Mindfulness Practices Are Becoming the Backbone of Disordered Eating Programs

Studies suggest that chewing thoroughly and eating more slowly help maintain a healthy weight. Dean Drobot/Shutterstock

The complication of disordered eating is that food cannot be avoided, unlike the source of other addictive behaviors.

It’s a delicate mental illness that hides on the fringes of a diet-obsessed culture driven to focus on the exterior. Yet experts are finding that shifting exceedingly to psychology—particularly the practice of mindfulness—is altering the success rate of programs.