5 Eating Mistakes That Ruin Even the Healthiest Diet

Most people focus on what they eat, but very few pay attention to how they eat — and that’s where things go wrong.

On paper, our diet plans often look correct.

But even after following the “right” diet plan, we make several mistakes that turn healthier eating a wasteful exercise. So we decided to dig deeper into this problem, and found 5 mistakes that we make — before, during, or after eating food.

Now, among these 5 mistakes below, you might be doing one or all of them, so do read this blog till the end, as you will not just know the mistakes but will learn how to fix them.

1) Eating Without Hunger 

Now read this carefully, think of eating food like conducting a Havan Ritual (Yadnya). Before conducting a Havan, we gather all the ingredients needed and keep them together. We bow down before we take a seat and slowly offer the ingredients to the fire to raise it slowly.

Is there anyone who casually throws the ingredients into Havan while walking here & there? No! Because you know there are some rules to conducting a Havan, but when it comes to the fire burning in our stomach, why do we forget everything and keep adding food into it while casually doing something or the other? even if the digestive fire is not lit.

When you eat again and again throughout the day, by the time it's lunch or dinner, you don't even experience real hunger anymore. You still eat lunch or dinner, but your digestive fire is not even burning, and on your extinguished digestive fire, you dump a plate full of dal-rice, roti-sabzi, idli-sambhar, etc. on top of it.

Samarth Ramdas Swami, guru of the legend Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, wrote in his shloka – “Udar bharan nohe janije yadnya karma”, meaning “Eating is not just for filling the stomach, but a sacred act of yadnya.”

So in summary, eat only when you're hungry. Real hunger can be experienced as a growling sound in your stomach. Remember to keep a gap between your meals. If you're not hungry, then simply skip your meals.

2) Eating When You’re Angry, Irritated, Tensed, or Stressed 

Imagine you're sitting down to have dinner after a long, hard day of work. Your plate has your favourite food. You're feeling really hungry too, the kind of hunger that makes a growling sound in your stomach. You're just about to put the first bite in your mouth, but suddenly your phone rings. You find out that your best friend had an accident.

What do you do? You keep your plate aside that very moment, but how did your hunger die in just a few seconds? Because when there's any kind of problem on your mind like fear, stress, tension, irritation, or anger, the whole energy in your body starts going to the brain & when all the energy in your body is working up there, then will there be any energy left to do the work in the stomach?

Deepak Chopra, a renowned bestselling author widely known for his mind–body healing teachings, said in one of his interviews —

“Your state of awareness will influence how your food is metabolised. It's not just the food you eat, but what your consciousness and your state of emotions are at the time you're eating. Your state of mind can convert nectar into poison and the other way around, to poison into nectar”

So, when you're eating, eat only when you're happy, relaxed and comfortable. Now, if you're eating while watching a violent movie or a sad news story, you're eating while others are arguing around you, then how will your mind be at ease? While eating, if there's something giving you even a little bit of stress, set it aside immediately and eat in a stable, peaceful and happy state. You'll see how much of an impact this one change will make on your digestion.

3) Mixing Too Many Foods at Once 

I’m sure you’ve been to an Indian wedding, and your meal plate will likely be something like this. A mix of dal, some rice, and rotis, 2-3 types of sabzis along with it, some salad, some raita, papad, of course! Oh! We forgot about the chutney and pickle, and why not end it with a sweet kheer after all this? If you eat a plate like this, no matter how hungry you are, no matter how relaxed you are, your poor stomach will be confused about what to digest.

Look, your stomach can only digest one type of food at a time. It can only release one type of digestive juice at a time. So, when you give it food like this, which has lots of different things in it, your stomach won't be able to release so many different types of digestive juices. What happens then? What you can't digest will keep sitting and rotting in your body and create problems like acidity, headache, obesity, lethargy, and pimples.

4) Eating Till Our Stomach is Absolutely Full

Go to your kitchen and take a mixer. Now, stuff it with ingredients till the top. Then turn it on. What happens? Will you be able to mix anything? No, absolutely not! Forget about the mixer. Think about your washing machine. If you totally stuff it with clothes, will it be able to wash them properly?

No! Why? Because it's nature's law that to mix anything, you need some empty space. When we don't do this with our mixer, why do we do it with our stomach? Eating till we're totally stuffed has turned into a new ritual these days. We feel that unless we don't eat until we're full, we'll become weak. So, what do we do?

Our Shastras teach us:

• ½ stomach for food
• ¼ for digestive fluids
• ¼ left empty

5) Working Directly After a Meal 

Your body can only do one thing properly at a time. Either digestion work or thinking work. When you get back to work right after eating your food, a conflict starts inside your body. Your stomach says I need all your energy, or else how will I digest it? And your mind says - No! I need all the power. How will I do this thinking work? Ultimately, the power in your body is split into 2 parts, and both things can't be done properly. We feel lazy while working, and our meals don't digest properly.

So, take some rest after your meal. How long? For at least 10 mins and maximum up to 30 mins, as much time as you can give.

The Next Time You’re About to Eat 

Make sure you are hungry, then sit comfortably with a relaxed mind without any distractions. Take a moment and thank whichever God you believe in for having food on the table. Say in mind – “Annadata Sukhibhava” meaning May the provider of food be happy, hence expressing gratitude towards whoever is involved in making this food on your table, like the cook, farmer, trader, mother earth, the sun, etc. Acknowledge their effort and start eating with small bites, make sure you don’t mix more than 2-3 food types (Avoid Viruddha Ahara), limit eating to half the stomach only. Take some rest after eating your meal. Don't go back to work directly.

Now, you know what you have been missing despite having a healthy diet. It’s not just about the healthy food, but more importantly, how you take it.