Mindful eating is a trend in wellness circles that often makes most of us feel like we’re missing yet another mark. Instead of mealtime being a full-blown ritual, we’re running between meetings, wrangling kids, or eating so fast we barely taste our food — let alone “infuse it with love and light.” 😅
The problem is, the conversation around mindful eating is usually light on science and heavy on vibes. And call me crazy, but I like to know there’s a real reason behind any health practice I commit to. The good news? Mindful eating does have science to back it up.
“It’s not about rituals, aesthetics, or how zen your plate looks. It’s about biology.”
It’s not about rituals, aesthetics, or how zen your plate looks. It’s about biology.
At its core, mindful eating is about how you approach your food — tuning into your body and your biology in ways that support digestion, stabilize blood sugar, and promote long-term health. And once you understand the benefits, it becomes much easier to make it part of your everyday routine.
Here’s how I think about mindful eating as a functional medicine doctor, and why it actually does impact your health.
Every meal begins in the brain
Long before food hits your stomach, your brain is already at work. The sight, smell, and even thought of food sends signals through your nervous system that kick off digestion — from saliva release to stomach acid production. Eating is as much a neurological process as it is a physical one.
“Eating is as much a neurological process as it is a physical one.”
That’s why a simple pause before eating can change everything. Asking yourself, Why am I eating right now? What do I want this meal to do for me? How do I want to feel after this meal? helps shift your body into “rest and digest” mode. In this state, your parasympathetic nervous system boosts stomach acid, bile flow, and digestive enzyme release from your gastrointestinal tract. Stress (like rushing through a meal) does the opposite, activating “fight or flight,” which suppresses digestion and leaves food less broken down.
Taking a moment to set an intention and express gratitude for your food signals your brain to move from activity mode into digestion mode. I often tell my patients to think of this as “activating your meal” with one positive thought before eating. And while it may feel “fluffy,” gratitude has measurable effects too. Research shows it can lower cortisol and activate the vagus nerve — the main communication highway between your brain and your gut. That 10-second pause before a meal isn’t fluff. It’s a biological reset that primes your body to digest and absorb food more efficiently.
The simplest hack for slowing down: Chew more, rush less
Think about how often you’ve got the next bite ready before you’ve even swallowed the last. Most of us chew just enough to get food down, but not nearly enough to support digestion.
Chewing is the very first step in digestion, and it does far more than break food into pieces. Each bite mixes with saliva, which contains enzymes that start breaking down carbs and fats. The more thoroughly you chew, the more surface area your stomach and intestines have to work with, making the whole process more efficient.
“Chewing is the very first step in digestion, and it does far more than break food into pieces.”
Chewing forces you to slow down, giving your brain time to register fullness (which takes 15–20 minutes). Studies show that people who chew more not only eat less without trying, they also stabilize blood sugar and increase nutrient absorption. Chewing even supports the release of satiety hormones that help regulate appetite.
Instead of telling yourself to “slow down and be present” for the hundredth time, try this: Pick one meal this week and double the number of chews per bite. It’ll feel odd at first, but your gut (and your energy) will thank you. And, you’ll be more present too.
Being mindful means knowing how food makes you feel
If you’ve ever dealt with a food intolerance, you know exactly what I mean when I say food can either make you feel amazing — or really off. But there’s a subtle layer most of us miss: We don’t always notice how food makes us feel or what it’s doing in our bodies, because we’re too busy just eating it.
“We don’t always notice how food makes us feel or what it’s doing in our bodies, because we’re too busy just eating it.”
Maybe your body actually does feel better starting the day with protein instead of just coffee. Or maybe you’re more energized for a workout when you eat carbs beforehand. Mindful eating doesn’t mean following a specific diet plan, or never eating a sugary treat ever again. It’s about knowing how food affects your body, not someone else’s. The truth is, there’s science behind not just how we eat, but what we eat. Paying attention to how food makes you feel is one of the simplest mindfulness practices you can commit to.
Another way to support your body is to notice the order in which you eat your food. What you eat, and when you eat it during a meal, has a direct impact on your blood sugar. And blood sugar matters because big swings (spikes and crashes) can leave you tired, irritable, craving more sugar, and even disrupt hormones over time.
“Paying attention to how food makes you feel is one of the simplest mindfulness practices you can commit to.”
Nutrition researcher Jessie Inchauspé (better known as the Glucose Goddess) has popularized this science. Her work, along with other studies, shows that starting meals with fiber-rich foods like vegetables, legumes, or whole grains slows the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. One study even found that eating vegetables before carbohydrates reduced post-meal blood sugar spikes by up to 30–40%. Following fiber with protein and fat creates a steadier curve of energy release instead of a rollercoaster.
And yes — protein at every meal matters too. Think of fiber and protein as your anchors. Fiber stabilizes blood sugar and feeds your gut microbes, while protein helps regulate hormones and supports muscle health. Together, they’re powerful partners for sustained energy.
Actually taste your food
If I asked you to think of your favorite meal, you could probably recall the smell, texture, and flavor of every bite. But if I asked what you ate for lunch while scrolling your phone yesterday, you might not even remember.
Tasting your food is a core part of mindful eating. When you rush or multitask through a meal, your brain barely registers that you are eating. When you slow down and really taste, you activate neural pathways tied to digestion, satiety, and pleasure. Happy gut, happy brain. Plus, it is simply more enjoyable to notice how good food actually tastes.
“When you slow down and really taste, you activate neural pathways tied to digestion, satiety, and pleasure.”
Here is the nuance in our world of ultra-processed food: There is a big difference between tasting whole food and tasting food designed in a lab. Processed foods are engineered to hijack your taste buds with artificial sweeteners, “natural flavors,” and hyper-palatable fat-salt-sugar combinations that keep you wanting more. Over time, they overwhelm your brain’s reward system and dull your sensitivity to natural flavors. This may even explain why many of us want to scroll on our phones or watch television while we eat — we are conditioned to chase quick hits of dopamine.
Real, whole food or minimally processed foods do the opposite. The more you taste them, the more your palate recalibrates and your brain rewires itself to find pleasure in whole foods. Strawberries start to taste sweeter, greens taste richer, and your brain learns to recognize when you have had enough. That is not willpower. It is neuroscience.
Choosing food intentionally
The last piece of mindful eating is choosing what you eat with awareness. I don’t mean overly obsessing over “clean” versus “dirty” foods or moralizing every bite. I mean remembering that food is information for your body. Every bite sends signals that shape your metabolism, hormones, microbiome, and even your mood.
This is why functional medicine often calls food “first-line medicine,” a concept that traces back to Hippocrates’ famous phrase: “Let food be thy medicine.” Nutrients regulate inflammation, hormones, immune function, and detoxification. When you see food as medicine, the question shifts from What do I feel like eating right now? to What do I want this meal to do for me?
“When you see food as medicine, the question shifts from What do I feel like eating right now? to What do I want this meal to do for me?“
Being mindful of your food also means being mindful of your goals. The choices you make at each meal can either support those goals or work against them. At Love.Life, I work in partnership with our registered dietitian, health coach, and entire care team to help patients align their diets with their individual health goals — not just by giving blanket advice about what’s “healthy” or “unhealthy,” but by tailoring food choices to each person’s unique biology and needs.
And choosing with intention doesn’t mean perfection. Nothing drains the joy out of eating faster than being rigid about everything on your plate. It simply means knowing that meals built around protein, fiber, healthy fats, and phytonutrients will carry you further than foods that spike your blood sugar and leave you hungry an hour later.
The real power of mindful eating
You know what I love most about this practice? It doesn’t require a new supplement, app, or product. It’s simple. It asks you to notice what’s already in front of you — your food, your body, your biology.
That noticing is powerful. It puts you back in the driver’s seat of your health in a way that feels simple, doable, and deeply human.
Dr. Jaclyn Tolentino is a Board-Certified Family Physician and the Lead Functional Medicine Physician at Love.Life. Specializing in women’s health and hormone optimization, she has been featured in Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and Women’s Health. As a functional practitioner and a breast cancer survivor, Dr. Tolentino is dedicated to uncovering the root causes of health challenges, employing a holistic, whole-person approach to empower lasting wellbeing. Follow her on Instagram here for more insights.
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