Back to Basics: Play with Your Food
In the light of mindful eating- or intuitive eating as some people refer to it- there is a back to basics approach I'd like to propose. In my experience, we are taught to give a lot of attention to what we eat. While that is important, the how and why often get pushed to the side. In my opinion, a lot of the concerns my clients have could be greatly reduced by paying as much attention to the "how" and "why" as the "what" we eat.
Food is very much a sensory experience and we are designed to use all the senses when we eat- it's actually good for digestion to play with your food. A quick understanding of what happens in your body might help nail this idea down for you. When we see, smell or sense food, our mouth starts to water. The saliva is produced in preparation for the food we are about to eat. Cue the drool. What you may not realize is that, within the saliva, the digestion process is starting. Saliva contains the first of the enzymes your body needs to break down what you eat into a useable form. The food not only needs to be broken down enough, but also has to spend enough time mixing with the saliva to really get the nutrients you need from it later in the process.
This means that before you even take a bite, your body knows what to do with the food. Appreciate the intricacy of that for a moment. You don't have to think about digestion, but I would encourage you to think about how you approach your meal.
I would like for you to pay attention this week to your food. When is the last time you really looked at what you were eating? Smelled it. Thought about the work it took to get on your plate- not the hands that prepared it but also the ones before that. The ones that drove it from the farm. Or the ones before that, the ones that planted the seeds and patiently waited for it to be harvested for your meal. Send a little prayer of appreciation to all the steps it took to get on your plate. Not as a way of inducing guilt, but as a beautiful (in my opinion) reality check- a lot of people are supporting your health and eating habits. When you have paid attention to your initial experience, notice how much your mouth is watering and how that influences your first bite. I'd encourage you to jot this down.
A little appreciation can go a long way. Even if you manage to do this once this week, that is amazing! I'd love to hear how it went for you. Leave a comment below and tell me what this was like for you.
