Mindful Eating Quotes
Have you ever opened a bag of chips, watched a TV show, and suddenly realized the bag was empty? We have all been there. It is like your hand has a mind of its own. This is the opposite of mindful eating. It is checking out instead of checking in.
If you are looking for mindful eating quotes to inspire you to slow down and enjoy your food, you are in the right place. At The Full Plate, we believe that listening to your body is one of the keys to happiness. We follow the principles of Intuitive Eating. This approach helps you stop dieting and start living.
Below, we have gathered some of our favorite quotes and ideas from the book Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach. These quotes will help you trust your body again.
Table of Contents
- What is Mindful Eating Anyway?
- Quotes About Stopping the Food Fight
- Quotes About Enjoying Your Food
- Quotes About Respecting Your Body
- How to Use These Quotes in Real Life
- FAQ
What is Mindful Eating Anyway?
Mindful eating means paying attention. It is about noticing how food tastes, smells, and feels. It is also about noticing how hungry or full you are.
The book Intuitive Eating explains that mindfulness is a big part of the process. In fact, studies show that people who eat intuitively have higher “interoceptive awareness.”1 That is a fancy way of saying they are really good at feeling what is happening inside their bodies.
When you are mindful, you are present. You are not worrying about calories. You are not scrolling on your phone. You are just enjoying the act of eating.
If you are curious about who we are and why we care so much about this, learn more about us at The Full Plate Community.
Quotes About Stopping the Food Fight
Diet culture teaches us to fight with food. It tells us some foods are “good” and some are “bad.” This creates a lot of guilt. One of the best ways to practice mindfulness is to reject that guilt.
Here is a powerful quote from the authors of Intuitive Eating, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, about making peace with food:
“Call a truce, stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing.”2
When you stop fighting, you can finally relax. You can hear what your body actually wants.
Another quote that helps you get into a mindful mindset is about tossing out old rules.
“Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently.”3
You cannot be mindful if you are following a strict set of rules from a stranger. Mindfulness comes from within you.
Quotes About Enjoying Your Food
Did you know you are allowed to enjoy eating? It is true! In fact, finding satisfaction is a huge part of mindful eating. If you eat food you do not like just because it is “healthy,” you will probably look for more food later.
This is one of our favorite mindful eating quotes because it is so simple:
“If you don’t love it, don’t eat it, and if you love it, savor it.”4
This quote reminds us to be picky in a good way. Do not settle for stale cookies or boring salads if that is not what you want.
When you really pay attention to the flavor and texture of food, you might be surprised. You might find that you are satisfied with less food than you thought.
Here is a list of things to notice when you eat to boost your satisfaction:
- Taste: Is it salty, sweet, sour, or bitter?
- Texture: Is it crunchy, smooth, or creamy?
- Temperature: Is it hot or cold?5
If you want to practice this, we have some great tools you can download. Download some of our our free guides and checklists to help you connect with your food.
Quotes About Respecting Your Body
It is hard to be mindful if you are mean to your body. If you are constantly judging your stomach or your arms, you are not really present. You are in your head, worrying about the future or the past.
Here is a quote about respecting your genetic blueprint:
“Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size.”6
Think about that. You would not be mad at your feet for not fitting into a smaller shoe. Why be mad at your body for being its natural size?
When you respect your body, you take better care of it. You feed it when it is hungry. You rest when it is tired.
“All bodies deserve dignity.”7
This is a short quote, but it is very strong. Repeat this to yourself when you are having a bad body image day.
How to Use These Quotes in Real Life
Reading mindful eating quotes is nice, but using them is better. Here is how you can put these words into action.
1. Write Them Down
Put your favorite quote on a sticky note. Stick it on your mirror or your fridge. When you see it, take a deep breath. Check in with your body.
2. Pause Before You Eat
Before you take a bite, ask yourself a question. “Am I hungry?” or “Does this food sound good?” This small pause helps you switch from autopilot to mindful mode.
3. Seek Support
Changing how you eat is hard work. You do not have to do it alone. Sometimes you need a professional to guide you. A Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor can help you navigate these principles without turning them into a new diet.
Differences Between Mindless and Mindful Eating
| Mindless Eating | Mindful / Intuitive Eating |
|---|---|
| Eating while watching TV or driving. | Eating without distractions when possible. |
| Ignoring hunger until you are starving. | Honoring hunger when it starts. |
| Cleaning your plate because you “have to.” | Stopping when you feel comfortably full. |
| Feeling guilty after eating dessert. | Enjoying dessert and moving on. |
If you are ready to stop dieting and start trusting your body, we would love to help. We hold regular events to help you learn these skills. Check out our Workshops page to see what is coming up next.
Final Thoughts
Mindful eating is not about being perfect. It is about being conscious. It is about bringing kindness to the table. As one client in the book said after learning these skills:
“I feel like I’m out of prison. I’m free and not thinking about food all the time anymore.”8
That freedom is waiting for you, too.
Ready to fill your life with more than just food worries?
Join The Full Plate Intuitive Eating Community today and start your journey toward food freedom!
Footnotes
1: Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach, 4th ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2020), 23.
2: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 70.
3: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 68.
4: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 73.
5: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 188-189.
6: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 367.
7: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 75.
8: Tribole and Resch, Intuitive Eating, 18.
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FAQ
The main goal is to shift from eating on autopilot to eating with awareness. It involves noticing the taste, texture, and aroma of your food, as well as tuning into your body’s internal signals for hunger and fullness. This helps you break free from external diet rules and trust your own body.
Quotes act as powerful, bite-sized reminders to change your mindset. For example, reminding yourself to “throw out the diet books” can help you reject the false hope of quick weight loss fixes and focus on long-term peace with food. Placing these quotes in visible spots can interrupt old diet thoughts.
It means calling a truce and stopping the fight with food. If you tell yourself you can’t have a certain food, it often leads to feelings of deprivation and uncontrollable cravings. Giving yourself permission takes the power away from the food and reduces the urge to binge.
This is a common fear, but the principle of “Discover the Satisfaction Factor” suggests otherwise. When you eat what you actually want in an inviting environment, the pleasure you get helps you feel satisfied and content, often with less food than you might expect.
Respecting your body starts with accepting your genetic blueprint. Just as you wouldn’t expect a size eight foot to squeeze into a size six shoe, it is futile to expect your body to fit a size that isn’t natural for it. Treating your body with dignity is the first step toward feeling better about who you are.
This is a term used to describe the ability to perceive physical sensations that arise from within your body, such as a racing heart, a full bladder, or hunger and satiety cues. Intuitive and mindful eating help increase this awareness so you can better understand what your body needs.
Mindful eating encourages you to pause in the middle of eating to ask yourself how the food tastes and what your current hunger level is. Listening for these body signals helps you detect when you are no longer hungry and when you are comfortably full.
No. Dieting relies on external rules to tell you what, when, and how much to eat. Mindful and Intuitive Eating are about relying on internal cues and rejecting the diet mentality that has led to feelings of failure in the past. It is about making peace with food, not restricting it.