Food for Thought: This is How to Engage in Mindful Eating

I am writing this blog post in the form of a letter to an American man named Joey…I learned about Joey recently when reading an article about him.  More on him in a bit, but first my letter to him regarding mindful eating.

 

July 15, 2019

Dear Joey,

I wanted to reach out to you after reading a recent article about you. I must admit that I was a little taken aback after learning of your eating habits and the fact that you have broken all 7 of the practices of mindful eating.

While I don’t expect you to change your eating habits overnight, I hope you are open-minded enough to read this and at least contemplate integrating some mindful eating into your eating regimen.

What is Mindful Eating?

One of our previous posts discussed the concept of mindful breathing in the form of simple meditation.  In their great book, Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, authors Thich Nhat Hanh (a Buddhist Monk) and Lilian Cheung (a dietician) combine healthy eating and mindfulness while discussing a concept called mindful eating.  They believe that by combining the Buddhist philosophy with science-based nutrition principles they can contribute to a better understanding of both our minds and our bodies.

Before we discuss mindful eating, let’s first review the concept of mindfulness.

In a great book on the topic of mindfulness, Search Inside Yourself, the author quoted someone named Jon Kabat-Zinn as saying mindfulness is:

“Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” ¹

Let’s now look at how the authors define mindful eating:

“Mindful eating means simply eating or drinking while being aware of each bite or sip.  You can practice it at any meal, whether you are alone in your kitchen or with others in a crowded restaurant. You can even practice mindful drinking when you pause to take a sip of water at your desk. Mindful eating allows us to fully appreciate the sensory delight of eating and to be more conscious of the amount and nature of all that we eat and drink. When practiced to its fullest, mindful eating turns a simple meal into a spiritual experience, giving us a deep appreciation of all that went into the meal’s creation as well as a deep understanding of the relationship between the food on our table, our own health, and our planet’s health…While eating, we can also be aware of how we feel and of how we consume, whether we are truly hungry, and whether we are making the best choices for our health and the health of the planet” ¹

Why is Mindful Eating Important?

In their book, Hang, and Cheung aim to show people how mindful eating can help them take care of their weight problem in a sustainable and peaceful way.

However, even if you are not dealing with a weight problem, mindful eating is an important weapon in your well-being arsenal and can help you both maintain a healthy weight while avoiding having a weight problem in the future.

The 7 Practices of Mindful Eating

The authors believe that mindful eating starts with choosing the right foods to eat and drink. While that is true and important, that is something we are not going to cover in this blog post. It is far too complex and detailed of a topic to cover in a 1,500-word blog post.

So, we are going to assume that you understand the basics of healthy eating and move to the concept of mindful eating which will allow us to consume our food with compassion and understanding.

The authors offer what they call the 7 practices of mindful eating which we can all use to help us eat mindfully to achieve optimum health.

(1)  Honor Thy Food

This one involves beginning your meal with whatever grace or prayer you prefer to help express your gratitude for the food you are about to enjoy.

The authors also offer five contemplations that the Buddha recommended the monks and nuns to observe while they ate:

(1)  This food is the gift of the whole universe: the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard, loving work.

(2)  May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.

(3)  May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.

(4)  May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.

(5)  We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our community, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings. ¹

Another facet to honoring thy food is to remove all digital distractions. So, turn off the television, and put your laptops, phones and other electronic devices away. While you do not have to eat every meal in silence, you may want to try it now and again to fully immerse yourself in the experience of eating.

(2)  Engage all Six Senses

Next, the authors suggest that: “As you serve and eat your meal, notice the sounds, colors, smells, and textures as well as your mind’s response to them, not just the taste. When you first put the food in your mouth, pause briefly before chewing and notice its taste as though it was the first time you have even tasted it.” ¹

(3)  Serve in Modest Portions

Another key principle in mindful eating is that of moderation. The idea is to choose smaller portions which will aid you in avoiding overeating and weight gain. It will also help reduce your household food budget while being kinder to the planet’s resources. One way to do this is by using smaller 9-inch plates that you fill only once to help you eat more moderately. Another thing you can do is pause for 5 minutes halfway through the meal to give your stomach time to tell your brain if you are full; if yes, stop eating.

(4)  Savor Small Bites and Chew Thoroughly

This next one is a huge one and it involves taking smaller bites and chewing your food more thoroughly. As the authors say: “Consciously choosing smaller bites and chewing them well can help you slow down your meal as well as allow you to fully experience the taste of your food. It can also help improve your digestion since the process of breaking down our foods begins with enzymes in our mouth. Chew each bite until the food is liquified in your mouth; that may be twenty to forty times, depending on what you are eating.” ¹

(5)  Eat Slowly to Avoid Overeating

The idea here is that by eating slowly, this will help you realize when you are full enough so that you can stop before you eat too much. One way to accomplish this is to simply put your utensils down between bites. Take your time, there is no rush, enjoy the present moment. As we said in a previous post on the 10 Rules of Ikigai, a popular saying in Japan is, “Hara hachi bu.” which they say before and after eating which roughly translates to “Fill your belly to 80%.” Instead of eating until they are full, they stop eating when their stomachs reach 80% capacity. This will limit overeating and prevent drawn-out digestive processes that speed up cellular oxidation.

(6)  Don’t Skip Meals

The authors believe that by skipping meals we become hungry which makes it more difficult to make mindful choices. This can lead us to grab whatever is available rather than mindfully choosing something healthy.

(7)  Eat a Plant-Based Diet, For Your Health and For the Planet

I’m not going to get into the specifics of this one as it may work for some of you and not others. They simply suggest eating a vegetarian type diet to avoid the toll that some animal foods can take on our bodies such as red meat, processed meat, and saturated fats.

So, that’s it, what do you think Joey?  Do you think you may want to integrate some of these mindful eating practices into your life?

Yeah, didn’t think so. Oh well, at least I tried.

Best wishes,
Rick

P.S.  Quick question that I’m curious about…how often do you get the hiccups?

In Case You Are Wondering…

Joey is none other than Joey Chestnut, an American Competitive Eater who is currently ranked number 1 in the world by Major League Eating – yes, there is such a thing!

Recently, on July 4, 2019, Chestnut won his 12^th Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest by wolfing down 71 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.

Just for fun, let’s look at how Mr. Chestnut broke all 7 practices of mindful eating:

(1)  Honor Thy Food

I may be wrong, but I highly doubt he honors those hot dogs by saying grace or the Buddha’s 5 contemplations before eating them.

(2)  Engage all Six Senses

There is no way he pauses to notice the taste – he doesn’t have time!

(3)  Serve in Modest Portions

71 hot dogs hardly qualify as modest portions for an entire NBA basketball team let alone one individual.

(4)  Savor Small Bites and Chew Thoroughly

Chew thoroughly? More like inhale and swallow.

(5)  Eat Slowly to Avoid Overeating

There is no way to average 7.1 hot dogs per minute while eating slowly.

(6)  Don’t Skip Meals

This one may surprise you. You would think a competitive eater like Joey Chestnut would never skip a meal. In fact, one of the ways he “trains” is by fasting and stretching his stomach by drinking water, milk and protein supplements.

(7)  Eat a Plant-Based Diet, For Your Health and For the Planet

Chestnut doesn’t only eat a crapload of hot dogs. A few of the other world records in competitive eating that he holds are 4.375 apple pies in 8 minutes, 53 Taco Bell soft beef tacos in 10 minutes, 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes.

As you can see, nothing remotely healthy on the list. I thought I had found something healthy when I saw that he ate 12.8 lbs. of asparagus in 10 minutes. But when I looked closer, they were friend asparagus…of course they were!

I needed to do some mindfulness meditation of my own so I wouldn’t throw up after seeing that he ate 165 pierogis in 8 minutes. Even my Ukrainian grandmother who wouldn’t let you leave the table without stuffing yourself would be rolling her eyes at that one.

Hey Joey, if you really want to impress me, let’s see how many carrots you can eat in 10 minutes! Hopefully, your skin doesn’t turn orange!

Until next time, practice mindful eating, pass Joey the mustard and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book!

Use It or Lose It

The 7 practices of mindful eating that we discussed above are:

(1)  Honor Thy Food
(2)  Engage all Six Senses
(3)  Serve in Modest Portions
(4)  Savor Small Bites and Chew Thoroughly
(5)  Eat Slowly to Avoid Overeating
(6)  Don’t Skip Meals
(7)  Eat a Plant-Based Diet, For Your Health and For the Planet

When to Use

Mindful eating is an important weapon in your well-being arsenal and can help you both maintain a healthy weight while avoiding having a weight problem in the future.

What Do You Think?

Do you practice mindful eating? If not, will you consider using some of the mindful eating practices after reading this blog post? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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