The Importance Of Mindful Eating

Mindfulness is defined as a state of total awareness in the present moment (without being judgmental of oneself).1 For an individual, it involves being in a meditative state of mind while simultaneously experiencing everything that is happening in the moment.1 The term awareness does not only refer to outside factors, such as sights, sounds, and events, but also internal experiences, like physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts.1 Mindful eating relates awareness of internal and external cues to food. These cues can include the feeling of hunger or satiety, size of the bowl, plate, or the portion size of the actual food itself.2 Research has been done with mindfulness on females and the female athlete population in order to help treat body

image disorders, eating disorders, or general weight loss (refer to Table 1). Males and male athletes have been neglected in regards to evaluating eating disorders and unhealthy weight loss behaviors. The same interventions of mindfulness used on females can be applied to males, athletes and non-athletes alike, to help treat unhealthy eating and weight loss behaviors, which can possibly improve performance.
Mindful Eating
Mindfulness has also been shown to help with dietary behaviors and eating habits through the concept of mindful eating. Stress can play a major role in the overconsumption of food and is often used by many to feel better or as a reward system. Stress can lead to increases in cortisol levels in the body, which have been linked to increases in fat storage and blood sugar imbalances.3 Mindful eating interventions have been shown to help reduce cortisol levels in obese individuals and control stress eating by teaching the practice of being mindful with food.3 Mindful practices about food consumption that can improve mindfulness include: honoring the food, using one’s senses while eating, taking smaller bites rather than ingesting as much as possible at once, eating slowly by taking time to chew the food, avoiding overeating and not skipping meals.4 The same practices can be applied to athletes who experience trouble with eating due to the feeling of stress and nervousness prior to competition, especially athletes participating in weight-sensitive sports.
Mindful eating has been used in a variety of clinical settings that involve weight loss and improvements in psychological health.2 As the pressures to become thin have increased in the past decade, weight loss has become a big trend in today’s society.

Current weight loss programs are initiated by restrictions of certain foods in order to attain a desired physique.5 Mindful eating has been viewed as a healthier weight loss option, while simultaneously teaching the individual to be more accepted of one’s body composition and figure/physique.6 It has also been applied to individuals who eat out more often. One intervention included the application of mindful eating when eating out at restaurants.7 The intervention educated women on picking out healthier menu options when eating out and controlling their portion sizes when ordering entrees. Mindful eating interventions can be a great tool in educating individuals, and athletes about portion control as well as the awareness of the consumption of

food.
Mindful eating has also been applied in helping to treat eating disorders.8 Eating disorders are highly prevalent among females due to body image dissatisfaction and outside environmental pressures (such as media), which can lead to serious health risks as well as physiological and psychological disorders.

Mindful eating interventions have been shown to help treat the causes and symptoms of eating disorders among females through the use of one-on-one interviews, meditation practices, and creation of self-portraits post intervention.8 Female athletes who partake in sports that require weight loss or focus on aesthetics also experience symptoms of eating disorders, and are at as much of a risk for eating disorders as are non-athlete women. Female athletes are primarily at risk for the female athlete triad, which is a cycle consisted up of: inadequate energy availability, menstrual disorders, and osteoporosis.9 Interventions that have focused on achieving a healthier weight in the athletes as well as improving body image outlook have been shown to reduce the effects and symptoms of these eating disorders in female athletes.9 Arthur-Cameselle et. al.10 demonstrated how group interventions can help with the reduction and improvement in eating disorders in females and female athletes. Sixteen collegiate athletes participated in semi-structured interviews that allowed the athlete’s to reflect on what initiated, assisted, and hindered the athlete’s recovery process from eating

disorders.10
Current Performance Testing Methods. The ability for athletes, both recreational and elite, to increase performance and potential to compete at high intensity levels consistently is essential. An appropriate training plan is necessary for any athlete looking to achieve his or her goals, however, accurate calculations regarding workout intensity and duration in order to judge training effectiveness are just as important. Furthermore, different forms of training require research based on different levels of measurement and monitoring, in order to understand and learn the athlete’s abilities and potential. One of the more commonly used methods is the measure of heart rate to training intensity. Other methods involve physiological measures, such as blood lactate levels, which can help determine the effect of training intensity based on lactate production. Methods to measure the body’s energy expenditure, such as the resting metabolic rate, are also used to determine performance levels by examining an athlete’s energy expenditure when the athlete is at a complete state of rest. This type of test is beneficial for any athlete that participates in a sport that requires a change in body composition, such as weight loss (wrestling, judo, boxing, etc.) as well as aesthetics (bodybuilding, gymnastics, figure skating, etc.). Endurance sports athletes are more likely to perform a maximal oxygen uptake test, also known as the VO2 max test, which records the maximum volume of oxygen (L/min) an athlete is able to use for any given activity; the higher the athlete’s VO2 max score equals better endurance ability.11 These types of tests are performed on athletes in order to measure their current maximum oxygen uptake level and determine what can be done to improve the athlete’s performance in a particular sport from a physiological standpoint.
Benefits of Mindfulness on Performance. Mindfulness-based training interventions can be used to help improve the performance of any athlete, as was done in a group of young figure skaters that resulted in an improved total national competition scores in the figure skaters as well as an improvement in performance.12 The concept of mindfulness can also be applied to athletes by providing exercises that, for example, help with the process of controlled breathing and focusing on bodily and somatic cues without being judgmental. Mindfulness has also been shown to promote increases in “flow” (state of mind that is characterized by complete absorption by the task at hand as well as by enhanced skill performance) in athletes.13 A steady “flow” can promote focus and concentration in athletes during a task at hand and can lead to better performance.
Athletes who participate in sporting events where body composition is a major factor can highly benefit from a mindfulness intervention. Having a strong mentality can affect the way an athlete performs. For example, when an athlete becomes mentally fatigued, that can impair one’s performance by reducing speed, stamina, and ability to cope with stress. Athletes from different sports tend to “burnout” after going through a competitive season. Whether it is an elite or recreational sport, athletes can become mentally drained from prolonged competition prep as well as the competition itself. Different types of mindfulness techniques, such as awareness, have been shown to improve athlete burnout and enhance overall well-being.14 These techniques allow the athlete to be more prepared and excited for future competitions. Mindfulness techniques can also allow the athlete to be more aware of injury prevention as well. Finding mindful strategies that can be implemented in an athlete’s workouts, such as Ivarsson et.15 al did with soccer players, can allow for injury prevention in athletes as well as better recovery.15
Psychology also plays a role in athlete’s performance. Performance in athletes can be altered by the individual’s mindset going into the competition. As stated previously, the feelings of stress, nervousness, and anxiety can either suppress an individual’s appetite, or allow the individual to overcompensate in their energy intake in order to feel better. This process has been known as comfort or emotional eating 16 and can lead to the initiation of eating disorders.17 The patterns of emotional eating can also be related to athletes. If an athlete does not receive adequate nutrition prior to competition, the athlete is bound to experience fatigue and exhaustion, both mentally and physically. Not meeting proper energy requirements can negatively affect the athlete’s physiological needs, which can lead to poor performance during competition or any type of physical activity. Inadequate dietary intake can also lead to poor recovery and can negatively affect future performances. The ability to control one’s mindset to maintain a calm, balanced state of mind can prevent performance degradation and can lead to improvements in overall physical performance.
Role of Gender in Mindfulness. Without a doubt, gender plays a big part in what we know about mindfulness today. Multiple research studies have been done on females and female athletes in regards to the effects of mindfulness based interventions. Studies have looked at the role of body image and self-criticism that have played in females and female athletes, and have shown that mindfulness based interventions have helped reduce the negative outlook on body image and self-criticism.18
Comparatively speaking, males have been overlooked as far as having eating disorders. Though eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are more recognizable in female athletes, male athletes have been under recognized in this category. The fact is that males and male athletes also experience eating disorders and negative outlooks on body image.19 Involvement in sports that have an emphasis on aesthetics, require weight loss for competition, or where having a low body fat percentage is advantageous for competition can lead to eating disorders in male athletes. There has been an increase in male athletes who are obsessed with body image, a disorder known as body dysmorphia, and some who abuse illegal substances such as anabolic steroids, which can lead to dangerous adverse effects. Males who participate in competitions where body image is judged have been correlated with the use of illegal substances and increase in eating disorders.20
Although mindfulness based interventions have focused on the female and female athlete population, no research has been done on the male population, specifically male athletes. Though not as highly prevalent as females, male athletes do also experience eating disorders and have been overlooked. The concepts of mindfulness and mindful eating interventions can be applied in the same way to male athletes as they were applied to female athletes and sedentary individuals. The purpose of this research was to apply the concept and techniques of mindfulness and mindful eating to the male athlete population, specifically those who participate in recreational sports. Variables such as improvements in performance, body image satisfaction, eating habits, and stress levels will be measured through a given validated questionnaire. Mindfulness intervention will be implemented through the use of social media web bases such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Pre and post mindfulness treatment will be measured by the scoring of the questionnaire.