our awareness of the present. A study on mindful eating practices taught children breathing exercises when hearing the bell. This helped the children to pay attention and connect with their bodies.⁷
• Exploring the five senses is also a practice of mindful eating. This helps to slow the approach to food and engages the children to tap into their senses. They may begin to touch the food to feel the different textures. They can be prompted to describe the appearance of the food, how it smells, and its taste. A study has shown that this method is successful in encouraging healthy food choices.⁷

Creating a supportive environment

Environmental factors may contribute to mindless eating. These factors include mealtime atmosphere, social interactions, accessibility to food, and distractions. Other factors include portion sizes, the variety of food being served, and dinnerware size. Increasing the children's and adolescents' awareness of environmental factors may reduce mindlessness during mealtimes or when snacking.⁸ This can include:

• Eating meals as a family
• Turning off the TV
• Allowing children and adolescents to make food choices
• Encouraging communication about food
• Making healthy food more available⁶

Modeling mindful eating behaviour

• Encouraging children to try new foods. This may be done through modeling healthy eating behaviours. Modeling the enjoyment of healthy foods and taking care not to dislike foods in front of the children, may improve their eating behaviour.
• Parents/caregivers should also educate themselves on the importance and benefits of healthy eating. They should increase their awareness of the health effects of long-term consumption of poor diet on their children. This knowledge will empower them to support their children in making healthier food choices.⁶

Teaching self-awareness and self-regulation

• Self-awareness and self-regulation is important in understanding our bodies and when we are feeling full. Children should be encouraged to listen to their bodies to recognise hunger cues and fullness. 
• Food should not be used as a reward nor should there be excessive restrictions on children's food intake. This could cause increased consumption in children.⁶ It is important to encourage open communication about emotions. You can also teach them alternative methods to deal with their emotions so that food is not used to soothe them. 

Overcoming Challenges and Barriers

• Encouraging healthy eating in the home can prove to be difficult. Particularly when attempting to include children. Care needs to be taken when restricting your child's eating as this may lead to overeating and emotional eating. Try to apply the strategies mentioned above to promote a more positive relationship with eating.
• The current diet involves many unhealthy foods, such as fast and convenient foods, energy/calorie-dense foods, snacks, soft drinks, and sugary foods. This diet coupled with a sedentary lifestyle has contributed to obesity and weight management struggles. Changes in culture and societal norms towards food are vital in enabling our children to become healthier.⁶

Summary

Mindfulness helps us to ground ourselves. It makes us more aware of the present, deepening the connection with ourselves and our surroundings. Practicing mindfulness during mealtimes and snack times has been linked to healthy eating habits. Mindful eating engages our five senses, helping us to recognise our thoughts and feelings towards food. Various factors may influence mindful eating. Modeling unhealthy eating habits can lead to children developing the same eating habits. Socioeconomic factors are also linked to an unhealthy diet making mindful eating more difficult to practice. 

To combat these challenges, you can introduce techniques like breathing exercises and encourage using the 5 senses. Factors such as eating meals as a family, modeling healthy eating, and allowing children to make food choices, may also influence mindfulness and help us to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle. Care must be taken when encouraging mindful eating as restricting food intake, may lead to emotional eating or encourage overeating. We also need to be aware of the current diet culture, which involves various unhealthy foods. This must change to encourage the younger generation to make healthier food choices. Educating parents/caregivers on the effects and benefits of mindful eating and food education will empower them to encourage healthy eating habits in their children.