our mission: to be more aware

i used to facilitate a weekly mindful eating support group.
women who met regularly to talk about their emotional issues with food.
to explore new relationships to eating, food, and weight.
to share their setbacks and disappointments,
but also (and especially) to revel in their insights and successes.
 
once a month or so, we would schedule a mindful eating potluck.
everyone brought a dish to share, and we’d have tea or water to drink (sometimes wine).
before we ate, we’d review several mindful eating concepts that we’d discussed previously.
we’d review the “hunger and fullness scale” to determine our own personal cues.

i’d remind my clients that they needn’t feel self-conscious or fearful about the exercise.
and that we were in a safe environment in which to practice mindful eating in a social setting.
 
then we’d light some candles, turn on some soft background music, and eat.
we’d eat slowly and deliberately, in a relaxed and soothing atmosphere.
at the end, we’d process our thoughts and feelings about the experience.
 
for one of these sessions, i decided to write suggestions directly on the tablecloth.
in the hope that it would keep us grounded in our mission.
our mission to be more aware as we ate the meal before us.
and also more aware in general as we proceeded through life.
 
i’d like to share some of those inspirational tablecloth phrases with you today.
in the words of marc david, geneen roth, michelle may, brooke castillo, and me . . .
 

happy mindful eating!

 
 

 
 
eat when you are physically hungry.
stop when you’ve had enough.
 
 
what do you eat?
when do you eat?
where do you eat?
how do you eat?
why do you eat?
 
 
look at your food.
see the rich colors and pleasing shapes, how the food is arranged on your plate.
smell your food, take in the aromas.
taste your favorite food first.
feel the texture of your food.
pick out the sweet, the sour, the salty, the bitter.
listen for the crunchiness.
hear the slurp when you drink and the happy chomping when you chew.
close your eyes and shut out the world.
fully experience the food with all of your senses.
 
 
overeating pulls you away from yourself.
it is the opposite of awareness.
 
 
the greatest nutritional authority on the planet is found within you.
 
 
every unwanted habit or behavior around food . . .
is a distorted attempt to achieve wholeness.
 
 
our issues and challenges with food and body . . .
have little or nothing to do with food or body.
 
 
not listening to our body’s wisdom encourages the message to blast a little louder.
 
 
eating fast = evoking the stress response.
which increases insulin and increases cortisol.
and signals the body to store more fat.
calorie burning capacity and nutritional value are both decreased.
eating under stress is the single biggest nutritional mistake in our culture.
eating slowly is crucial to transforming binge eating.
 
 
toxic dietary beliefs are as harmful as toxic ingredients in our food.
 
 
pleasure catalyzes digestion.
 
 
nourishment supercedes nutrition.
 
 
awareness cures.
stay awake at the plate.
 
 
what is life asking me to learn through my body?
 
 

 
 
do you eat with full consciousness?
or do you tend to hurry through your meals, missing the precious subtleties?
do you see any parallels in the way you conduct your life?
 
please share your thoughts in the comments.
 
 
 
 
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