In the morning, you eat. In the afternoon, you eat. At night, you eat. You also drink water, tea, coffee, and whatever else and surely snack from time to time as well. Whoever you are and whatever your exact routine is, if you're alive and kicking then food is a huge part of your life.
So if we had a way to transform mealtime into a highly nourishing, peaceful, joy-filled, and awakening experience, what would happen? It could positively transform our lives altogether. That's what mindful eating allows us to do, which is the process of eating with mindfulness.
Mindfulness is the act of fully paying attention in a subtle and particular way to the present experience. By bringing this particular form of paying attention to meal time we transform a typically routine and mundane activity into an exercise in peace and tranquility, not to mention the fact that it encourages healthy eating habits.*
There are various ways to bring mindful eating into meal time, these are 5 powerful ways mindful eating will transform your relationship with food:
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5 Powerful Ways Mindful Eating Will Transform Your Relationship With Food
1. Mindful eating
First, the act of mindful eating itself is simple and easy and the basis for the other 4 points. By following these steps you'll be able to start eating mindfully today:
- Pause & savor. Take a moment before eating to notice the aroma of the food. Savor the various smells arising from your plate.
- Eat (mindfully). Be mindful of the lifting of your hands and utensil and, once the bite is placed into your mouth, be completely mindful of the act of chewing the food itself. Experience each flavor as it bursts in your mouth and notice how the food feels as you chew it. And as your major point of attention during mindful eating, be fully present for the act of chewing.
- Simply be (mindfully). When thoughts, feelings, or other sensations arise within your "field of mindfulness" (just like you field of vision, your field of mindfulness is all possible thoughts, feelings, and sensations occurring while you're being mindful), acknowledge them gently with a figurative "tip of the hat" as if they were floating by you on a cloud and then bring your focus back to the act of eating.
- Pause & breathe. Occasionally, in between bites you can be mindful of your in-breath and out-breath if you'd like to really savor your meal and enhance your mindful meal.
It's as simple as that. While eating with mindfulness, remember that you're open to anything and everything that comes into your field of awareness and don't attempt to push any thoughts or sensations away. Accept them openly and simply bring your focus back to the act of chewing/lifting your hands/etc.
Mindful eating is beneficial first and foremost as a type of "meditation-in-action" like walking or driving meditation, allowing you to observe the goings-on of your mind especially with regards to your relationship with food.
But it also works as a nice "pause button" in your day, particularly if you often find yourself rushing around without even noticing what you're doing (most of us are so used to rushing around that we do it even when there is no purpose or benefit to it).
2. Contemplating on the true nature of your meal
We can take mindful eating one step further by contemplating on the nature of the food in front of us.
Like taking a magnifying glass to something, contemplating on the true nature of our food is the practice of looking deeply into each individual piece of food on our plate and seeing not only where it comes from but also what it's made up of.
To do this is simple, simply follow these steps:
- Pick an object. In this case, your food. If you have multiple food items on your plate then pick just one.
- Work backward. That is, take that carrot for instance and start with where you got it- the store. Then imagine, or find out if you don't know, how it got to the store, how it was transported, how it was packaged, how it was farmed, and how it grew from a seed in the ground into a carrot. Lastly, think about the soil and all the things that make up the soil that would eventually provide the seed the nutrients to grow into the carrot as it sits in front of you now.
- Realize interbeing. Lastly, think of how if you were to take away even one of those elements: the farmer, the farm, the soil, the seed, or the facility that packaged and delivered it, the carrot would cease to exist.
This exercise helps us deepen our relationship with, as well as grow a deep sense of appreciation for, the food in front of us.
3. A silent meal
Zen Buddhist monks and nuns eat each meal in silence. Why do they do this? It's difficult to describe, however, for the same reasons that sitting in silence and meditating for a few minutes each day can be beneficial, eating a meal silently in mindfulness can also be just as beneficial.
A silent meal is exactly what it sounds like- eating a meal mindfully and silently. This further enhances the practice of mindful eating and can take an already nourishing experience to the next level.
In the case of eating, it's difficult and rather ineffective to eat mindfully while also maintaining a conversation with someone, so to eat silently is to maintain the maximum benefit from your practice of mindful eating.
Try it out with a friend or colleague and see how great you feel afterward.
4. 30 Chews
Zen Buddhist monks and nuns chew each bite of food no less than 30 times. They do this to help improve their practice of mindful eating, therein emphasizing the act of chewing, the focal point in mindful eating.
This is a nice shift from the way most of us are used to eating, gulping everything down and then rushing off.
But additional chewing doesn't just help us savor the experience of eating with mindfulness. A nice bonus to this practice is that it can also curb overeating and aid in digestion.
When you first try this out it can be difficult to fight the impulse to swallow your food quickly, but with practice, it will become easier to chew for longer periods of time. Try it out a few times at least to get yourself used to it, it's absolutely worth it.
5. Cooking the Buddha
Mindful eating is about more than just the eating itself, it's also cooking and preparing your food in mindfulness as well. Anything that has to do with your relationship with food really should be considered within the realm of mindful eating.
Cooking the Buddha is cooking with mindfulness, and it's the simple act of doing every step of the cooking and preparation process in mindfulness:
- Prepare (mindfully). Carefully lay out each ingredient, being fully present as you pull each ingredient out of the fridge or cupboard and place it down on your counter top.
- Cook (mindfully). Be fully present for the cutting, mixing, and stirring of all ingredients and be there fully in that moment cooking your meal. Don't cook to eat, simply cook, and cook with all of your being as if it were the most important thing in the world.
- Eat (mindfully). Then, enjoy your meal in mindfulness!
Despite the fact that I don't cook often (my wife's cooking is wizardry), this is one of the most enjoyable mindfulness practices I've found. If you cook on a regular basis, this can become a great source of meditation in your daily life.
Mindful eating can transform the way we look at and handle food in many ways. Try it out for yourself and see how it transforms this basic everyday activity into a nourishing meditation. ________________________________________
Get 2 Free Chapters of My Book, Zen for Everyday Life
Zen for Everyday Life is a moment-to-moment mindfulness guide made to help you discover peace and happiness in your everyday life using more than 40 meditations and exercises, including an expansive chapter on the practice of mindful eating.
If you’d like to get 2 free chapters, plus my free email course, enter your name and email below, click the yellow button, and you’ll get the download link sent straight to your inbox:
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Sources:
- *Mindful eating for healthy eating habits: Greatergood.berkeley.edu - Better Eating Through Mindfulness
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