mindfulness is a crucial element at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting transformations

5 Min Eating Meditation – Coming to Peace with Food

We live in a hectic world. I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. We all have our rituals when we get up, go to work, how to handle work, spend our leisure time. Rarely nowadays do we spend any time without a TV, tablet, phone or some other multimedia device.

As much as they seem to help our productivity they also have completely taken over. I swear, I start looking at my phone and its apps first thing when I get up in the morning at 4:45 am: What did someone post on Facebook, emails received, etc.

The same thing happens, when I am eating. I am usually looking at some thing on my phone in order to “maximize the time” that I have while shoving food in my mouth.

Just like after years and years of driving the same route to work and not even remembering each light, each intersection, I don’t remember the food that just went into my mouth. I don’t remember the pleasure of taste, texture and experience of what I am eating. The result is, that I am eating more of it, very similarly to when I am stress-eating after something happened that shook me up.

Recently I have taken to two things. Mindful eating and mindful eating meditation. I distinguish the two by the amount of attention I have directed to it.

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Mindful Eating

When practicing mindful eating I sit down with minimal distractions. I will take each bite and chew it a couple of times, trying to explore the flavors of it more fully. I have noticed being full sooner, feeling more satiated and overall happy.

This is some powerful stuff for me. I am an emotional stress eater. I tend to go all out on chocolate, etc. when I am thrown off emotionally or spiritually. This has led to some complications with my teeth in the past, and a negative spiral of self-talk that was very destructive.

Enter Mindful Eating Meditation:

I heard about this a couple of weeks ago and gave it a shot. The results are amazing. When I am using it, and I am not doing it regularly yet, it makes a big difference.

The meditation is held in a place with minimal interruptions. I choose my preferred poison which is usually chocolate.

  1. I sit down comfortably close my eyes and take a couple of deep breaths
  2. Then I take the food, put it to my ears and listen to its sounds when I roll it
  3. Next I hold it under my nose smell it, trying to discern different aromas.
  4. After that I look at it from all angles to capture its shape
  5. If the food has a wrapper I repeat 1-4 after unwrapping it.
  6. Next I put the food in my mouth, feel its texture, form & shape without biting down on it.
  7. I take a bite of the food and experience the flooding of various tastes.
  8. After that I chew the food many times and give all the flavors time to fully unfold in my mouth.
  9. Swallow & Done

You can see it is a process that takes anywhere from 3-10 min depending on how deep you go with it. It has helped me with my cravings and instead of forbidding food to me I decide to fully enjoy what I am looking for. It has cut down on the amount of cravings, & bad food intake tremendously. I eat less with each meal because I am more satisfied.

Give it a shot,

Michael

 

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