It's no secret that many women have a dysfunctional relationship with food and often turn to eating to deal with emotional issues. Psychologist Dr. Susan Albers has a new book coming out this month on the subject: 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food. Here, she discusses mindful eating and offers lots of tips for being a healthier, more mindful eater.

Q: What is mindful eating?

A: Mindful eating is a not a diet. There are no menus or recipes. It is simply about being more aware of what you eat. Eating is such a routine behavior that you can eat an entire plate of food and not taste one bite. You can also fall into repetitive mindless eating habits (eating a snack at the same time each day, stress eating at work etc). When you are eating mindfully, you enjoy your food, savor it and also feel more in control. It's the polar opposite of binging.

Q: Why is it important and how can it help?

A: Mindful eating is important because it is a long-term approach to eating (versus dieting which is short term). Mindful eating is realistic. It doesn't cut out any foods from your diet.

When you slow down, you think more clearly. You are less reactive. Being mindful helps you be more aware of how you unconsciously and consciously react to food and find new ways to deal with the situation without leaning on eating.

Overall, your weight impacts your mental and physical health. It's a chicken and egg effect. Unhealthy eating habits lead you to feel depressed and when you are depressed you don't eat well. People who manage their diet well are physically and mentally healthier.

22 Tips for More Mindful Eating:

1. Mindfully soothe yourself WITHOUT food: Your refrigerator is a lousy source of comfort. Using food to soothe ourselves is like taking an aspirin for a broken arm. A more effective way to deal with stress is to target specific areas of tension. Find alternative ways to soothe yourself without food. Some examples:

2. Pamper Your Body: We carry a lot of stress and tension in our bodies. Some of stress eating is trying to restore the balance of our stress hormones. Try self massage. People often do this unconsciously when they rub their temples or their eyes. For example, clasp your fingers together and gently massage under your hair. (more examples in the book 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food)

3. Calm Your Mind: Go on shut down mode. Much of stress eating is a way to cope with being over stimulated by all the demands of your day and to unwind. Turn off your cell phone. Shut off the lights. Allow yourself 5 minutes of guilt-free uninterrupted quiet.

4. Mindfulness Meditation: For the nervous eater, breathing exercises are helpful. Instead of focusing on the content of these words instructing you to get food now, you draw your attention to a very different dialogue. The dialogue in your head is the instructions on how to breathe well. One example goes like this. "I am drawing my attention to my chest as I watch it go up and down with each entering breath. I'll count to three as I draw this breath in." Just reviewing the instructions has now disengaged your mind from the pursuit of food (even if for a few moments).

5. Mindful Distraction: For the worry eater, this is finding an activity to place your attention on that moves you out of the vicinity of food, keeps your hands busy so you can't be eating. For example, knitting, swimming or gardening.

6. Social Support: Nothing is more soothing than a comforting word from other person. Create your own blog or choose a blog to follow. There are many emotional eaters on the web who have created helpful sites. Reading these can make you feel like you are not alone. It can also keep you distracted and give you additional tips. This is a little different than journaling in that it is interactive.

7. Mindfully Store Food: If you can see it, you are more likely to want to eat it, even if you aren't hungry. You may not have been craving donuts until you pass them in the lunchroom. Then, you can't get them off your mind. Strategically placing food falls in line with the "out of sight, out of mind" principle. The opposite is true as well. You are more likely to eat healthy foods if they are placed in a convenient location. Keep a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. Thrown a healthy snack into your purse. When you don't have healthy food handy, you are tempted to eat anything.

8. Avoid Multitasking: When you eat, just eat. It's tempting to eat while you work, talk on the phone or answer an e-mail. But according to research, this can actually interfere with mindful eating, or eating enough to satisfy your hunger without going overboard. So even if it is a few moments, put down whatever you are doing and focus on your snack.

9. TV-Less Dinners: It's tempting to turn on the TV while you eat. But, studies show that TV watching leads to mindless eating. TV commercials stimulate your hunger. Also, your attention is focused on the TV show and not on your food.

10. Sit Down: It sounds simple enough but too often we are eating standing over a counter, eating a bagel while we walk or munching as we make dinner. You will pay much more attention to how much food you eat when you are focused on it. Commit to eating only while you are sitting.

11. Leave Evidence: Leave a trail. Keep the candy bar wrapper on your desk. Don't throw away the baggie once you are finished with the bag of pretzels. Keep physical evidence or reminders helps you to be more mindful of what you eat.

12. Create Mindful Yield Signs: Mindful eating is much like the way we approach a yield sign. We slow down and look for cues if it is safe to continue driving. The same approach can be used with eating. You don't have to stop eating. But, yield and examine your plate and your hunger to see if it is advisable to keep eating. Create your own yield moments. Instead of eating out of the bag of chips, put it in a smaller bowl. Or, put crackers into a baggie instead of eating right out of the sleeve.

13. Take Mindful Bites: Think of your mouth as being like a magnifying glass, zooming in. Imagine that each bite is magnified 100 percent. Pay close attention to all your senses. Use your tongue to feel the texture. Gauge the temperature. Take a whiff of the aroma. Ask yourself, "How does it really taste? What does it feel like in my mouth? Is this something I really want? Does it satisfy my taste buds? Is my mind truly present when I take a bite so that I experience it fully?"

14. Mindful Shopping: Mindful eating begins with mindful shopping. For people who are just beginning the process of mindful eating, do some investigation. Take an old receipt and circle all the items that were impulse buys and/or contributed to your mindless eating. This should help you to gauge some of your vulnerabilities at the grocery store. Many people race through the store trying to the get the task done. Schedule in a time that you can leisurely stroll through the store. Investigate new products. For some people, it helps to make a list prior to shopping to help them be more aware of the foods they "need" versus the foods they "want."

15. Like it, Love it Principle: When people begin to be more mindful of what they eat, they cut out the foods they don't really like. An example of eating mediocre food-taking a bite of free food at the grocery store or eating a cookie that you don't really like at a party. Mindful eaters begin to distinguish between foods they really love and enjoy and the food that is mediocre. They may eat dessert, but they are choosy about what they feel is worth their time to eat.

16. Buy the Highest Quality of Food You Can: Chocolate is a great example. Consider how you might approach a cheap bag of bulk candy versus an expensive bar of high quality bar of chocolate. Cost of food matters. It makes us much more conscious of what we eat.

17. Add in, Instead of Cut Out: Dieters are used to thinking in terms of subtraction. They ask themselves, what I can cut out of my diet. Mindful eaters think in terms of addition. They are asking themselves consciously, "What can I add to my diet to make it healthier."

18. Practice Mindful Eating: It is important to intentionally practice mindful eating. It is like building any other skill. You don't want to learn how to swim when you are drowning. Learn how to swim when the waters are calm. The same thing applies to mindful eating. Initially, practice the skill when you are feeling calm and relaxed rather than in the midst of a strong craving. Try taking mindful bites through dinner. Or, stop what you are doing to have a mindful snack at work.

19. The How of Eating: Notice how you eat. Fast? Slow? In private? Never put your fork down between bites? Are you stuck in any mindless habits? Ask yourself, "Is there something I do over and over again that lends itself to mindless eating? Do I have any ingrained habits concerning how I snack? When I pick up my fork, what stands in the way of my feeling in charge of my eating?" You can change the way you eat or ingrained habits by doing something different. For example, use chopsticks or a different plate, eat in a new location, and buy a new fruit or bread.

20. Take Your Hunger Temperature: Before, during, and after you eat, take your "hunger temperature." Gauge how hungry you are on a scale from 1-10

21. Mindful Moment: We often only size up our hunger right before meals. Pick a prompt to help you remember to check in with your hunger throughout the day. This helps you to understand the ebbs and flows in your hunger and to eat before you reach the point that you are too hungry. For example, every time your cell phone rings, ask yourself, "How hungry am I on a scale of 1-10"

22. Put Down Your Fork: Many people never put their fork down even once while they eat. Putting down your silverware gives you a moment to pause. In that moment ask yourself how satiated you feel. Put your fork down intentionally at least three times during a meal.