The mindfulness exercise for this week was when eating or drinking, to just to eat or drink and not do anything else. This exercise was hard for me and I experienced a lot of mental resistance. In discussing it with Zanna, I immediately started looking for the loopholes. Surely I could talk during meals, just not with food in my mouth. Maybe we could agree that we only had to do this for the meals we ate during our daily work week that were not with our families. Oh and when we went out with each other or other friends, obviously that didn’t count.
After remembering that I had this accountability thing called a blog where I had to tell everyone about my about my experience, I pushed though my resistance to this exercise and forgave myself for not being as diligent as I would like to have been.
The first thing I noticed was that I eat and drink ALOT during the day. My meals tend to be small and frequent. During a typical business day, I might eat three or four times (and that is just before I leave at 3:30), all of these meals alone at my desk. These were the easiest ones to follow the no distractions guidelines. Just turn away from the PC, no working or checking your Facebook. Does reading things that just happen to be out on my desk count? Yes, avert your eyes!
Eating in silence without distraction at home and while out with others was something ultimately I decided I was not willing to do. I view mealtimes as social gatherings, a time I get to connect and hear about the day’s ups and downs, what is going on in someone’s life, and share my stories. I get that mindless eating in front of a TV set is a bad thing, but I think mindful eating with people you love is a good thing and that is what I want to cultivate.
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| Honestly, do they look like are enjoying their meal? |
My favorite part of this week was making a roasted broccoli recipe that was so good my family stood over the pan in the kitchen and ate it together. We shared with each other what we liked about the food and teased my son that he was eating broccoli and liking it. Should I have placed my food on a plate so I could eat it alone and consider for myself the complex tastes of the broccoli, lemon juice, and garlic. Not!
My father, one of most conscious eaters that I know, would frequently say to me when I was a kid about to eat something not so healthy, “Do you eat to live, or live to eat?” My answer is still the same, I do eat to live, but eating can and should also be a pleasure, especially when I eat with great company.
Oh, by the way, The New York Times featured an article today on mindful eating with a quote by Jan Chozen Bays, MD, the author of How to Train a Wild Elephant. If you want to read the article here it is: Mindful Eating as Food for Thought
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