3 Tips To Learn From Other Cultures & Their Mindful Eating Habits

If you want to maintain optimal health, it's not just about what you eat but how you eat. The traditional Western diet not only evokes an image of overly processed food, refined sugar, and excess fats but can also reflect a culture marked by unhealthy habits around food, like mindless snacking and an over-reliance on takeout.

While most of us eat our largest meal at dinner, many cultures, such as the French, eat their largest meal at lunch. The French may be on to something, as recent research found that eating earlier in the day decreases your appetite1, which can lead to healthy weight management.

While scientists are still trying to figure out the exact relationship between meal timing and weight management, it seems that eating earlier in the day aligns better with the body's natural rhythms for energy expenditure2. Put simply, your metabolism is more primed to take advantage of food and turn it into energy earlier in the day than later.

Communal dining has been around for ages and still exists in various forms across many Asian countries and cultures. Although we must currently be mindful of COVID-19, eating with others is linked to better physical and mental health outcomes3 including lower blood pressure and decreased rates of depression4.

Many countries' habits around eating naturally provoke a full-sensory experience. For instance, Ethiopians elicit the additional sensation of touch on top of sight, taste, and smell as they tear off pieces of injera (a sour flatbread made of the African superfood teff) to scoop up their food.

The more senses you use when you eat, the more joy food can bring you—and research shows it may actually make your food taste better. Additionally, intentionally employing all your senses when you eat gives you an easy (and yummy!) way to practice mindfulness, which has been linked to stress reduction and sustained weight management6.