Mindful Eating

I believe that one of the pieces of the puzzle that will help me finally stay at the weight I want to be is mindful eating. This is a belief, and it's not yet grounded in any firm evidence.  I'm trying, and I'm seeing hints it is helping, but it's not a slam dunk yet.  I have read a couple of books, Foodist and The Willpower Instinct, and they have helped shape my approach to this.

Mindful eating for me is three parts: Contemplating what I want to eat, paying attention to the taste and texture of what I'm eating, and slowing down by chewing thoroughly and setting the fork down.

The first is something I am seeing some success with.  I'm not eating whatever is lying around by habit, but by gut check.  (Except in the late evenings, when I turn into a voracious non-stop eater -- I will need to tackle this biggest problem area at some point, but not in today's post.)  During the day, when I have choices, I stop and think what I really want. What feels good to me now?  The flaw in this, of course, is often what feels good is ice cream or other sweets, but at least it stops me from opening the freezer and grabbing the ice cream automatically.  Do I really want these nuts I brought for the afternoon snack? Sometimes the answer is "no" and I'm better off for it.  I'm trying to bring hot drinks into the mix - I'm not actually hungry, but I really really want something to eat, so can I drink a pot of herb tea?  This is tied to the "body scan" I learned in my meditation class.  Not what I think it is (the feeling, the craving), but what it actually is.  Observe, don't assume or impose.  Inhabit the sensation, to figure out what it's really telling me.

There is also a technique called "surf the urge".  Rather than push away the idea of eating something you crave, go with it - mentally.  Imagine every detail of getting the item, serving it (unwrapping a candy bar, scooping ice cream) and each bite.  Allow this fantasy to exist, and also gut check if it is as satisfying as you thought at the start.  Apparently, evidence says a vivid imagining of what you are craving actually diminishes the craving.  I've tried this a couple of times, and it may work, I'm not sure. This may be especially effective for me coupled with "Yes, I'm going to have it, just not now.  Later."  If several "laters" get combined into one (brief) bout of indulgence, this would be a net gain.

Then there is the eating itself, with total attention paid.  There is a famous bit of mindfulness meditation training where you are instructed to select a single raisin, and then slowly, slowly, observe it in detail, place it in your mouth and feel it there, finally start chewing. Done right, it can take twenty minutes to eat the single raisin.  (This is done as training, an extreme situation, not as an example of how to always eat!)

Darya Rose, the Foodist with the Summer Tomato blog, ran a five-day mindfulness eating challenge I participated in.  Each day, she sent an email with a link to a short video containing that day's instructions for eating mindfully.  Each day, one meal was picked out to be the mindful one.  Feedback on how it went was shared on a Facebook group.  Through the magic of bots, she is now running this every Monday, and it's free - the link is from her blog.  I'd recommend it as a way to enhance your practice.

Through the video instructions, we separately focused on taste and flavor, texture, the mechanics of chewing and swallowing, and what was happening with our fork.  It certainly succeeded in slowing down my eating, though that never resulted in my eating less - I ate what was on my plate.  It was very very difficult for me to NOT read while eating - because I've lived alone so much, I have a forty-year habit of reading while eating.  But for one meal a day for five days, I stuck with it. 

Now, the after effects.  How to incorporate this into my life?  I am not going to not read while eating!  I enjoy that time.  But I am taking a moment at the beginning of a meal to pause and really appreciate it.  What does it look like? Smell like? Taste like?  Feel like?  

The third part I'm also building into a habit - eating more slowly.  This is fork management, and chewing thoroughly.  I used to scoop food up off my plate as quickly as I could - the second I got a mouthful, my fork was busy with the next bite. I rarely count my chews, except sometimes as a reminder, but I set my fork down, chew till I'm ready to swallow, and only then pick up the fork for the next bite. It takes me at least twice as long to eat now.

Many people say slowing down and thinking about each bite makes them eat less.  Not my experience.  I mindfully ate an entire pint of Talenti Sicilian Pistachio Gelato out of the container, savoring each exquisite bite.   And yes, I had surfed the urge first.  I kept thinking, "I could put this back in the freezer" but I didn't want to. I love this stuff - it is my kryptonite.  And no, I didn't feel sick afterwards.  A pint of this stuff only makes me feel good. 

I am working on portion control, however.  Since I seem to want to eat everything on my plate, I use smaller plates and try to avoid going for seconds. At least I've got laziness on my side when it comes to that.  

Probably a post for another day - engineering my environment to make it easier to make good choices.