Mindful Eating: Get a Taste of Wellbeing

 It may seem like a luxury to take out time from your busy schedule to sit down in a quiet place, take a moment, and notice your plate.

Whether one is working from office or from home, meals are mostly about “grabbing a quick bite” at the desk. This ‘flash lunch’ is so embedded in workplace culture these days that doing otherwise is almost frowned upon. If you work from home: do you remember the last time you took an hour off for lunch to lovingly prepare a meal for yourself? It’s likely been a while, given that most of us are tied to our desks or chasing deadlines. Food, then, becomes just a source of sustenance and not so much a route to wellbeing.

But it is these mindful moments that we spend planning our diet and preparing and eating our meals that go a long way in cultivating a sustainable and healthy relationship with food — and with ourselves. Mindful eating is more than about chewing slowly — it is about noticing, appreciating, and truly being present as you plan, source, cook, and eat your meals.

Here are a few ways you can practise mindful eating:

Observe your choices

It is important to bring awareness into your dietary habits. This can start small: Note the food choices you make for your meals. Are you preparing something healthy and nutritious for yourself? What prompts you to reach out for the bag of chips or order a decadent dessert instead? It may seem like the most natural thing to eat to feel better or to distract yourself, but pause, take a moment, and ask yourself if you are really hungry? You may realize you are reacting to your emotions or stress rather than actual bodily hunger. This observation before your start eating can help you make healthy choices and select quality over quantity.

Set an example

Being mindful can be more than sitting alone and eating quietly. It can be a moment of collective meditation. Teach your children how to be more mindful about eating by setting an example. Teach them to look at their plates before a meal — notice the colors, textures, and smells. Tell them where their food comes from beyond the boxes and packets that they see in the supermarkets. Keeping distractions like your phone away from the table can be a big step in helping your family have a happy, mindful meal together.

Be Grateful

Mindful eating can help you build a vision of Wholistic Wellbeing not just for you and your family, but also help you understand the impact of your choices on the planet. It enables you to look at food beyond individual ingredients and dishes to appreciate the backstory — the journey of what you’re eating to your plate.

How long did the grain of rice take to get to your plate? From a farmer caring for a seed, nurturing, and harvesting the stalk of grain, to the grain being packed, transported across states or countries, finding its place on your local supermarket shelf, till the time you choose to bring it home and cook it for your family. This is a long journey that began with what the planet provided for you. What are you giving back to the planet? A simple gesture of gratitude and of not wasting food can go a long way in reducing waste. This is how a mindful moment with your food can help you look at the bigger picture.

Cultivating a healthy and sustainable relationship with food is the cornerstone of Wholistic Wellbeing. So, the next time you have a meal, take a mindful pause — it will help you feed your body and mind.