How many handfuls of granola will I eat standing at the kitchen bench before I just make a bowl of granola?

I recently shared on my IG stories about feeling disconnected from mindful eating in this postpartum phase. Despite having healthy eating habits overall, I found myself rushing through meals and snacks without intention.

Many of you resonated with this experience – that familiar feeling of mindlessly eating, leading to either overeating or that nagging thought of “Why did I eat that?”

Breaking these patterns isn’t easy so know that you are not alone. It’s something I went through years ago, and I’m now reconnecting with that initial transformation through the lens of mum life!

So let me help you reconnect. Let’s dig ourselves out of the cycle of mindless eating.

This is not about eating less or following a strict diet—it’s about intentional eating.

It’s a close cousin of mindful eating, but to me, intentional feels more authentic and grounded. It goes beyond simply “eating without distractions”—it’s about actively choosing food and making life decisions from a calm, centered place. When you do this, there’s no guilt or questioning “why did I do that?”

This is a guide to intentional eating. It’s like mindful eating but better.

It’s Not a Willpower Problem. It’s a Disconnection Problem.

We’ve been taught that if we’re “off track” with eating, we need to be stricter. Try harder. Get back on a “plan”.

But here’s the truth: When we’re eating mindlessly, it’s usually not about food. It’s about where our choices are coming from.

Are you eating from a place of calm and connection. Or are you reacting—from stress, distraction, exhaustion, or habit?

I’ve caught both in action, even just this week. My grounded self chooses meals that nourish and satisfy. My distracted self grabs, nibbles, overeats, and feels frustrated afterwards. And interestingly, you actually never feel satisfied, either physically or mentally. Completely different energy, which leads to completely different food choices.

What Is Intentional Eating (and Why It Feels So Different)

Intentional eating isn’t about being perfect. It’s not even about the food itself.

It’s about making eating choices from a centred place.

I bet you’ve often felt like you know what is going to serve you in the moment, but you don’t actually “follow through”.

Intentional eating is about coming back to your true needs in any given moment (instead of your reactive and distractive needs).

And it doesn’t always mean you pick the perfectly healthy food. Sometimes the answer is granola. Sometimes it’s chocolate. Sometimes it’s scrambled eggs and bone broth.

I like to think of it as changing your eating behaviours from the inside out instead of the outside in.

Connect to your core needs and desires and you naturally choose well without needing to force it.

Trying to do it the other way—forcing yourself to do things—without working on the state you’re in never leads to lasting success. Instead, it often results in failure and binging when your willpower runs out or your unprocessed emotions take over.

What Unintentional Eating Looks Like

You might be eating mindlessly if:

• You’re snacking without tasting it.
• You eat just because it’s there.
• You feel rushed or scattered while eating.
• You finish a meal and immediately want something more—without knowing why.
• You think, “Why did I eat that? I didn’t even want it.”

Being more strict doesn’t help this, rather what’s needed is rituals that reconnect you to yourself, to bring yourself out of the head noise and back into your body.

How To Be An Intentional Eater

Part One: Anchor in Ritual

These are my anchors. They’re not rules. They’re gentle rituals that help me reconnect when things feel scattered.

1. Plate everything you eat. No jars, no packets. If it’s worth eating, it’s worth serving.
2. Sit down to eat. Even if it’s only for a few minutes. If sitting isn’t possible, choose one intentional spot to stand. This naturally follows from plating your food—when you take the time to plate it, you’re more likely to treat it as a proper meal rather than letting it become a mindless activity to occupy your hands and mouth.
3. Engineer a pause before going back for more, something to break the cycle. I like to clean the kitchen or at least the plate I was using – just something to let my body catch up to my brain.
4. Bookend your meals with a closing ritual. For me, it’s herbal tea and chocolate. Something that gently signals, “I’m done now.”
5. Minimise distraction when you can. Even one screen-free meal a day can shift your entire relationship with food.

These rituals are small, doable, and surprisingly powerful. These are things that I know help me to re-centre into that calm place.

Part Two: It’s How You Live Every Moment That Matters

Now that you’ve got practical eating rituals, let’s go a layer deeper. Food choices don’t change from forcing control—they change when you’re aligned with yourself.

You need to reconnect with the part of you that already knows how to care for yourself. Re-centering doesn’t have to be dramatic. No Bali meditation retreat required.

I don’t believe in that standard advice of “ask yourself why you want that food” or “take a deep breath before eating”—at that point, it’s already too late.

Instead, this is about making an effort to regulate and tune in at every moment of the day, even outside of eating habits. Morning stillness, a regular meditation practice, and deep breathing throughout the day make the real difference.

This is where holistic wellness matters! There’s so much more to it than just the perfect plate of food. You can see that it’s not a new diet or set of rules you need—perhaps all you need is an hour of phone-free time in the morning. That way, you wake up and start the day as yourself, instead of distracted, stressed, and reactive.

What can you do that forces you to be in the moment? I often find simply putting the phone away and taking a deep breath does the trick. Other times, I use a shower to reset myself if I’m feeling scattered and frantic and this works every time. It brings me back into my body, then I make decisions calmly.

Part Three: Tend to the Real Triggers

This part is the hardest and typically can’t be fixed overnight. Our mindless eating choices are responses to deeper issues: stress, emotions, overwhelm, and unprocessed feelings. By addressing, noticing, and processing these feelings—rather than numbing or distracting ourselves—we can make significant progress, even when it feels uncomfortable.

I’ve found journaling to be the most effective tool for this process. Getting my messy thoughts out on paper helps me process them. Learning to express feelings has been an important skill I’ve developed as an adult. When I need to cry, I let myself cry. When I’m angry, I write it down. Sometimes I process by talking with my husband—I’ll often preface these conversations by saying “I just need to get this out; I’m not looking for solutions.” But journaling remains my go-to method, and it’s wonderfully accessible since it’s free.

Try This Awareness Exercise: 24 Hours of Eating

Look back at your last 24 hours of food.

Which choices felt intentional? Which felt reactive?

Which were calm? Which were chaotic?

Here’s mine:

This morning:

• Water? ✔️ Intentional.
• Coffee in my favourite mug? ✔️ Intentional.
• Almonds while feeding? ✔️ Intentional.
• Watermelon I didn’t really want? ✖️ Not intentional.
• Proper breakfast of eggs, cheese, yoghurt, granola, blueberries? ✔️ Intentional.
• Spoonfuls of granola after I had finals a full breakfast while the baby was fussing and I was rushing to go pick him up? ✖️ Not intentional.
• Dark chocolate with herbal tea after lunch? ✔️ Intentional.

Last night:

• Dinner? ✔️ Intentional.
• Dessert of coconut yoghurt and raw honey? ✔️ Intentional.
• Chopped fruit while packing school lunches? ✖️ Not intentional, just there.

Now please hear me: it’s absolutely not “bad” to eat a few slices of fruit. That’s not what I’m saying.

It’s about awareness. It’s about noticing. Noticing where your eating behaviours are coming from in any moment.

A Plan Moving Forward

Start small.

Don’t try to overhaul your eating overnight.

For now, it’s not about changing what you eat.

It’s about noticing where your choices are coming from.

And remember, even a single moment where you break the cycle can gradually lead to lasting habit changes. Even if it’s the only moment that day! It all counts.

If you liked this, I think you’ll love How Self Worth Can Change Your Eating Habits