How is 2018 treating you so far? Best wishes to all of you resolving to approach your health in a different way this year. By New Year’s Day I’m so aware of how off track I am from the practices that keep me grounded.That’s when I return to the principles of integrative health – nourish, move, rest and relax. (more…)
It’s hard to turn around without hitting something on mindfulness and meditation. Articles are popping up all the time in magazines and online media. What’s really exciting is that some of the studies are beginning to bring science to the kind of situations we’re all familiar with – like craving chocolate and wishing you could stop, or whether you’re going to get to sleep tonight.
Mindful eating takes the practice of mindfulness – paying attention, living in the moment, simplifying, and being aware of your breath – and brings it to eating. Why mess with way you eat now? Because it helps you manage your cravings, curb overeating and be satisfied with less food. It can help you enjoy your the food you’re eating. And mindful chewing improves your digestion by reducing the amount of work the rest of your system has to do.
The benefits are many and definitely worth the effort but I want to be completely upfront about what the practice is like.
Mindful eating is really hard.
And boring. Really, really boring. That’s the genius of mindfulness in reducing overeating. It’s the complete opposite of mindless eating (that’s a statement worthy of Captain Obvious!)
When I’m having my lunch, concentrating on chew, chew, chew, I often can’t be bothered to finish everything I’ve dished up. My personal struggle with impatience rises up to play. I have a million more interesting things to do. Voila, smaller portions.
Gosh, I’m not really selling this well, am I?
Be assured that there are many people who find mindful eating a revelation. They naturally tune into the sensual aspects. There’s a commonly used mindfulness exercise that involves eating a raisin with the utmost of care and attention. It’s a wonderful exercise and people tend to describe their experience in wondrous, almost rapturous, ways. I always thought it was just me with the bad attitude until a delightful classmate whispered to me in her honey-sweet Southern drawl during an exercise at Duke: “Sweet mother of Jesus. Do we need to pretend we’re having sex with that raisin again?”
Whether you find mindful eating wondrous (like most) or tedious (like me) there is little argument that it works. When you continue through the emotion that springs up as resistance, you start to connect with caring for yourself, with gratitude for the abundance of life, with the simple pleasures of preparing and enjoying food. These spill gently and quietly into other areas of your life and you find that you’re kinder to yourself more naturally.
Guidelines for Mindful Eating
Image: The Crossover by Ross Bruniges. Licensed under Creative Commons
“The history of the world begins with a seed. The seed is the kernel of what you are, but it is also the promise of what you can become.” — Kate Elliott
We all have a space in our heart — every one of us – that longs for connection and meaning. We all want to feel like our life, our efforts, our relationships matter, at least in some small way, to other people in this world. It’s a very vulnerable spot within us and we spend most of our lives trying to protect it.