Meditation can help with weight loss. Never thought about it that way? Reflecting on why you have certain thoughts can help you resist temptation.
They’re actually very good questions: Why do you eat unhealthy foods? What makes you reach for a bag of chips in the evening?
It’s usually because you’re seeking comfort. You’re trying to escape the discomfort you’re feeling, or acting out of dissatisfaction. The stress and tension that build up in your mind and body throughout the day. After a stressful day at work, you crave comfort — something that triggers feel-good hormones in your brain. A meal with beans and rice won’t cut it. No, it needs to be creamier, saltier, sweeter, richer.
Meditation can help reduce that urge for comfort eating. What happens when you meditate regularly? You start living and eating less on autopilot. You become more aware of who you are, what you’re doing, and the sensations in your body.
As that awareness grows, a few things happen. You begin to feel less stressed, and more conscious of experiences — like how that chip actually tastes. Meditation is about observing what is, and accepting it. Nothing more. It’s that relaxation — that unconditional self-acceptance — that leads you to gradually start taking better care of yourself. Not because you want to be thinner. Not to impress others.
But because you love yourself enough to want to nourish your body in the best possible way.