By Lisa Castrichini and Alice Hafer

Leading up to 2020, a wave of body positivity spread through Western culture. Brands like Aerie ran inclusive campaigns, and by the late 2010s researchers found tens of millions of posts under #BodyPositive and #BodyPositivity hashtags. We seemed to be heading towards a greater acceptance of diverse body sizes. 

However, today as NBC reported in 2024, the conversation around food and our bodies feels very different following a wave of resurgence of the 1990s “heroin chic.” We are bombarded with advertisements for GLP-1 medications as a diet solution, which were originally developed to treat conditions like Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity. Celebrities and influencers are seen using GLP-1 medications for weight loss. Amid the Ozempic boom, it can feel as if we are boomaranging back to when extreme thinness was portrayed as the beauty standard.

I find myself asking: What is society’s current relationship with food?

I’m a Health Educator and when I worked as a Health Coach for a healthcare company, the majority of my patients wanted to lose weight. Despite their requests, I would often tell them to skip the scale and instead focus on other important indicators of health, such as blood pressure or energy. 

In order to guide patients through this process, I encouraged them to practice mindful eating. Simply put, mindful eating applies the principles of mindfulness to your plate.

What is Mindful Eating 

Mindful eating is not about eating the right or wrong thing. What really sets mindful eating apart from traditional dieting and calorie restrictions is its non-judgmental approach. 

Mindful eating follows the three core principles of mindfulness:

• Non-judgment

• Curiosity

• Kindness

Mindful eating is the practice of bringing full, non-judgmental attention to the experience of eating — noticing what you’re eating, why you’re eating, and how it feels in your body, rather than eating on autopilot.

Recent studies have shown that mindful eating can reduce blood sugar levels and improve eating behaviors. A 2024 study in Healthcare in Low-resource Settings found that a mindful eating intervention in people with type 2 diabetes had a statistically significant effect on both dietary behavior and fasting blood glucose. 

How many times have you eaten something and felt bad or even disappointed in yourself for making that food choice? Instead of being upset, you could ask, Why did I eat that meal? Was I overly hungry or had a busy week didn’t meal prep? Or am I really struggling with a stressful situation in my life, and this meal provided comfort? 

Acknowledging the intention can help you understand your eating behaviors. However, this can be frustrating for someone new to the practice. I remember when a friend in college was trying to help me during a stressful moment by telling me to meditate. I lasted two seconds. The idea of being still and focusing on awareness was foreign to me. 

The idea is to use mindful eating as a tool rather than as a set of rules to follow.

Different Ways to Practice Mindful Eating

Mindfulness and mindful eating are muscles; the more you practice, the easier they become. Because our society is fast-paced, it might seem crazy to slow down while eating. 

You can start small and pick one of your senses to pay attention to at your next mealtime. Here are a few ways to practice mindful eating:

• Eliminate distractions – Yes, eat at a table without your phone and see what happens.

• Question intentions – Ask yourself, why am I eating this and why am I eating? This can help you identify if you are hungry or stress eating.

• Incorporate one of your five senses – Engaging one of your five senses helps you be present in the moment. Focus on the taste of the food, how it smells or something else.

• Journal afterwards – Take some time to note how you feel after each meal.

One of my favorite things to share with my clients is that mindful eating is not a diet; it can help you have a more grounded experience while eating and strengthen your relationship with food. That means you can have ice cream. After all, who wants to live in a world without ice cream? 

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