{"id":568984,"date":"2026-07-31T17:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/568984\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:18:23","slug":"the-10-second-pre-meal-ritual-a-nutritionist-swears-by-to-beat-emotional-eating-and-negative-self-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/568984\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10-second pre-meal ritual a nutritionist swears by to beat emotional eating and negative self-talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Healthy eating<\/a> isn’t just about what food is on your plate, it’s also about the way you feel before you eat, according to nutritionist Sarah Ann Macklin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The author of Healthy Shouldn\u2019t Be This Hard<\/a> explains that many of us bring stress, guilt and self-criticism to mealtimes without even realising it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Macklin says we should be focusing on what\u2019s happening in the mind, not on the plate.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos FromFit&Well<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at health the wrong way round,\u201d she says. \u201cRather than thinking about food, we need to first build on the foundation of our mind and how we see ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her go-to solution is a 10-second self-compassion prayer before eating, which she says helps shift the body out of stress mode and can support a healthier relationship with food\u2014a helpful mindset ritual that creates a gap between feeling and feeding.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often emotionally eat on autopilot,\u201d says Macklin. \u201cEver found yourself standing in front of the fridge at 9pm at night and not even asking yourself if you\u2019re hungry?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ritual creates a small pause between emotion and action. That gap is often where choice comes back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Macklin says stress and negative emotions can drive unhealthy food choices, but we can change the way we think about food by practicising self-compassion, which gets stronger over time.<\/p>\n

She says: \u201cSelf compassion is hard but it\u2019s our superpower, and like a muscle it needs to be trained.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to do the 10-second self-compassion prayer ritual<\/p>\n

Macklin says that when we practice self-compassion we can better connect to what she calls the mindful brain and therefore have a less emotional reaction to food.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

She recommends the following simple ritual before eating:<\/p>\n

Put down your phone and avoid other distractions such as eating in front of the TV.Pause for 10-20 seconds before eating.Take a deep breath then say something compassionate to yourself. For example, \u201cI deserve to nourish my body with this meal\u201d or \u201cThis meal is an act of care, not something I need to earn\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this does is it creates a space before you eat to connect away from your screen, away from your phone, back to intention,\u201d says Macklin. \u201cIt brings you back to the present moment, and it helps to create feelings of gratitude and joy around food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-criticism can trigger the body\u2019s stress response, says Macklin, increasing cortisol levels and shifting the body into threat mode. This signals to the body to divert blood flow away from digestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re in a threat response, digestion is deprioritised. Your blood is going to your extremities because your body is getting ready to run, not rest and digest,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Macklin says the self-compassion prayer acts as a circuit breaker, interrupting that stress response before eating, allowing the body to settle into a more relaxed state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re more compassionate and more mindful, the whole body is calmer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why self-compassion is a muscle you need to train<\/p>\n

Negative self-talk can quickly get out of hand, explains Macklin, and we can berate ourselves in ways we would never consider saying out loud to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you actually spoke to your friend the way you sometimes speak to yourself, you probably wouldn\u2019t have any friends,\u201d she jokes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be gentler with ourselves. Self-compassion is a muscle that you have to build and grow. It doesn’t just happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, it gets stronger and you step into more mindful decisions that are right for you, whether that’s health choices or in other areas of your life.”<\/p>\n

She finishes by explaining that research<\/a> has shown that your brain will believe what you tell it when it comes to what you\u2019re eating, so it\u2019s important to be kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re often unaware of the constant internal dialogue running in the background. But it\u2019s those small shifts in self-talk\u2014self-compassion rather than criticism\u2014that can create the most powerful long-term change.\u201d<\/p>\n

This 10-second self-compassion prayer is just one of the mindset tricks Macklin uses with clients to help them overcome emotional eating\u2014all of which are listed in her new book.<\/p>\n

Healthy Shouldn\u2019t Be This Hard<\/a> by Sarah Ann Macklin is out now.<\/p>\n

About our expert<\/p>\n

\"female<\/p>\n

About our expert<\/p>\n

\nSarah Ann Macklin\n<\/p>\n

Nutritionist, podcaster and author<\/p>\n

Sarah Ann Macklin is a nutritionist and founder of the acclaimed podcast \u201cLive Well Be Well\u201d.<\/p>\n

A former top international model, she spent years pursuing the \u201cperfect\u201d body until burnout forced a reckoning. Over a decade ago, she walked away to study nutritional science, to understand why all the \u201cright\u201d habits had left her so unwell.<\/p>\n

Her years in a Harley Street practice inspired her to help an even wider audience break free from the optimisation trap, and through her podcast, she has interviewed some of the world\u2019s leading voices in the health space<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Healthy eating isn’t just about what food is on your plate, it’s also about the way you feel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,85,46,543],"class_list":["post-568984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}