Use these mindful eating journal prompts and reflection questions to assess your current relationship with food.
Mindful eating means finding what works for your unique body. It’s about harnessing your body’s signals, your personal wants, likes and dislikes. It’s about knowing your habits and tendencies in a compassionate way so that you can easily make adjustments.
What is brain food?
Here at Nutrition Stripped, we believe that there are two important aspects to eating well every day: what you eat and how you eat. The concept of mindful eating is more about how you eat rather than what or how much you are eating. It’s about refocusing on your experience at mealtimes.
Mindful eating is a practice that allows you to be more intentional with your eating habits while maintaining a healthy relationship with food. Slowing down and bringing more conscious awareness to what you’re eating and how you feel before, during, and after a meal is one of the best practices for what works for you and creating healthy eating habits. There is one.
The following mindful eating journal will show you how to reflect on your relationship with food so that you can be more mindful.
10 Mindful Eating Journal Prompts and Reflection Questions
You can use these journal prompts and reflection questions to get to know yourself and your relationship with food a little better. Use this knowledge to help you build a conscious eating routine and a positive relationship with food.
When engaging with these mind-eating journal prompts and reflection questions, don’t forget to do so with compassion. Don’t judge yourself or your answers, allow yourself to be candid and honest. It allows for growth and change.
You can engage in a meeting with all of these signs, or you can pick one or two at a time. Whatever works best for you!
1. How would I describe my current relationship with food?
(i.e. Balanced, Unbalanced, Negative, Forced, Easy, Restrictive, Turbulent, Normal, Frustrating, Controlling, Spontaneous, Fun, etc.)
In this first prompt from a mindful eating journal, consider your relationship with food. What words come to mind when you think about it? How would you describe it? This will help set the scene for what we are working with when connecting with the following pointers.
2. What do I love about my current relationship with food?
(i.e. as well as nourishing myself physically I can eat what I like, I never feel restricted, I don’t feel out of control around food, I enjoy nourishing myself am, etc.)
Think about the positive components here that you associate with your relationship with food. Which parts of your relationship are enjoyable? what do you like about it? Get really specific here.
2. What do I dislike about my current relationship with food?
(i.e. I can’t eat what I like, I don’t know how to nourish myself, I often feel restricted, I feel out of control around food, I feel stressed about food happens, etc.)
Now think about what you might not enjoy about your current relationship with food. And remember, self-compassion is key here. No judgment allowed! Just allow yourself to reflect and assess carefully. This particular mind-eating journal prompt can help you identify what you want to change.
3. How do I feel hungry? How does fulfillment feel to me?
(i.e. my stomach grumbles, food starts to taste good, I overthink about food, I get a little brain fog, my stomach feels empty, my hands are a little shaky, etc.)
Now that we’re out of the way on some broad topics, let’s work on some of the more specific parts of your relationship with food. In conjunction with this journal prompt, it can be helpful to physically picture yourself when you were last hungry. Maybe it was earlier today, or last night, or even now! Then start walking through the feelings (both physical and mental) that you experience.
4. Do emotions ever affect my eating habits? if so, how?
(i.e. when I’m sad I turn to food, when I’m excited I never want to eat, when I’m stressed I override my hunger cues, when I’m stressed I ignore my hunger cues, I overeat when I’m overwhelmed, etc.)
Think about how your emotions affect your relationship with food. What emotions influence your choices? How often does this happen? What happens when you are having that feeling and you are in need of food? The more awareness you have of your feelings regarding food, the easier it will be to maintain or change your actions as needed.
5. What are my favorite things to eat?
(i.e. anything and everything you enjoy)
Remember, this is a judgment-free zone. Write down everything and anything you enjoy eating, whether it’s pleasure-based food or more nutrition-based food. If you struggle to think of anything here, that just tells you that this area needs a little bit of searching and exploration!
6. What foods do I often crave?
(i.e. chocolate, peanut butter, pasta, leafy greens, green juice, candy, potatoes, etc.)
Think about the foods you crave most often. The foods you enjoy and the foods you crave are slightly different. The craving is strong and can sometimes feel involuntary. By shedding light on your cravings, you can learn a lot about where those cravings are coming from and why you’re experiencing them.
7. Do I follow any eating regimen? If so, list them. Are these food rules rooted in balance? If not, how can I make them more balanced?
(i.e. I can’t eat after 7 pm, I can only eat carbs in the first half of the day, I can’t have chocolate in the house, I have to have vegetables with every meal, etc.)
You can learn a lot about your relationship with food by identifying the food rules you follow. Once you’ve listed any of your food rules (as shown in the example above), consider whether they’re balanced. If you feel strict and rigid instead of flexible and easygoing, try and think about how you can remove the rule and change it to something more balanced.
8. Are there certain foods that I consider “good” or “bad”? If so, what are they? And why do I assign this morality to them?
(i.e. whole foods are good, starchy carbs are bad, candy is bad, ice cream is bad, vegetables are good, green juice is good, etc.)
When we label food as good or bad, we allow guilt and shame to come into play in our relationship with food. By identifying where and why ethics plays a role in your relationship with food, you can begin to remove it and practice more balance.
9. Do I feel confident in my relationship with food? If yes, why? If not, why?
(meaning yes, I nourish myself in a way that works well for me, no, I don’t know how to nourish myself without becoming overwhelmed, etc.)
Confidence is key to a conscious, balanced relationship with food. But sometimes we forget to check in with it! Take a moment to examine your confidence level. Know where and why you do or don’t feel confident, so you can work to maintain that confidence or make changes.
10. What would I like to change in my relationship with food? How would I do this based on my answers to the questions above?
(i.e. I would like to take the moral out of food, be more mindful at mealtimes, increase my confidence, etc.)
Identify exactly what you want to change and in this reflection adjust after engaging with the previous questions. Once identified, remember to do so with compassion and without haste. Take your time and remember, the goal is balance, not perfection.
takeaway
Mindful reflection is one of the most powerful tools you can use to develop and maintain a balanced relationship with food. Use these mindful eating reflection questions from time to time to get to know yourself and your relationship with food even better!
Would you like to experience greater balance with your food choices?
Then find your balanced eating type!
Take this free 45-second quiz and learn what kind of balanced diet is ideal for you, and what your unique type needs to balance with how you nourish yourself. This way, you can finally break free from the obsession with food and diet, maintain a balanced weight, and have a positive relationship with food and your body.
