being aware of what we put in our mouths
Ironically enough I almost started to plug away at this article as I sat down to eat dinner…
In my last newsletter I discussed the importance of being mindful in every moment – similarly we can choose to be mindful in every meal, as I had to choose myself before typing this evening.
It’s understandable we want to relax when we get home from a long day at work by watching our favorite show or scrolling through Instagram, by doing something mindless where our brains can temporarily check out. There’s nothing wrong with this unless it becomes a crutch, a habit, and a lifestyle to the point where we are mindless more often than not – especially when fueling our bodies with and choosing the food that we put into our mouths.
The mindlessness around food today can be linked to the root of many issues, diseases, and discomforts experienced by our society in particular. We have plenty of distractions, as mentioned in my last newsletter, that strip us from the full experience of the act of eating.
These distractions come in many forms – fast food, driving, our various electronic devices, work, shame around food, addictive ingredients like processed sugar – and can seriously inhibit our senses to the point where we never actually feel nourished, full, or satisfied because we don’t allow ourselves to be present when shoveling food into our mouths. Or maybe we mindlessly choose to eat something, be it a condiment from the store or a meal at a restaurant, without checking in with ourselves so that we can act according to what is best for our bodies at that moment.
As a hyper-motivated multi-tasker and bonafide busy-bee, I am always looking for new ways to improve my eating habits and my relationship with the food I eat – especially the way I feel about my body during and after eating, which is another topic all together. I find that the more mindful I am, the more I recognize the importance of integrating healthier eating habits into my mealtime as often as possible.
These mindful practices may not happen at every single meal – it certainly doesn’t with me – and that’s totally OK. The important thing is to practice mindfulness in ways that work for you to encourage a more present, calm, honest life [if you want it] which we can access through the way we eat, or how we fuel and nourish ourselves.
Here are a few ways I try to be mindful in as many meals as possible:
- Chew. The enzymes in your saliva help break down food so you are able to digest it better and absorb the nourishing nutrients.
- Pause between bites. Swallow before the next round.
- Eat without distractions. Turn off the tube, put phones out of arm’s reach. Be present with your meal + whoever is sharing it with you.
- Express gratitude toward the food you eat + whoever prepared it for you. We often eat so quickly we forget to consider how fortunate we are to have food and/or to have someone that made it for us. Give these things a shout out in whatever way feels comfortable to you.
- Cook with love. If you’re angry, pause or consider revisiting that anger at another time. Be mindful of the vibes you’re putting into the food you’re about to ingest.
- Choose foods + ingredients with care + awareness. Recognize + act according to your personal health priorities – one of mine is to shop local + organic when possible.
- Notice any emotions around the food you eat or when you eat it, like judgement, anger, or anxiety. Emotional eating is another egg to crack, but it is seriously important to observe how you feel when you eat and how you feel about what you eat.
- Stop when full. I love food, so this is tricky for me, but I started to realize that I didn’t always need those extra bites [which sometimes made me nauseous] and that I was acting out of either mindlessness or dissatisfaction with something else, which led me to seek comfort through food.
- Forgive yourself when you don’t do these things. Sometimes I get home late from teaching and am so wiped out all I want to do is sit on the floor, eat a piece of toast at my coffee table [like this!] + watch Full House reruns. I acknowledge this + try to be present with myself when I do it.
What do you do to bring mindfulness to your mealtime?
Read this week’s newsletter for a seriously delicious [and healthy!] dessert recipe, good music, and more.
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