Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with Food

by Susan Albers

This book introduces and adapts the concepts of mindfulness and acceptance to the observation and management of eating habits. The result is a series of exercises and meditations that reinforce healthy habits and lead to greater tranquility at meals.

The book describes the four foundations of mindful eating: mindfulness of the mind, the body, the feelings, and the thoughts. It doesn't encourage a diet of deprivation, but instead provides a checklist for the wide variety of mindless eating approaches, which include fasting, dieting, and restricting certain foods, rapid eating, eating when not hungry or when tired, and food rituals.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Food, Psychology, Nutrition, Diets

184 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Dr. Susan Albers is a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic and the author of nine books. Her work has been quoted in O, the Oprah Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Self Magazine and Natural Health. She provides mindful eating lectures at women's groups, organizations and colleges. Dr. Albers has been a guest on NPR and Dr. OZ T.V. show. www.eatingmindfully.com. Be a facebook fan https://www.facebook.com/eatdrinkmindful or INSTAGRAM: @DrSusanAlbers

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Reviews

[Jen W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just another diet book; more like the anti-diet book. In fact, the author of this book would probably not approve of depriving yourself of the foods you love, because that can lead to binge-eating when your body and brain feel like they're not getting what they want. Instead, this book encourages you to listen to your body's cues. Enjoy your treats in smaller portions, using all five senses. Instead of cramming food into your mouth in a trance, stop to think about how it feels in your fingers, how it looks on the plate, how it smells, the sound your fork makes when you pierce it, and stop to savor the taste. That's what mindful eating is described as: existing in the moment when you are eating and being aware of your food.

This book has its roots in Buddhist teachings, mostly in the methods of observing your own reactions and thinking about yourself and how you are feeling. Dr. Albers first describes what mindfulness is, and outlines four pillars of mindfulness: mind, body, feelings, and thoughts. She then moves on to tips and exercises to help you to treat food in a more mindful manner. The tip chapters are small (bite-size, if you'll pardon a bad pun) and usually include some inspirational quotes, plausible real-life examples of behaviors she is discussing, plus one or two exercises. Exercises run the gamut from internalized mental activities to keeping a physical or digital food journal. At the end of the book are collections of tips and inspirational quotes. I felt like the book was skewed a little toward a female audience -- most of the examples involved women, and the tremendous body image issues that many women face are addressed -- but I could also see others finding some useful things here.

I found this book really eye-opening. It made me stop and think about how much and why I eat. I have a tendency to eat while doing other things and not focus on my meals. Or I will sit down in front of my computer with a bag of snacks intending to eat a handful while I play a game, then the next thing I know I will look down and find the bag empty. I often eat when I am bored, or just to have something to do. I never really had a name for my behavior before, but I am what would be categorized in this book as a 'mindless overeater'. Just the act of naming the behavior has made me much more conscious of when I am doing it. I definitely think the techniques in the book to encourage more mindful behaviors are something I can put into everyday practice.

[Traci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard a lot about mindfullness but I've never really read up much on it. However, I have been aware that mindfullness is being present and in the moment with everything you do. This book, takes the idea of mindfullness and works on establishing a healthy eating lifestyle to help you lose or maintain weight. It's not so much a dieting book, but rather, a book that helps you deal with cravings, boredom eating, that kind of thing.

As someone that struggles with a few of the things presented in this book, I feel like this can be a helpful tool for me in my healthy lifestyle journey. It has practical advice and it's not about denying yourself, never indulging or going out to eat. This books shows you how you can do these things, but do it in a way that is healthy, allowing yourself to maintain control of your body, health and weight.

This book is definitely a keeper. I plan to keep it around because there are so many resources and great motivational tips within, it would be such a shame to waste it. If you tend to struggle with your weight, tend to do a lot of dieting or just have a bad relationship with food, this is a good book for you to read and to keep around for those times where things may not be going so well.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent adjunct to a book such as Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn or another general mindfulness book. While it stands on its own, both a general mindfulness book and, most importantly, a class or a therapy, is, in my opinion, the best combination of tools needed to deal with any type of mindless eating or other mindless behavior. There was nothing new for me in this book, as I expected, but unlike what I anticipated, I really enjoyed reading it, and feel that it’s a terrific book; it surpassed my expectations about its content. It’s a great little book designed to specifically help the reader work on any disordered eating and to learn to eat mindfully; I think it’s one of the best two I’ve ever read. While the concepts presented here are very clear and simple, implementing the suggestions is far from easy. But, in my opinion, the mindfulness techniques/skills presented here are the best way to develop a healthy eating pattern. This book could be useful to anyone who has disordered eating or problematic body image issues, from the very mild to the very severe. It’s a superb book, especially for those who’ve already had some experience with meditation and other aspects of mindful living, but I’d recommend it even as a mindfulness introduction if mindless eating is the prominent problem for them.

[Jess Michaels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Albers writes in a simple, non-judgmental way and does a nice introduction to mindfulness in general, as well as turning those concepts to food. Very helpful and adopting some of her methods is already making me see changes in myself.

[amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I typically do not find myself drawn to self-help books, but my nutritionist suggested I borrow her copy in the hopes that it would give me a few additional tools to aid in my recovery.

Eating Mindfully is a quick read, and while I found a few useful points and exercises to practice, there was a recurring "theme" that bothered me. Some of the skill-building exercises suggest an ethnocentric approach to the healing process that takes place between those with unhealthy eating habits and food. It becomes obvious that the target demographic is a white audience, a fact that leaves me feeling as though my experience has been somewhat unacknowledged (especially with the suggestion to try to eat food in a new way - use chopsticks! and there are no other suggestions. Maybe I should try using a fork.) Though Albers makes mention of the fact that disordered eating is not a wholly gendered matter, there again is the suggestion that the target audience for this book are the white women that the author at one point mentions are not the only demographic suffering from unhealthy eating habits.

Apart from these minor qualms and some additional issues, I found myself taking a few notes and hope that some of the exercises will help me approach eating and food in a healthier way, and I would suggest at least a skim-through of the sections that appear most relevant to the reader's own personal issues.

[Phaedra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the basic information. It reminded me a bit of Women, Food & God by Geneen Roth at the beginning and I think because I happened to read that book first (a couple of years ago) I felt like some of Eating Mindfully to be repetitious information.

Further into the book, I DID find it repetitious. I get it. Pay attention. Slow Down. Don't assign emotions & good/bad to food. It's food. Eat when hungry, don't eat when you're not. I think the book could've been several 'chapters' shorter, but that's probably just me. I did enjoy the quotations at the beginning of each lesson. If I could give a half star I would definitely bump this up to 2.5. There is quality information, but I felt it was overlong hammering home the same basic ideas.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere in the pages of this small book you will recognize the type of eater you are. That awareness may be the start of a change for becoming more aware of eating triggers, and finding greater balance in self-nourishment.

Insightful and thought provoking. Worth a look if your looking for a better relationship with food.

[Linnja (Lynn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Popsugar Challenge: A subject I know Nothing about.

[Rachel E. Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot more Buddhist than I thought it was going to be. It had some good ideas, but a lot of it was repetitive.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audio book. Helpful tips and one that I will go back to and listen again.

[Shay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely repetitive. Could have been a 5 page PDF.

[Jennifer W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found part 1 to be the least helpful. I don't know if it's because I have some concepts of mindfulness, or maybe I just couldn't identify with the people she was portraying. However parts 2 and on were much more helpful. I really liked the tip of "if you know you want to emotionally eat, do something mindful for 5 minutes, even if it's suck on a hard candy." A lot of my emotional eating is sweets, so a hard candy can give me that little bit of sugar while I also have a chance to examine what emotions are making me want something else. Plus, I can do it anywhere, in the car, at work, at the grocery store, etc (some of the other tips, like imagine getting a full body massage, while I can, and sometimes do use to relax, are a little less practical while I'm also trying to live my life). I think I'm going to have a harder time being more mindful as I eat, even if I'm eating due to real hunger. Just these past few days, I've tried being mindful as I eat, but then I look down and realize, "where's my sandwich that I was mindfully observing?" Whoops.

If you're trying to incorporate mindfulness into your life as a way to reduce stress, depression, anxiety or just feel better in general, I think learning to eat mindfully is a great way to practice mindfulness. It's something you have to do multiple times a day, so there's lots to practice and food gives you lots of ways to be mindful: smell it, see it, touch with your hands, with your lips, with your tongue, how do you feel about this piece of food, what emotions or memories come to mind, how do you feel after you've eaten it etc, etc...

[Shalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find anything new here, and I think it might have been more helpful if the author had addressed overeaters and undereaters in separate books, but I like that the book is laid out in quick lessons (for lack of a better word). Each comes with a skill-building exercise or two, and doing basically one lesson and working on one skill each week will take about a year to complete. Normally, I wouldn't spread reading such a short book out over such a long time, but developing mindfulness isn't something that happens overnight.

[Taffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Line:

"Imagine for a moment that you are holding a bowl of chicken noodle soup."

Thus starts the voyage of eating mindfully. The chapter headings tell the reader what they will learn:



Mindful of the mind

Mindful of the body

Mindful of the feelings

Mindful of the thoughts

Mindful eating motivations

As the reader learns the different ways s/he appraoaches food and eating, it gets easier to pick the right foods. Pay attention to what your body is telling you.

[Ryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, simple, and innovative.
Contains many activities, techniques, and directives that are useful in my therapy groups.
Of all the books I have read about coping with and recovering from eating disorders and disordered eating patterns, this is one of the best.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and easy guide to meditative eating

Eating Mindfully puts into perspective many dilemmas and fears about mindlessly eating, and gives many helpful tips on making wiser, mindful and meditative approaches to eating

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sound advice with a sprinkle of Buddhism. Easier said than done!

[Sarah Calvert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this book, it was written in the second tense which made it sound very critical and judging. I preferred just eat it by Laura Thomas as that helped me with body acceptance and neutrality much more which I have found is key to mindful eating. This book tries to help with eating disorders and weight loss and give lots and lots of tips for slowing down when eating. I found the overall message a bit confusing and that it was really long with lots and lots of tips.
While there were hints of body acceptance in this book it largely came across to me as a bit fat shaming.
The book starts by describing characters of mindless eaters one of which is:
"Occasional mindless eater
Jill also struggles on holidays when there are so many good sweets around. She keeps few treats in her home. When she sees them at parties, she tends to eat more than she wishes she would."
I found the characters really judgy: poor Jill she can't even enjoy a few Christmas choccies and a mince pie or two without "struggling" and "eating more than she wishes". Jill is the mildess character of mindless eater and rather than talking around how we use food socially and enjoy food, she gets a long list of how to slow down. I got the impression that this book is trying to make you a perfect eater and frankly there is no such thing, and I have personally found that way of thinking is more likely to lead to me binging.
Here are a selection of quotes from the book that left me feeling judged:

"Choose an empathetic and kind quote to be your mantra. When you have an eating uh-oh, repeat the mantra silently to yourself many times a day."

"Why do you mindlessly continue to eat after you’ve had enough? "

"It’s okay to snack. You may just need to find ways to get a handle on your portion sizes."

"Create a metaphor to explain how you feel. When approaching mealtime, describe your feelings by saying something like “I feel like a squirrel gathering nuts and hiding them way.” Visualize this metaphor."

"Have a healthy debate. Imagine your healthy thoughts on one shoulder and unhealthy ones on the other. Encourage the thoughts to talk back and forth to each other. Externalize the debate about what to eat and what not to eat. Use facts not feelings (for instance, focus on the nutritional content rather than your fear.)"

"Use imagery. You know that starting to eat chocolate has led to a slippery slope of overeating in the past. Therefore, imagine a large yellow-and-black DANGER road sign blocking the handle of your desk drawer. Meditate on that image."

So why am I giving it 2 stars? Because there were tips in this book that I have taken and I am using. I have bought some napkins and I'm trying to have a break doing something else after the kids are asleep rather than head into the kitchen. There is so much content in this book some of it was bound to stick but it is only 2 stars because it took a lot of sifting to get there.
Overall, I wanted this book to help me it has given me a few tips, but the mindset left me feeling really judged and subpar so I'm not going to read it again.

[Anna Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book delivers on what it promises - practical insights to building a stronger, more sustainable relationship with food. It's a simple read and prompted me to evaluate my own mindset and habits. I'm already trying to be more present and enjoy the preparation and practice of eating instead of rushing through it.

That being said, if the author's credentials weren't written on the book I would have no idea that she's a doctor of psychology. She doesn't refer to her professional experiences working with patients or any research that she (or other professionals) have conducted. I would expect patient names to be changed for confidentiality reasons, but almost all of the examples sound made up (in fact the back of the book says many of them are fictitious). So the book feels like it lacks credibility. The only source Alders sites is Buddha - they may be wise words, but he wasn't an expert on the psychology of eating. I would accept a handful of quotations to illustrate or highlight a point, but the book is saturated with them and are presented as undeniable proof.

There was also a lot of repetition. It's a little thing, but the phrase "mindless eating" was incredibly overused. Also, some of the principles seemed to contradict themselves. At the beginning, Alders talks about how dieting isn't the answer and that you shouldn't think of foods as good or bad and that any food can be eaten if done mindfully. But later in the book mindfulness meant making better choices than eating certain like pizza, for instance.

Overall, the book does have practical, helpful things to say. But those ideas sound like they're coming from a friend with good ideas rather than an expert with professional experience. I wouldn't actively recommend it to anyone, but there are some good things to glean if you're looking to start changing your mindset towards eating.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

Overall, a good read with helpful suggestions to better one's relationship with food. I am not necessarily the target reader for this book, but did find some of the mindset changes helpful.
I also liked its anti-diet stance and the focus on feeling comfortable with oneself.

The basic premise of the book is to follow the Buddhist practice of mindfulness in terms of food and eating, which generally means being present in the moment and connecting one's awareness of mind, body, feelings, and thoughts. Because of this simple starting point, the book does get rather repetitive, however each section includes a Skill Builder in order to put the teaching into practice. Reading something and actually doing it can often lead to a disconnect, so having such activities available was useful. The sections are very short, which makes them easy to digest without getting too wordy.

This book relies heavily Buddhist teachings, picking and choosing aspects and applying them to food in a way that is clearly focused on white women looking to lose weight. Not necessarily bad, but the book does appear to have a narrow scope, which may limit its applicability to all readers.

A pretty simple book with some good advice.

[Emma Catalano]

This book was a really difficult read for me. When I first started it, I was really anxious, because I'm about to start an IBS Elimination Diet for my IBS, and it seemed like all diets were bad in this book. Honestly, there were so many DBT skills and teachings in this book that I just learned in mental health treatment, but they were named other things and that frustrated me. I like mindfulness and mediation and the idea of Buddhism, but I didn't appreciate how there was a Buddha quote in front of almost every chapter. It felt very preachy to me. Overall, I'm glad I read it finally, and there were nuggets of wisdom that I took pictures of so that I can remember them going forward. But this was not my favorite book I've ever read.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is most of the advice in here common sense? Yes. Is it still good to read it all in one place? Also yes. This book represents a good middle ground with food advice- it's not a fad diet doomed to fail, but it's also not so obnoxiously body-positive that it acts like wanting to lose weight is inherently bad (I've actually seen WAY more of the latter than the former in media lately). It doesn't tell you not to eat anything, but it does tell you to pay attention to the food you eat and your patterns and to do things like plan ahead if you know you want to eat dessert. I'm definitely going to take notes on a lot of the tips in here.

[Meghin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest issue I have with this book is she describes eating disorders/disordered eating to a T then calls it something like Chaotic Eating. Chaotic eating is a binge/purge cycle or bulimia. She does the same with anorexia and binge eating. It also feels weird that she's sort of co-opted Buddhism for weight loss and eating advice.

It's not the worst book I've read on dieting/not dieting. Some of the advice is sound and I actually agreed 100% with some points. It's worth the read if you want some ideas on how to be more mindful with food, but it's nothing mind blowing.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! If you struggle with having a healthy relationship with food, I highly recommend reading this one. It's A LOT of information but do not expect yourself to put all of the recommendations in place at once. I read through the whole thing first and decided which suggestions I thought could be good additions in my own mindful "toolbox" when eating, in any scenario. Highly recommend!

[Ghassan Samaha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eating is for me is about support and presence. For example: If I am hosting my dear guest, and when food on the table, then showing a hospitable eye means he will finish the tables. On the other hand, If I am mean to my host, Then he might look me! and if he looks at me I will lose. (Both weight and appetite).

[Jamie Marfurt · Rating 1 out of 5]

As someone who is recovered from an eating disorder, I am glad I didn’t read this book at the beginning of my journey. There were a few helpful tidbits in there but it was repetitive and I just couldn’t get past all the talk about losing weight. DNF

I definitely recommend reading about Intuitive Eating instead! (which also incorporates mindfulness but without all the fat shaming)

[Teesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I before never realized how applicable the mindfulness theories and techniques are to my own eating habits and how American culture contributes to and rewards mindless eating. I found this book relevant, eye-opening, and practical. I look forward to using mindfulness theories and techniques she taught and modeled in my life.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information and principles that I mostly agree with, but it was SO repetitive I couldn’t work up the motivation to finish. Also I didn’t like the narrator of the particular audio book I had on loan.

[Bree · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned this one after about 2 chapters. 

I'm apparently not mindful or zen enough, I just found the book irritating, but maybe I've already internalized a lot of it from culture now and have rejecetd it?

[Devin Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm definitely a mindless eater and being slower and more mindful is like a muscle and it takes repetition and practice. This book is filled with helpful exercises to help you slow down, be mindful and deal with urges.