Food for Thought-- A Mindful Eating Experiment

Are you guilty, as am I, of multitasking while you eat?    Do you read a magazine or newspaper and gobble down a bowl of oatmeal at the same time?  Or watch tv and chow down chips?  How about the computer? Do you surf and scarf?  This is mindless eating.  

Do you consciously prepare and eat your food?  Do you say grace?  Do you eat slowly and enjoy the flavors of the food?  This  is mindful eating.

Try this experiment.  You will need about half an hour of quiet time to fully experience this. Do this at a time when you will be hungry but not starving.

Choose a  very small portion of any whole, flavorful food.    Perhaps it will be a piece of fresh or dried fruit, a raw or cooked vegetable,  a few tablespoons of yogurt, or a small number of nuts or seeds.  Whatever you choose, make sure it is something that you will enjoy. I have done this experiment with three raisins, but you can use any food you like.  The point is to slow down, taste your food, and chew it throughly.

Take some time to carefully prepare your food.  Arrange your food attractively on a attractive plate and set it on the table in front of you.

Sit down and look at the food for a minute or two.  Examine its color and its shape. What is your food made of?  What is its essence?   Will it be juicy?  Dense?    Fleshy?  Crunchy or soft?  Can you see and identify the energy in your food?

Reflect for a moment on where the food came from.  A tree?  Was it pulled from the earth?  A plant? Who might have grown the food and where?  Who harvested it?  Did it have a long journey to get to your plate?  Was your food processed some how?

Inhale a deep breath and exhale completely.  Look at your food again and thank it for offering itself to you.  Thank the universe for bringing this food to you.  Breathe in and out consciously again.

Does the food have an aroma?  Can you identify it?

Take one bite and savor the taste.  Sweet?  Salty?  Sour?  Pungent?  Bitter?  Astringent?  Note the sensation of the food in your mouth.  What part of the mouth do you experience the food?  On the tip of the tongue?  In the back of the throat?  On the roof of the mouth?

Upper left to right,  sweet potato, sour yogurt, salty pistachios,
pungent garlic and onion, bitter olives, astringent dried apricot

You're probably finished with that first bite now.  Go ahead and take another.  Remain present and consciously chew the food.  The more thoroughly you chew food,  the more nutrients you will receive from it. You may also reach a point of "fullness," or satiety,  earlier than if you swallow mindlessly without chewing. The recommended number of chews per bite is 35.  Did you come close to 35 chews?  

When you finish your portion, reflect on your experience.  How do you feel?  What did you enjoy about the food?  Did the food trigger any memories?  If you were to eat a large portion of this food, what effect would it have on you?  Could you eat a meal-- or maybe start with a snack--mindfully at least once a day or once a week?

Share your experience of this mindfulness experiment with me.