This past weekend I went back home for Mother’s Day. After a lot of laughing, eating and celebrating with my whole extended family I settled down on Sunday night to read April’s Vogue. It seemed a decent chunk of the magazine was dedicated to eating, dieting and food in general. One article caught my attention as it was about “mindful” eating.
The article explained how people who practiced yoga tended to weigh less than those who didn’t regardless of what they ate for the simple reason that they were more aware of their bodies and by extension what they put inside of them. The author of the article actually hired someone to teach her how to eat mindfully (American paradox anyone?) and the basic message was pretty simple; take your time to chew and reflect on your food. After all, it takes about 20 minutes for your body to register you’re full and meanwhile most people- and I am one of them- typically eat a meal in half that time. On that note, we could all save ourselves some money on a personal food guru by simply thinking in between mouthfuls.
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I once took a meditation class in which we practiced “eating meditation” along with the sitting and walking varieties. The instructor gave everyone two raisins and asked us to be aware of the physical sensation of holding the raisins in our hands. Next we were asked to notice what the raisins looked like. Then we were asked to smell the raisins. Finally, we were asked to put them in our mouths, roll them around on our tongues, and chew them. I have to say that I have never had such an exalted experience of eating raisins before (and I am not a big fan of raisins to begin with). That simple exercise forever changed my consciousness about food. There’s a lot to be said for engaging your mind in the practice of eating to make it more pleasurable, as well as more nourishing.