I've been reading a lot about mindful eating lately, and would like to hear how others use mindful eating practices in your diabetes practice. Do you think that mindful eating is a viable approach for people with diabetes? Are there any negatives to using mindful eating?

I've had several patients tell me that they eat less when they focus on the taste, appearance, texture and smell of the food as well as paying attention to their hunger cues. Sometimes, I ask patients to rate their hunger before, during and after their meal on a 10-point scale. I give this as homework to my students as well. The results are pretty interesting.

I agree with Jill.  Also, we encourage patients to buy beautiful small plates, nothing fancy, you can find them in several discount stores.  The patients have said the food looks bigger and more plentiful on the smaller plate, and the pretty plate helps with the overall experience, making them feel better about the smaller portion.

I work with mindful eating with my patients to help them understand their own internal hunger and fullness cues.  I tell them that something other than how much food is on the plate (especially when eating out) should not be what determines how much they eat.  I also tell them that this is a tool they can take with them wherever they go and that can be very empowering.

I find it more difficult to use with patients who are on insulin.

Carol Sherman, MPH, RD, LD/N, CDE

Thanks for sharing your practical tips for working with folks on implementing mindful eating. Carol, you mention that it's more difficult to use mindful eating techniques when people are on insulin. I assume you mean fast-acting insulin before meals? What can we do to help those folks implement mindful eating practices?

There's an interesting article on this here:  http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/articles/nutrition-and-meal-planning/mindful_eating/print/

The author of this article, Megrette Hammond, runs a non-profit group devoted to mindful eating and I've often used their resources. She also has a blog devoted specifically to diabetes and mindful eating here:  http://www.diabetesandmindfuleating.com/

I'm interested in your feedback about the article and the blog, especially as they relate to people on fast-acting insulin.

 I love this website. I get such useful information and tools that I can use with my patients.
Thanks to everyone that posts their experiences and results. I am new to all of this and it is a great help.

Lynn,
Thanks for providing those references.  I do think that mindful eating works very well with people on medications who are insulin resistant.   I am not yet comfortable using it with patients who take insulin and would love to hear from people who have more experience with using this approach on patient's using insulin (other than Lantus or Levemir), 
Carol