If you’ve found your way to my blog, chances are you have some kind of love affair with food. This time of year especially, when locally grown food is abundant, and every morsel is just bursting with flavour.
Or is it?
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a busy life. And since time is precious, eating often occurs while doing something else. You eat having dinner with friends, you snack as you talk on the phone, you eat your breakfast while reading the morning paper, and you might even munch on the move. But where are our minds when we do all that? Are they savouring the delicate balance of spices in that Thai curry? Are they observing the various textures found in fruit? Are they basking in the warmth that a cup of tea and a bowl of oatmeal bring to our bodies? Or are they just registering the sweetness and quick kick we get while downing that granola bar on our way to catch the bus?
I definitely fall victim to all of these things. I am realizing, however, how important the simple act of being present with my food is. It’s better for my digestion (digestion starts in the mouth and you’d be surprised how little we usually chew our food); it’s better for my waistline (I am more aware of how much I am consuming and will only eat as much as I need to physically satisfy); it is more emotionally gratifying (so many people are emotional eaters but aren’t registering their food as they eat it so they just keep eating); and I am simply more appreciative of the journey my food made to get to me (you have more time to ponder these things with all the extra chewing).
I highly recommend it. Start small, maybe with a bite of fruit. Engage all your senses: touch, texture, smell, taste, and the effect it has on our bodies and emotions.
Presence with my food has been something that has been milling about in my mind for a while. It reemerged, however, as I savoured a tomato from my balcony garden today. Sweet, juicy and bright red with orange stripes. Eating food you grew yourself almost demands acute attention, given that you poured your heart and sweat into it. Maybe that’s why it was the best tomato I’d ever tasted. Or then again, maybe not. There’s only one way to find out.
Thank you for this wonderful post, a reminder. Mindfulness is so important, and so absent – but so possible!
I enjoyed a bowl of granola today with strawberries and mango. It was extremely present food. But you are right – really, all food should be present to us, we present to it – and not just in “eating it” either – in growing or acquiring it, in storing it, in preparing it.
There’s a great eating meditation here:
http://www.metatronics.net/eat/
You’re so right Emily – about most of us not savouring our food while eating. I definitely started to notice that this summer when I recognized my habit of emotional eating. I wasn’t enjoying my food while eating it. I’m still tempted to do something (usually read) while eating, but am trying to focus more on what I’m eating and the food’s taste and flavours.