Taking part in yoga on a regular basis appears to be associated with more thoughtful, and as a consequence healthier eating practices. It has been suggested that yoga can help prevent the onset of “middle-age spread” while promoting weight loss in overweight individuals. There is even some indication that because of the positive mind body association that can result, yoga may even lead to fewer eating disorders than traditional aerobic exercises, which include jogging.

The current research was undertaken by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Subjects were surveyed using a novel Mindful Eating Questionnaire that measured such factors as awareness, response to external cues, response to emotional cues, distraction, and disinhibition, or eating beyond the point of feeling full.

The study was in fact inspired by an earlier one by the same group that found that over a ten year period, middle-aged people who practiced yoga regularly gained less weight than those that did not, irregardless of their level of physical activity or dietary intake.

The researchers hypothesized that the healthier diet was rooted in the mindfulness and greater thought that develops from yoga. People who were more conscientious of what they ate were more prone to be aware of the reason they were eating. As a consequence, they were more likely to stop eating when they were sated. On the other hand, people who ate mindlessly tended to overeat as well as turn to food for comfort during times of depression or anxiety. Interestingly, there was no connection found between mindful eating and more stringent physical activity like walking or running.

Yoga develops this mindful approach to eating, and for that matter everything in life, because it requires the participant to focus on their breathing while enduring the discomfort that can arise from holding challenging poses, all with an open and accepting mind. The resulting calm disposition carries over into other situations, including eating, or rather, knowing when to stop.

Experts in the field of yoga feel that this is yet another step towards a greater understanding of behavior and diet that will hopefully lead to a healthier relationship between food and eating habits.

As for yoga itself, there is already a large body of information that supports its many potential health benefits, including increasing the quality of life for asthma sufferers, lessening back pain, and helping to ease anxiety and depression.

Furthermore, yoga is low impact and can be practiced by most people at any age. For more information, speak to your physician or contact a yoga instructor in your area. You never know, it just might be a great addition to a healthy and mindful approach to living.