Cross posted at antimattr.net
Eat Slowly and Mindfully
There are some good benefits to eating slowly and mindfully: when you eat slowly, your brain has time to register that you feel full, and when you eat mindfully, noticing and enjoying every mouthful of food, you feel more satisfied when you’re done eating.
This is a big challenger for me. I’ve been a fast eater all my life, and I tend to go numb and eat mindlessly. This exercise is actually what sparked the renewed interest in Zen for me-all too often I get distracted, lose focus on what I’m actually doing, and drift off into my own thoughts. When I’m eating and this happens, it’s easy to over eat, to feel unsatisfied even though I’ve actually taken in enough sustenance. Part of my goal in sitting zazen every morning is to learn to be mindful of myself, my body and my feelings. My goal for each meal is to slow down, enjoy every bite, and pause every few bites to drink some water, put my utensils down, and be mindful of how full I’m feeling.
I’ve read my response card once so far, and will read it again this afternoon.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully this morning at breakfast.
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for doing 60 minutes on the elliptical even though I really, really didn’t want to, and for taking the time to prepare steel cut oatmeal with blueberries, a tsp of honey and a touch of cinnamon, rather than the chocolate covered donuts my daughter had for breakfast.
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I love this post! This is a hard one for me, too, yet it is so crucial to changing our old habits. Not only is eating mindfully important, but without distractions, is even better. I am making a deliberate intention to working on this. When we get in tune with our bodies, we will also develop a “knowing” when we are hungry. Too often we eat out of habit, over some emotional issue, or just because we are bored. Regardless of the method we are using for weightloss,(I am not using a diet, for example), developing this habit is overall great for our health and well-being. All the best, Barbara