Sugar Smart Express by Anne Alexander

Author:Anne Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rodale
Published: 2015-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

Sweet Freedom Strategy: Keep Your Mind on Your Meals

Mindfulness is a way of thinking and focusing rooted in Buddhist meditation. In the West, it’s come to mean cultivating a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and environment. When you practice mindfulness, you just accept where you’re at in this moment, rather than fret about the past or worry about the future. You can do anything in a mindful way—walk, wash dishes, even eat. Especially eat.

A large body of research has sprung up around mindful eating, and the findings are overwhelmingly positive. Study after study suggests that eating “in the moment” promotes weight loss and healthier choices. When you eat in a mindful manner, you’re fully aware of and appreciate the flavors, textures, and aromas of every bite. You’re equally tuned in to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations of hunger and fullness. The payoff: You enjoy your food more and don’t need as much to feel satisfied.

Starting with your next meal, try mindful eating for yourself. There are many versions of this exercise, but all have a core concept: When you eat, focus on nothing else—no books, phones, or tablets at the table. Always sit to eat, and do nothing but focus on your food, bodily sensations, and thoughts and feelings.

Try this exercise alone a few times, to experience it fully without feeling self-conscious. After a time or two, you should feel comfortable practicing it when you eat with others.

1. Sit at the table, with your plate in front of you. Take several deep breaths to allow your body and mind to settle. Now pick up your fork.

2. Look at your food and ponder its origins. The Buddhist monk, teacher, writer, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh developed an exercise where you imagine the life cycle of your food. He does a meditation on an orange that I love. You imagine the blossom, envision the fruit growing and ripening, and appreciate how long it took to grow. You contemplate the sun that nourished it, the farmer who picked it, the driver who carried it, the store person who displayed it—all of the phases it has passed through to come to you. You thank them all—the tree, the sun, the people. Gratitude is at the heart of mindfulness.

3. Take a bite, taking time to observe your fork rising to your mouth and your mouth opening to receive it. Notice the shape and size of the morsel, as well as its color, texture, and scent. Place it on your tongue and chew, tuning in to its flavor, temperature, and texture.

4. Chew each bite for at least 20 seconds. By focusing on sensations such as taste and smell, eating—an activity that you may have performed on autopilot for years—can feel brand-new.

5. Notice your thoughts and feelings. Do you like what you’re eating? Are you comparing it to previous meals? Do you wish you had more, or are you feeling satisfied?

6. As you finish, take a few deep breaths, then leave the table. Remind yourself of how the plate looked when it was full and how it looks now.

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