Eating Mindfully by Anh Chi Pham

We’re all aware that what we eat is important to our health, but we tend to overlook another important aspect of eating—how we eat.

For most of us, eating is a means to an end. We don’t see its vital connection to our health so we cram eating into other activities --we have breakfast while driving, lunch while working, and dinner as we ‘relax’ in front of the TV.

One of the reasons why so many of us overeat is because we are out of touch with our body’s natural state of satiety or satisfaction. Our minds and habits are hungrier than our bellies. Slowing down and eating mindfully is an effective way to create more wellness and health.

Besides letting go of the urge to multi-task when we eat, here are some other ways to reconnect with what nourishes us:

• Give thanks – no matter what our religion or belief system, taking a moment to silently acknowledge our food, the people, beings, and elements that came together to make the meal possible is wonderful way to set our intention for greater awareness. It reminds us to slow down and enjoy our time eating and connects us to the universe of factors —the sun, water, earth, farmers, truckers, supermarket workers, even our bosses!— that all came into play to create what nourishes us.

• Chew slowly – Ayurvedic doctors (and moms)recommend chewing food until it’s a soft mush. Chewing carefully relieves the gastrointestinal system of the hard work of breaking down big morsels, and will lead to better absorption and elimination, not to mention increasing your enjoyment of the meal.

• Close your eyes – One of the ways to quiet the mind, and be more aware of the taste of our food is to close our eyes as we chew. Our eyes are always seeking information, we’re visually bombarded with stimulation everyday and this stimulus keeps the mind active so an easy way to slow down is to close the eyes as we chew. This connects us to our sense of taste, smell, touch, and the more visceral parts of our brain. Relaxing as we eat is an important part of healthy digestion and assimilation.

• Focus on your sensations – As you eat, redirect your attention away from thinking and toward your body and the various sensations that it’s constantly sending you. This will help you to eat more slowly, and also teach you to recognize when your body has reached satiety. For most of us, the body will have reached fullness before the mind – body awareness will align our mind with our bodies and teach us to eat what is right for us.

Finally, when you have reached satisfaction, give thanks again for your meal and imagine the energy and nutrients from your food circulating into every cell of your body.