Mindful eating: A simple approach to soothe digestive issues

If you're in digestive discomfort, take a quiet moment to enjoy your food and reap the benefits.

While out and about this week, I sank gratefully into a chair at a lovely cafe. Relieved to be temporarily away from the bustle of the CBD, the café’s mantra couldn’t have felt more apt – ‘my quiet moment’.

As the winter rain kicks in, you might be eating lunch at your desk instead of the park or the garden, just carrying on working. Or rushing your dinner to get to the comfort of the couch. Perhaps you wolfed down a snack today before heading out to sport or a class. If you've noticed that this haste makes your digestive problems worse, it's time to take a pause.

Burning the candle at both ends (even if you’re having fun) can increase digestive symptoms like abdominal pain, bloating and wind. The relationship between your gut and brain is strong – it’s known as the ‘gut-brain axis’. Stress of any type, including rushing around on busy days, can exaggerate how the nerve signals in your gut are interpreted by your brain. Mindfulness is proving to be very helpful for people with irritable bowel syndrome, with studies like this one showing that it can reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. Being in the moment is what it’s all about, and mindful eating for digestion is a simple and lovely way to try this.

Think of an orange

Try this: write down all the things that come to mind when you think of an orange. The colour, the taste, the smell, its appearance. Even better, grab a real orange – winter's bounty is rich, including blood oranges. Feel the texture of the peel, enjoy the gorgeous aroma. Let the juice run down your fingers, and taste the sharp sweetness of the fruit. Food (and life) is so much more enjoyable when we experience it through our senses.

Savour your food, and see the benefit

Take time out to enjoy your meal. Set the table; or tuck yourself away in the corner of the office kitchen. Even if it’s just 10 minutes without distractions.

Space meals and snacks evenly across the day, so you’re not ravenous by dinner time. Hunger can make you rush your food, or overeat. Bonus for those of you with irritable bowel syndrome: you’re not consuming your trigger foods, such as those high in FODMAPs, in one big load (no clue what FODMAPs are? Find out here).

Slowing down and really tasting your food gives you that quiet moment, and many of those quiet moments may start to improve your digestion.

Author: Kym Lang. Illustration: Sinead Hanley.