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 7:
My patience wasn't very strong today in regards to this practice today. Unlike others, this day didn't have any deep insight into what I was doing or feeling up understanding that I wanted to eat only "the most healthy and healing" of foods. In fact, in order to avoid eating more pizza that was served to the students, I ate a huge bowl of the pasta that I made the day before. I did try to eat this slowly, and stopped when I got full, but I didn't get that deep zen-like feeling I had gotten in the days before. Actually, after about an hour after eating a bunch of the pasta, I had a slice of the pizza anyway. Maybe it's because I was trying to be focused at work with all of the things that need to be done, or maybe I'm just in the middle of the week and ready to quit everything.
I am in training to become a Hot Yoga teacher. This means that I attend a Hot Yoga class (I preceded this one by taking a Vinyasa before) at 6-7 and then from 7-10 pm in training. My husband told me that we would be having pizza when I got home because he didn't feel like cooking. This didn't fully bother me because I brought a decent amount of leftover food from this weekend so that I could have something to supplement the energy that I lost in the training and not leave me starving. Unfortunately, he decided not to make pizza, and was quite upset when I got home that I wasn't hungry. After some arguing, I grabbed a bowl of "ramen noodles" that had been made and went to sit outside to be more mindful of the eating. The taste of guilt, frustration, and inconvenience surrounded every bite. These weren't noodles made with love; they had been rushed and thrown sloppily together out of laziness and the emotional burden around them didn't help. I took a few bites and couldn't do anymore so I put it back and went upstairs to bed.
Day 8:
The two enemies of my mindful eating practice were out in full force today: hunger and stress. Families came to register for this next school year, and from 9:30 AM until 2:00 PM I was on my feet going from station to station helping them. At various times throughout the day, I found myself making my way to the table that had the candy and snacking. I wasn't even mindfully snacking, just eating and moving. While I was able to get a break, and eat my main meals with attention to what and how I'm eating, the regular snacking throughout the day was a reminder of how far I still have to go before I'm consciously aware of the busy schedule, hunger, and how they work together to limit my ability to affect control over what I'm eating.
Day 9:
Today, while trying to use mindful eating techniques during my lunch, I focused on opening up my other senses. Sitting by myself outside of the building where our staff training was, I closed my eyes and listened. The building itself gave a vibrational hum as the cooling system went on overdrive. Jets powered through the sky as the buzz of grass being cut in the distance competed against the vehicles pushing to gain speed. The smell of something unidentifiable graced my nose and warmed the air, and it was then that I realized it was easier to smell when I didn't have food stuffed in my mouth.
Because I had extra time to kill, I sat straight in my seat, feet firmly rooted into the ground, and began to meditate. Focusing on the breath entering and leaving my body, I tried to thinking of nothing; just putting my attention to the inhale, exhale, and bead change on my mala. I wasn't overcome with deep serenity by this practice, but I did feel much calmer going into the rest of the day.
Day 10:
Steps to eating a sloppy cheese burger mindfully:
1. Enjoy the sight of this beautiful meal you are about to ingest.
2. If there is a toothpick in the center, keep it there. If not, put a fork in the middle of the burger.
3. Cut the burger in half.
4. Place the fork in the center of one of the halves you just cut.
5. Cut this half into 3 different pieces (basically you are making pizza slices out of your burger).
6. Pick up one of the pieces, holding it between your forefinger and thumb. Truly examine this piece. What are the colors of it? How does it feel between your fingers? What does it smell like?
7. Put the piece in your mouth and take a tiny bite.
8. Let it roll around your tongue. How does it taste? How many different flavors can you distinguish?
9. Take a few bites of the piece and see if there are any other flavors your can distinguish.
10. Swallow and repeat steps 6 - 10 until you have eaten all of it. Don't forget to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of things near you.
Day 11:
One of the most challenging aspects of mindful eating is designating the time to simply sit, eat, and enjoy the food. Running around today doing errands, it was only at lunch that I was able to relax and sit down to enjoy my meal. While it was leftovers from a previous week, it was sill nice to enjoy the flavors of the food while sitting outside and enjoying life and nature flutter around me. This was short-lived, though, as I had to quickly make my way to a volunteer job.
By the time I got home at 8 PM, dinner still wasn't ready and, while I would normally have been so frustrated with this and expressed this in a negative way, I sat calmly and waited for it to get done. My husband wanted to watch television while eating, so I excused myself into another area of the house so I could fully enjoy the food. It was nice to feel like this practice is also making me more mindful of all of my action.
Day 12:
Today was my first 'working lunch' in a long time. I forgot that I had agreed to this a week before and, in retrospect, this was a terrible idea. Even while trying to eat slowly, I wasn't able to fully the meal because of the lingering stress of work in front of me. The 'work' aspect completely jaded the mean, and I then had a stomachache the rest of the day (possibly not related).
The most enjoyable part of the dietary day came at the end when I made the recipe below. It was nice to finally relax and fully embrace the different flavors and texture of the food, while enjoying the setting around me. The pinks of the sunset accented perfectly the warmth of the chorizo spice, and the tomato glaze tantalizing the white bean 'risotto'.
Chorizo Ragu with White Bean 'Risotto'
or What to Cook When Avoiding Pasta.
Serves 4
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra, to drizzle
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 fresh bay leaves
Around 400g fresh chorizo sausage
1/2 cup red wine
Around 400g container cherry tomatoes (cut them in halves)
1 15oz can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
3 x 400g cans cannellini beans, drained
1 15 oz can of chicken broth
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup shredded parmesan, plus extra, to serve
1 1/2 cup baby kale
How to cook it up:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 chopped onion onion, 2 diced garlic cloves and 1 bay leaf to pan. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until onion is caramel brown.
2. Add chorizo. Cook, breaking up with a spatula, until browned. Add tomatoes and cook 2-3 minutes until skin begins to wilt.
3. Add 1/2 of wine. Simmer for 1 minute or until reduced. Gently mash tomatoes with spatula.
4.Remove from pan and place in pot. Add 1 cup of Kale. Season.
5. Add tomato sauce and other 1/2 of wine. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until cooked and thickened.
6. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the thyme, reserved onion, remaining garlic and bay leaves. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until softened. Add the beans. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
7. Add the stock. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Season. Coarsely crush three-quarters of the beans with a potato masher and stir until creamy.
8. Stir in the lemon juice and parmesan.
9. Divide bean mixture into four portions. Top with ragu. Sprinkle with kale and extra parmesan.
10. Enjoy and notice the distinct flavors of the tomato, chorizo, and white bean!