Follow Mindful Eating And Enjoy Health Benefits
When it comes to eating, many people put cart before the horse : They focus on what to eat before giving care and attention to how they eat. It is like deciding what furniture to put in a house that has not even been built.
And it is a pattern we see time and again. Someone is fixated on improving their nutrition because they want to loose weight , or are worried about their cholesterol or blood sugar, but it turns out they are also skipping meals, grazing mindlessly or locked in a chronic cycle of yo yo dieting.
You've been working hard on a project on the computer, and it's time for at treat. You've been holding off, waiting for the delicious taste of - here, please fill in the blank. Coffee ice cream? a piece of dark chocolate? a doughnut? an onion bagel? some fresh strawberries?
For me, it would be a creamy, sweet-sour lemon tart.
You take the first bite. Very yummy! You take the second bite. Still yummy, maybe a little less yummy than the first bite, but never mind. You glance at the computer and something catches your eye. A Hollywood scandal, a political gaff, a weird and wacky video. You click on it, watch, and continue eating.
Disappearing food!
Suddenly you look down. Where did that treat go? Your fingers are sticky and there's still a trace of flavor on your tongue, so it must have disappeared down the hatch while you weren't looking . . . or smelling, or tasting, or enjoying. Disappointment and dissatisfaction set in. "That one just vanished! I'd better have another one." Next the internal critic voice pipes up "What are you thinking? One treat is enough. You know you're trying to lose weight/eat better/stop grazing/etc."
Thus begins the struggle over the simple, biologically natural, pleasurable act of eating.
How is it that food and eating have become such a common source of unhappiness? And why has it occurred to the people with decent standard of living? The fundamental reason for our imbalance with food and eating is that we've forgotten how to be present as we eat. We eat mindlessly.
Food, fat cells and the stomach are not the problem
Food experts decided that the problem was in the food, so they have used chemical technology to take the calories out, the fat out, and to substitute chemical sweeteners and artificial fats. Food is food. It is neither good nor bad. Then experts came to conclusion that the problem was our fat cells, so doctor has liposuctioned them out. Fat cells are just trying to do their job, which is to store energy for lean times ahead or for famine. For most of our evolutionary history, starvation was one snowstorm or drought away. Our fat cells are there to help us survive! In African continent, local skinny women there have trouble finding spouses. They aren't considered good marriage material ---- they'll get sick and die on you!
Then doctors then decided that the digestive system was the problem, so they staple the stomach or surgically by-pass the small intestine. The digestive system is just trying to do its job, breaking down food, absorbing nutrients and excreting what's not needed. There's no question that bariatric surgery can be an emergency life-saving measure for some people. It works by forcing people to eat mindfully, causing pain and vomiting if they don't. It is very expensive, has lots of side effects, and is not a long-term solution for the majority of people or for children with out-of-balance eating.
The problem is not in the food, the fat cells or the stomach and intestines. The problem lies in the mind. It lies in our lack of awareness of the messages coming in from our body, from our very cells and from our heart. Mindful eating helps us learn to hear what our body is telling us about hunger and satisfaction. It helps us become aware of who in the body/heart/mind complex is hungry, and how and what is best to nourish it. Mindful eating is natural, interesting, fun, and cheap.
What Is Mindfulness ?
Let's start with what Mindfulness is. It is deliberately paying attention, being fully aware of what is happening both inside and outside yourself - in your body, heart and mind - and outside yourself, in your environment. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgement.
The last sentence is very important. In mindful eating, we do not compare ourselves to anyone else. We do not judge ourselves or others. We are simply witnessing the many sensations and thoughts that come up as we eat. The recipe for mindful eating calls for the warming effect of kindness and the spice of curiosity.
What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating involves paying full attention to the experience of eating and drinking, both inside and outside the body. We should pay attention to the colors, smells, textures, flavors, temperatures, and even the sounds of our food. We should pay attention to the experience of the body. Where in the body do we feel hunger? Where do we feel satisfaction? What does half-full feel like, or three quarters full?
We should also pay attention to the mind. While avoiding judgement or criticism, we should watch when the mind gets distracted, pulling away from full attention to what we are eating or drinking. We should watch the impulses that arise after we've taken a few sips or bites: to grab a book, to turn on the TV, to call someone on our cell phone, or to do web search on some interesting subject. We notice the impulse and return to just eating.
We should also notice how eating affects our mood and how our emotions like anxiety influence our eating. Gradually we regain the sense of ease and freedom with eating that we had in childhood. It is our natural birthright.
The old habits of eating and not paying attention are not easy to change. Don't try to make drastic changes. Lasting change takes time, and is built on many small changes. We start simply.
Mindful eating homework
(1) Try taking the first four sips of a cup of hot tea or coffee with full attention?
(2) If you are reading and eating, try alternating these activities, not doing both at once? Read a page, then put the book down and eat a few bites, savoring the tastes, then read another page, and so on.
(3) At family meals, you might ask everyone to eat in silence for the first five minutes, thinking about the many people who brought the food to your plates.
(4) Try eating one meal a week mindfully, alone and in silence.
Be creative. For example, eat your lunch behind a closed office door, or even alone in our car and feel the difference.
Enjoy your meal!
For me, it would be a creamy, sweet-sour lemon tart.
You take the first bite. Very yummy! You take the second bite. Still yummy, maybe a little less yummy than the first bite, but never mind. You glance at the computer and something catches your eye. A Hollywood scandal, a political gaff, a weird and wacky video. You click on it, watch, and continue eating.
Disappearing food!
Suddenly you look down. Where did that treat go? Your fingers are sticky and there's still a trace of flavor on your tongue, so it must have disappeared down the hatch while you weren't looking . . . or smelling, or tasting, or enjoying. Disappointment and dissatisfaction set in. "That one just vanished! I'd better have another one." Next the internal critic voice pipes up "What are you thinking? One treat is enough. You know you're trying to lose weight/eat better/stop grazing/etc."
Thus begins the struggle over the simple, biologically natural, pleasurable act of eating.
How is it that food and eating have become such a common source of unhappiness? And why has it occurred to the people with decent standard of living? The fundamental reason for our imbalance with food and eating is that we've forgotten how to be present as we eat. We eat mindlessly.
Food, fat cells and the stomach are not the problem
Food experts decided that the problem was in the food, so they have used chemical technology to take the calories out, the fat out, and to substitute chemical sweeteners and artificial fats. Food is food. It is neither good nor bad. Then experts came to conclusion that the problem was our fat cells, so doctor has liposuctioned them out. Fat cells are just trying to do their job, which is to store energy for lean times ahead or for famine. For most of our evolutionary history, starvation was one snowstorm or drought away. Our fat cells are there to help us survive! In African continent, local skinny women there have trouble finding spouses. They aren't considered good marriage material ---- they'll get sick and die on you!
Then doctors then decided that the digestive system was the problem, so they staple the stomach or surgically by-pass the small intestine. The digestive system is just trying to do its job, breaking down food, absorbing nutrients and excreting what's not needed. There's no question that bariatric surgery can be an emergency life-saving measure for some people. It works by forcing people to eat mindfully, causing pain and vomiting if they don't. It is very expensive, has lots of side effects, and is not a long-term solution for the majority of people or for children with out-of-balance eating.
The problem is not in the food, the fat cells or the stomach and intestines. The problem lies in the mind. It lies in our lack of awareness of the messages coming in from our body, from our very cells and from our heart. Mindful eating helps us learn to hear what our body is telling us about hunger and satisfaction. It helps us become aware of who in the body/heart/mind complex is hungry, and how and what is best to nourish it. Mindful eating is natural, interesting, fun, and cheap.
What Is Mindfulness ?
Let's start with what Mindfulness is. It is deliberately paying attention, being fully aware of what is happening both inside and outside yourself - in your body, heart and mind - and outside yourself, in your environment. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgement.
The last sentence is very important. In mindful eating, we do not compare ourselves to anyone else. We do not judge ourselves or others. We are simply witnessing the many sensations and thoughts that come up as we eat. The recipe for mindful eating calls for the warming effect of kindness and the spice of curiosity.
What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating involves paying full attention to the experience of eating and drinking, both inside and outside the body. We should pay attention to the colors, smells, textures, flavors, temperatures, and even the sounds of our food. We should pay attention to the experience of the body. Where in the body do we feel hunger? Where do we feel satisfaction? What does half-full feel like, or three quarters full?
We should also pay attention to the mind. While avoiding judgement or criticism, we should watch when the mind gets distracted, pulling away from full attention to what we are eating or drinking. We should watch the impulses that arise after we've taken a few sips or bites: to grab a book, to turn on the TV, to call someone on our cell phone, or to do web search on some interesting subject. We notice the impulse and return to just eating.
We should also notice how eating affects our mood and how our emotions like anxiety influence our eating. Gradually we regain the sense of ease and freedom with eating that we had in childhood. It is our natural birthright.
The old habits of eating and not paying attention are not easy to change. Don't try to make drastic changes. Lasting change takes time, and is built on many small changes. We start simply.
Mindful eating homework
(1) Try taking the first four sips of a cup of hot tea or coffee with full attention?
(2) If you are reading and eating, try alternating these activities, not doing both at once? Read a page, then put the book down and eat a few bites, savoring the tastes, then read another page, and so on.
(3) At family meals, you might ask everyone to eat in silence for the first five minutes, thinking about the many people who brought the food to your plates.
(4) Try eating one meal a week mindfully, alone and in silence.
Be creative. For example, eat your lunch behind a closed office door, or even alone in our car and feel the difference.
Enjoy your meal!
Hi my Name is Mark. I Read your Blog Its very Infomative. This is my blog. Here You Can Find Health Tips. The Art of mindful eating.
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