As I shared on my other blog, I have been getting all sorts of gentle nudges from Spirit about mindful eating – tweets, forwarded emails, my sponsee mentioned mindful eating in one of her check-ins. So, yesterday I committed to eating one meal a day mindfully.
I chose yesterday because I knew I would be able to share my experience right away with my meditation/ discussion group. I had mentioned mindful eating the previous week. I shared how I found the experience both enlightening and challenging. I realize how much I miss by not paying attention while I eat…I’m usually working, reading, watching TV, or talking to someone. The challenges I found were being afraid to truly enjoy the meal. The compulsive overeater in me is really afraid to enjoy food as much as I did pre-OA. The other challenge was time. It takes a great deal of time to enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of a meal. I tried the exercise during lunch. I’m sharing in my group about how I only have an hour for lunch and I finally gave up and just ate the salad my “normal” way…so J says, if your hour was up, maybe you’re just done with the meal. What? I thought holy shift…this is exactly what a normal eater would do. It’s the compulsive overeater in me who feels I have to eat everything on my plate. I was so grateful for this feedback. So, I’m going to try this approach today.
Here are the tips I’m using from The Importance of Mindful Eating Blog:
• Set an intention before my meal
• Focus on the food
• Put the fork/spoon down between eat bite
• Chew food thoroughly
• Consider eating in silence
• Enjoy food without judgment or criticism
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