Eating Mindfully

One of the sessions in my ayurveda class was on how to eat. The instructor stressed the importance of eating mindfully.

You may be asking yourself what that means right now.

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully engaged in the present.

To mindfully eat, you will need to find a calm, quiet place to eat. Then, while eating, you are not thinking about the past or the future, you are noticing everything about the meal. You actively focus on every aspect of the here and now. What does the food look like? How does it smell? How does it feel to touch/in your mouth? What flavors can you taste? How does eating that food make you feel emotionally? Physically? Really focus in on the act of eating.

Modern Western society prides itself on productivity. People pride themselves on not getting enough sleep and multi-tasking to an extreme. We are a society of overstimulated, disconnected people that has been convinced that high productivity is the end goal and that anyone that isn't working themselves to the bone is "lazy."

This overproductivity and multitasking has led to and encouraged people to eat while doing other things. People eat while prepping for a presentation, eat while doing their computer work, eat while doing their school work, eat while watching television, eat while cleaning the house, etc.

A meta-analysis by a team out of University of Birmingham in the UK revealed that peaple who are distracted while eating unconsciously eat more food, both while in the act of eating and throughout the day. (https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)05467-9/fulltext)

Another reason eating while doing other things is problematic iis that it decreases your satisfaction with your meal. You can consume a fully nutritious meal with pleny of calories and still feel hungry after if you aren't focused on the act of eating your meal. (https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpspa0000389)

Both of those concepts of course then combine and can easily lead to overeating and accidental weight gain.

Distracted eating can also lead to increased incidences of digestive issues such as IBS and heart burn due to the stressful nature of living a life in which you are feeling pressured to eat while engaging in other activities. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7219460/)

I am not advocating for mindful eating as a weight loss technique. I am advocating for mindful eating as a way to get in better touch with our bodies and ourselves. Mindful eating is the opposite of distracted eating, it is focused eating. It can lead to eating less, being more satisfied with your meal, and being more in tune with your body.

I know that the idea of slowing down long enough to fully focus on every single thing you eat and drink can feel daunting, especially if you live a fast paced, super stressed life. My suggestion, just like it is with any life changes, is to start small.

Pick one meal a day and challenge yourself to really focus in on it for a week. 7 days. Start with that. Maybe it is breakfast, maybe it is dinner, maybe it is dessert. Just pick one time to sit down and really pay attention to what you are eating, with the goal of doing that for a week.

You may have very strong emotional reactions to mindful eating. If you do, I would strongly suggest that instead of scrapping the concept, you sit down and try to unpack those emotions. Understanding why you react to something the way you do can help you find healthier ways of reacting in the future.

At the end of the week, take a moment to reflect on the process. Did you notice any changes to how you felt about that meal? Did you notice any changes to your mental state? Were you able to connect to your body and your emotions more easily with practice?

After reflecting on that week, either choose to continue focusing on that meal or pick another meal to focus on for a week. Then spend some time reflecting on the results. Wash, rinse, repeat.

You may find that it becomes second nature to focus on that meal after a while and decide to add more mindful meals into your challenge. That's awesome!

If you decide to give mindful eating a try, let me know how it goes. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

Until next time. go spread the love and light you want to see in the world,

Kris

These homemade sourdough bagels with tofu spread were amazing!

How to make the tofu spread: take a 16 oz block of firm tofu and lightly squeeze out the liquid. Toss it into a food processor or stand mixer. Add 2 cloves of garlic, splash of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of white miso paste, 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper. Mix until the consistency you want. It's super tasty on bread and after sitting for a day loses most of its tofu flavor.