Mindful eating: Ahead of school reopening, here’s how parents can clean up kids’ dietary habits

‘Binge-eating', ‘stress-eating', ‘emotional-eating' and ‘overeating' are among the poor dietary habits that adults have developed over the years, thanks to the psychologically overwhelming task of balancing personal and professional lives - especially in the hustle and bustle of maximum cities like Mumbai.

However, it's not only adults who struggle. The problem of overeating and addiction to junk food is common among kids too. After a two-year break, schools in Mumbai are set to reopen from June 13 for the new academic year and as children get back to the classroom regularly, they are likely to indulge in unhealthy snacking and untimely eating.

After feeling the harmful effects of mindless eating, many are eager to make lifestyle changes and eat healthy. Mindful eating, aligned with ‘mindfulness', is one of the popular methods. "Mindful eating is just the opposite of mindless eating. Mindfulness will help to improve your eating habits and successfully deal with food cravings, while allowing one to develop the skills necessary to manage chronic pain, disease, depression, sleeping problems, and anxiety," says Dr Suresh Birajdar, neonatologist and paediatrician at Kharghar's Motherhood Hospital.

While mindfulness is a meditative process that enables one to detect and manage their thoughts and emotions about the present moment and surroundings, it can be applied to eating habits by taking charge of one's diet and actively managing bodily sensations while having their meals.

Dietician and nutritionist Dr Archana Batra explains, "Eating can be turned into a meditative process. You start by narrowing down the distractions to a minimum and taking each bite with gratitude and increased willingness to eat, giving you control over your body and eating habits. This emphasises your sensory awareness of food and helps build a connection with your body."

Ahead of school reopening, we asked nutritionists Birajdar and Batra and Dr. Kedar Tilwe, consultant psychiatrist at Fortis Hospital Mulund, about the ways in which children can develop mindful eating practices and how that can benefit them physically and mentally in the long run.

What are the benefits of mindful eating for children?

Birajdar: Mindful eating can help children regain control over their food, which can enhance the nourishment and nutrition needed for optimal functioning. By encouraging kids to participate in preparing the meals; the act of preparing the food - touching, tasting, and smelling - will enhance the child's psychological relationship with food.

With mindful eating, children can feel satisfied about what they are eating, feel positive and healthy. Knowing where the food is coming from and how it is prepared helps the kids to appreciate what is on the table.

Mindfulness can help them avoid binge eating, ease digestion and aid weight loss. Practicing mindful eating will guide children regarding when to start and stop eating. It will also help them stay energised and overcome cravings.

How is mindful eating associated with the psychological well-being of children?

Tilwe: Mindful eating helps develop patience, resilience, and awareness in children. Exercises around mindful eating make people aware of their senses and environment, which is possible through inculcating discipline, observation, and self-control to complete the activity.

It is an effective way to relieve stress too. It helps a person detach from negative thoughts and emotions while enabling them to feel a sense of mastery and control through awareness of their immediate environment, in this case their food.

Birajdar: Mindfulness will help you to become aware of and accept thoughts and emotions without judgment. It also helps in distinguishing between emotional versus physical hunger cues. You will be able to manage stress, anxiety, and frustration associated with binge-eating, thus, improving your cognitive, behavioural and emotional flexibility.

How can kids develop mindful-eating practices?

Based on recommendations by experts, here's how parents and guardians can help children pay attention to food and have a wholesome experience while having their daily meals:

1. Parents can begin by teaching kids to eat only when they are hungry as overeating can lead to obesity and understand when they feel full.

2. While eating, parents must ensure that the kids are not too distracted by digital gadgets and television screens. Having meals together as a family encourages kids to focus on and enjoy the food with mindful bites.

3. Kids usually respond well to instructions while learning and adapting new practices. They are pretty good at learning and better than adults in this aspect. So, instructing them to chew a morsel of food 32 times is a great way to get started.

4. To encourage slow eating, parents can indulge in food-based games to pique the interest of the children towards the food they are consuming. This can include quizzing the kids about different dishes, spices, ingredients and the smell or feel of the food.

5. Parents can teach them to appreciate the food by introducing them to new food items, preferably the seasonal fruits and vegetables. Take your kids grocery shopping and choose healthy food items. They should be encouraged to share their observations in a non-judgmental environment, and if necessary, parents can lead by example.

6. When they go back to join school, help kids to choose healthy foods over junk by periodically telling them the importance of having a healthy and balanced diet and the ill-effects of junk eating. This can be done by choosing fresh whole fruits and veggie bites such as carrots and cucumbers over chips, namkeens, samosa, and other packaged foods.

7. Make them understand the meaning of being mindful and learning to relax while eating, away from distractions. Once you start telling and more importantly, showing them the advantages of such practices and their health benefits, kids will be willing to embrace the habit themselves.

8. As for teens, with their changing bodies, they seek validation from social media presence and develop negative feelings towards food. Communicating with them would be the first step towards developing mindful eating habits.