Our relationship with food has a significant impact on what we eat and how we eat. To help you better understand your own relationship with food, try completing the exercise on this page.
Why is it important to understand our own eating habits?
Our eating habits have a big impact on our health and wellbeing. A lot of the nutrition and diet industry focuses on ‘what’ and ‘how much’ we eat, but it’s also about why we eat, when we eat, how we eat, and how we feel after we’ve eaten – as all these choices impact how we feel and function.
For example, if we look at ‘why’ someone eats, it could be as a result of stress, for pleasure, or simply to nourish the body. If we look at ‘when’ someone eats, it may during periods of feeling sadness, loneliness or boredom. Without understanding our habits, we are at risk of mindlessly eating, whether we are hungry or not.
How do our eating habits impact our body?
Our eating patterns impact us in three main ways:
- Physically – Our health, weight, immune system and energy levels.
- Mentally and emotionally – Our mood and state of mind.
- Cognitively – Our brain health and how we function.
What is mindful eating?
Mindful eating is about bringing awareness to your eating habits and your feelings. For example, using your senses to notice things such as taste, smell, appearance and texture. It involves bringing your focus into the moment while you eat, without judgement.
The next page includes an exercise to help grow your own awareness and understanding, so that you can begin to notice automatic or default eating habits. Recognising these patterns allows you to put new habits in place.
Learn more about mindful eating at The Association of UK Dietitians.
Mindful eating exercise
It’s not easy to break an old habit, but developing your awareness is key to changing eating habits. Use these simple questions to reflect on some of your own behaviours and thoughts around meals and snacks during the week.
For example, if you notice you tend to snack a lot when feeling stressed, identifying this behaviour can help you to catch it in future, before you reach for a snack. Recognising that stress is a trigger can prompt you to look at healthy coping strategies, so that going forward stress doesn’t become a cause of snacking when you are not hungry.
The below exercise is based on the Mindful Eating Cycle, a model developed by founder Michelle May MD. Work your way around the questions to help you reflect on your own eating habits. Practicing this exercise and listening to your body’s needs is part of self-care.
Why?
Why do you eat?
Are you eating because you’re physically hungry?
Are you eating due to a situation or emotion that triggers you to want to eat?
When?
When do you feel like eating?
How often do you feel like eating?
How do you know if you’re hungry?
What are the signs that your body wants fuel?
What?
On a typical day, what do you eat? (Consider keeping a food log for a few days to build your awareness)
What do you eat when you’re eating for emotional reasons?
How?
How do you eat?
Do you eat fast or slow?
Do you eat while doing something else, such as watching TV or at your desk at work?
Do you tend to really ‘taste’ your food?
How much?
How much do you eat?
Do you typically clean your plate?
Do you have second helpings?
How do you know when you’ve eaten ‘enough’ and when you’re satisfied or full/overfull?
How do you feel?
How do you typically feel once you’ve finished eating?
After eating, what do you do with your energy?
Sources:
amihungry.com/mindful-eating-resources/about-the-mindful-eating-cycle
www.bda.uk.com/resource/mindful-eating.html
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-to-eat-a-balanced-diet/eating-a-balanced-diet/
WPW0240 This information was reviewed April 2025.
