Mindfulness is a Buddhist concept of meditation to help an individual recognize and cope with emotions and physical sensations. This paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally brings one's complete focus to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis. With eating, this lets us fully enjoy the moment of eating, and recognize when we are full. During this 30-day period, I will try to focus each meal on eating with intention and direct focus and see how this changes eating habits and other life areas.
Day 1:
I woke up this morning in a rush. I wanted to make sure that my husband's family were given a delicious breakfast as part of their departure after having lived with us for 3 weeks, so I drove to the store and picked up groceries. The problem with this was that I hadn't eaten and wasn't thinking about the meditative practice that I had committed to for this month. As a result, upon returning home hungry, I found a pan of brownies on the counter and quickly devoured two then, realizing my neglect, engraved in my mind that the rest of the practices for the day would be done differently. I focused on this allegiance to my goals for the 30 minutes while cinnamon rolls baked in the oven and coffee percolated into it's pot.
Upon completion, I poured myself a mug of joe, placed two rolls on a small plate and went to sit on the front porch to let nature help in the success of my goals. As I normally do, a big slurp of coffee was quickly gulped and again the reminder of my commitment pierced at my thoughts nearly making me choke. "This isn't only about food!" the thoughts screamed. So I took life a step slower, tore off a small piece of the cinnamon roll and let it sit in my mouth. As the flavors soaked into the tongue, I could taste the distinct flavors of egg and flour, and felt the crunchy and soft. Letting this sit, the strong sugary sweetness began overwhelm all my other senses. I reached for the coffee to taper it down and took the smallest sit, smelling the dark, cooked aroma. This created a perfect balance to and the roll was swallowed down. As I continued to eat this breakfast, I tried to open my senses to the other happenings in the world surrounding me (the birds singing in the trees to let their friends know about the cat slinking through the flower stems, a pick star lily on the tip beginning to bloom), and a deep sense of calm rested alongside the wave of caffeine slowly pumping through my system.
As I began the 2nd roll, I realized that this was too much, and I was fully satiated.
Day 2:
It seems like two of the biggest enemies in mindful eating are hunger and television. When I got home from the dentists office today, I hadn't eaten lunch (trying to not mess up my teeth for the appointment). As a result I was hungry and immediately went into the kitchen to make food. It wasn't until I was 1/2 way through a chicken and potato burrito that I caught myself not taking the time to focus on the task at hand.
Typically when eating I watch something on television. This is the time I use to catch up on any series that may have new episodes and is very relaxing. The problem with this is that, even when trying to focus my attention on enjoying my food, I wasn't able to divert or split my attention away from the television. This is strange to me because yesterday I was able to enjoy the slow progress of the meal while talking with a friend, but wasn't able to with anything playing in front of me. When I finally hit pause and finished the part of the meal I was on, I could sense that I was full, and even a little too full. This stuffed feeling left me lethargic, and I had to go up to my room and take a nap for an hour to recover.
Day 3:
I believe that reading and being around other people, while creating a greater challenge, don't inhibit a person from mindful eating. Unlike with television, I don't feel like my attention is pulled from the moment. In fact, when I'm with a person (or people), it seems like I am better able to stay in the moment and enjoy the time we have together enjoying the food. Maybe our rituals of gathering together to enjoy a meal stems from this, or maybe we evolved to enjoy the moment together as a means of self-preservation, truly able to feel relaxed once surrounded by those we love and enjoy the company of.
The key for mindful eating, for me, has been to simply slow down. I have been focusing on chewing specifically. By taking slow, concentrated bites of the food being eaten, I'm better able to taste all of the flavors. This is a bit more difficult with drinks, but can instead be done simply by letting whatever you are drinking (including water) sit in your mouth a moment before it goes down. I definitely eat far less than I would if I just ate with abandon, and I'm enjoying these moments of peace and focus greatly.
Day 4:
It seems like when things are too hot or too cold they are much harder to ingest slowly and with a mindful set. With both coffee and ice cream it was difficult to let the substances sit in my mouth for very long. My solution was to enjoy the smell of the coffee and then take only a little sip, and only take little bites of the ice cream.
In general, though, I feel like I'm having a lot of success with mindful eating during the day. I am better able to feel when I get full, and I feel like i'm eating a lot less. I feel less lethargic and more aware of what my bodies needs are. When I've gotten hungry, I've just eaten what I had for lunch, did so slowly, and tried to listen for when my body told me I was full. It has been easier to be mindful eating while doing trainings and not being rushed during the day. I start work tomorrow and wonder if it will still be as easy to continue this throughout the rest of the 30 days, or into the next 12 months. Tomorrow I'm going to try a mindful eating exercise where, between each bite, you put down the fork and focus only on the food you're eating.
Day 5:
Wanting to do more than one challenge is a constant frustration. In an effort to try to improve one part of my life I want to also start improving other parts by doing things like meditating regularly, focusing on eating healthier, working out constantly, etc. The problem with this is that when I focus on so many things at the same time, instead of just developing one habit on its own, I eventually lose all habits entirely. The other problem with focusing on more than one thing is that I have been getting impatient with the progress and speed of this habit (even though it's only been 5 days). Maybe part of the point of a challenge like this is appreciating the time it takes?
I have been drinking about half of the coffee that I used to but also getting so much more of a boost from it. Then again, because I started back to work today, and I didn't sleep very well last night, maybe that boost was simple delirium. The mindfulness activity almost completely slipped my mind until the late afternoon. I was finishing with some errands that I needed to run and feeling a little hungry. I stopped by Starbucks to get a cookie and, instead of trying to 'mindfully' eat while driving, I sat my butt down in a chair outside to try to be open to all of my senses. I had already eaten through half of the damn cookie when I realized that this was the perfect time to practice the exercise I researched.
The purpose of this was to step-by-step enjoy every sensation of what was being eaten. So, I broke off a small piece of the chocolately goodness and felt the cookie chips melt in my fingers. I brought the piece to my nose and took in the smell of baked deliciousness. There is something unique about the combination of butter, sugar, and flour baked together, like the smell of a bakery of steroids. My toes squeezed tight in my shoes with the eagerness to devour this whole cookie in a matter of seconds and continue on with the rest of the day, but I sat there and placed the piece of cookie on the edge of my tongue. People passing by probably thought I was a big weirdo balancing this cookie crumble on my stuck out tongue, but I could feel the flour disintegrate like liquified sand into my tastebuds. I pulled my tongue in my mouth and pressed it to the roof of my mouth, the melted chocolate squeezing out in a burst of flavor. As I took tiny bites before swallowing, the subtle flavors of egg glazed the edge of my awareness. I continued with this until the cookie was gone and walked back to my car in ecstatic elation.
Day 6:
I've been putting down my utensil every time I take a bite while eating. This takes a hell of a lot longer to eat, but I do think I'm enjoying my food more. Unfortunately, even with this technique, today I didn't have the biggest success of watching what I was eating (well, I did watch it enter my mouth and get eaten...). 9th Grade Academy started today and the kids were given pizza for lunch. I had eaten breakfast at about 6:45 AM and was pretty hungry by the time they started eating (around 11:15 AM), so I snagged two pieces and went outside to eat them while making sure students didn't jump into the middle of oncoming traffic. Pizza is my kryptonite (I mean the dough, cheese, pepperoni, it's a sugary/fatty slap in the face that leaves your stomach craving more abuse), and even though it wasn't even good pizza I loved it.
While I did manage to slow down how much I fast I normally eat the pizza, this didn't stop me from snagging another slice later in the afternoon, AFTER I had a drink my Principal bought me from Starbucks and had eaten the lunch I brought to school. I know, I'm a glutton. When coming home, I was responsible for making dinner and definitely snacked on the parts of it as it would get ready (snagging a piece of chicken here, some veggies there, maybe a fork full of pasta, or maybe all of them together). Oh well, tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to continue on this challenge.
Pasta di Estate or Summer Pasta (serves 4 plus some):
Ingredients
1/2 tablespoon Salt
1 box of fusilli
2 handfuls of sugar snap peas, halved lengthwise
3 carrots, shredded on big setting
2 orange bell peppers, cut into thin strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
4 cloves garlic, smashed and diced
4 Roma Tomatoes, cut into cubes
1/2 tablespoon black pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon Italian seasonings (basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme)
2 pounds of chicken thighs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
How to cook it up:
1. Add the spices to the chicken thighs and cook them by baking, sautéing, or airfrying them. Once they are cooked thoroughly, dice them and put to the side.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the fusilli and cook as the label directs. Add the sugar snap peas, carrots and bell pepper to the boiling water during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Place bowl below colander to catch some of the water, then drain the pasta and vegetables and return to the pot.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat (too hot and it will burn the oil and the garlic). Add the garlic and cook until just golden, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, cook until the tomatoes begin to wilt, about 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water. Pour the tomato mixture over the pasta and vegetables.
4. Add parmesan, goat cheese, and chicken to pasta and vegetables. Mix together.
5. Plate it up and enjoy that tasty beast!