Food and Thought Newsletter - November 2025

November 10, 2025

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Mindful Eating Can Boost Well Being and Calm Holiday Stresses!

For many, the holidays are a time for being with loved ones, celebrating, and sharing happy memories. But they can also bring about an increase in worries about a whole host of things like finances, health, and time management (to name only a few!). Additionally, the holidays often bring more opportunities to eat more and differently than we normally would, which can lead to feelings of sluggishness, fatigue, anxiety and even depression. This month’s newsletter introduces the topic of Mindful Eating, as a way to celebrate those special moments, while also taking care of our bodies and our minds!

Mindful Eating Is…
Mindful eating is a practice that involves being fully present and aware during meals, focusing on the sensory experience of eating, and recognizing physical and emotional cues related to hunger and satiety. (Satiety is the point at which we feel full and satisfied after eating.)

Benefits Of Mindful Eating
Eating mindfully can be beneficial for several reasons. For one thing, when we eat mindfully, we tend to eat more slowly. This allows the brain time to register that the stomach is full; this process generally takes about 20 minutes, and if we wait for the brain to realize we are full, we have likely overeaten already!
Here are some other benefits to eating mindfully:
* It improves our relationship with food, reducing feelings of guilt and anxiety around food.
* It helps manage weight by promoting awareness of hunger and fullness.
* It reduces instances of emotional eating by helping us distinguish between physical hunger and emotional triggers.
* It increases our enjoyment of food.

How To Eat Mindfully
1. Eliminate Distractions: turning off screens and focusing on what you are eating enhances the awareness of the experience of eating.
2. Engage Your senses: look, smell and taste your food with each bite.
3. Eat slowly so you can recognize when you are full before overeating can occur.
4. Put your fork down be-tween bites and
5. Reflect on the food you are eating; where did it come from? who made it? what do you like about it?

Keep in mind: Change is a process and takes time.
Practice Gratitude and Be Kind To Yourself.


Sources for this month’s newsletter have been taken from: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250714/Study-reveals-thepsychological-
reasons-for-comfort-eating.aspx;https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-of-choice/201609/5-reasons-whywe-
crave-comfort-foods?msockid=201c84dac00468390cb49159c12469b4;

The Food and Thought Program works to promote awareness and provide short term counselling around the important link between.
nutrition and emotional health. For more information or for a referral to the program, please contact the Food and Thought Program

This work is supported by the Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospital Community Benefits Community Grant Program .
 

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