Obesity is now the number-one cause of preventable early death in the country, so anything we can do to maintain or lose weight is important for longevity. You could write a whole book about the concept of mindfulness and its importance in reducing stress and increasing happiness, and I will write more about mindfulness in a future post. But today I want to talk about mindfulness as it applies to when we are eating.

How many times have you sat down in front of the TV and opened a bag of chips or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s; an hour later your show is over and so is your snack. A pint of ice cream is technically four servings—each with 250 calories. A regular bag of Doritos is 9 servings—each with 150 calories. Chances are you weren’t even thinking about how much you were eating; whether you were hungry or not; or how good it was tasting—you were probably just eating mindlessly. Contrast this with the concept of mindful eating: You eliminate, as much as possible, any distractions; you chew slowly; you savor the flavors, textures and aromas; you stop eating when you are no longer hungry. Your attention is focused on what you are doing, which is eating. You are not eating because you are bored, or out of habit.

Food is one of the simple pleasures of life. Not only do we need food for survival, but we enjoy eating and its sensations. Too often, however, we overeat and may feel guilty about this and develop negative feelings around eating. Mindful eating is one way to help enhance the pleasure and enjoyment of food without the overeating and guilt. So, how can we put mindful eating into practice?

A big thing for me is not to eat in front of the TV or computer. Don’t eat when distracted. If I am having lunch at work, I lock the computer screen an just take a few minutes to eat. I am not multitasking—answering emails or other work—I am just eating. For dinner, turn off the TV and don’t answer your phone. Enjoy the food and the company, if you are not alone. Enjoy the meal and don’t eat until you are full—eat a healthy portion until you are no longer hungry. If you do want a snack while watching TV or at the computer—put it on pause, enjoy one serving of your snack and then continue. You’ll probably find that you are enjoying the food more, are eating less and are feeling better about your eating habits.

Before reaching for something automatically, stop and take a moment to notice what you are feeling. Are you stressed, bored, angry, or sad? Are you lonely? Or, are you actually physically hungry? Be mindful of just reacting and make a choice instead. If your desire is not about hunger, do something else more appropriate for that feeling. When we stop going on autopilot with food, we tend to eat less naturally.

I have lost 30 pounds—and kept it off—and I believe that my approach to mindful eating has helped me. It is not about thinking “I have to eat less” or “I can’t eat this or that”, it is just about being more intentional with your eating habits. Don’t eat mindlessly or when you’re not really hungry. And when you do choose to eat, eliminate distractions and focus on the pleasures of eating. It helped for me and it could help you, too.