Mindful Eating and Curiosity

Food. Seemingly innocent, but this is a truly loaded topic. 

Before I dive into my ideas on this subject, let me make clear that I am not a registered dietitian and am by no means qualified to tell you what you should and should not eat. So I won’t. 

I have been immersed in the wellness world for my entire adult life; I have a degree in Exercise & Sport Science with a Nutrition Minor, and I’ve spent a lot of time observing the habits of fellow athletes, recreationalists, yogis, and foodies, so I’ll share some perspectives I’ve developed from that.

Where just a century ago most of society’s issues seemed to revolve around lack and scarcity, the pendulum has swung the other way and we find ourselves overwhelmed by plentitude. I’m not referring to too much food so much as too much information and stimuli.

What?! Too much information?! At the risk of blasphemy in this Information Age, yes. One week the “answer to health” is intermittent fasting, the next it’s celery juice, then eat like a caveman, then eat vegan, then high fat low carb, then intuitive eating—you get the point.

I don’t think any of these are “bad” or “good”; I have played with almost every single item on that list. My concern with all these different diets is that they detract from listening to your body’s innate intelligence because we’ve been taught that the answers live outside of us. All this information can lead to an obsession with eating “clean”, working out in order to cancel out the calories you consumed that day, and often disordered eating. Not always necessarily anorexia or bulimia (although those are side-effects as well), but an obsessive mindset that doesn’t foster a harmonious connection to oneself. 

Creating a balance between educating yourself and listening to experts’ guidance, but still being willing to defer to your own intuition and ultimately follow what you’ve found to work is a tricky but fulfilling journey. It requires a willingness to try new things, to reflect inward, and to be open to changing your mind.

The west is often a reductionistic culture, focused on numbers like weight, macros/micros, and calorie intake, vs a holistic approach that views the body as an evolving organism with energy and history. The more time I spend with my yoga practice, the more I realize that these subtle aspects of one’s physiology are just as poignant and important to one’s quality of life and overall wellbeing as what one can see externally. You are more than the number on your scale.

What if, instead of following the advice from the most recent trend, you started experimenting with how you feel after you eat certain foods? What if it’s not so much about specific numbers as it is about the energy you can harness after eating in a particular way? What if you stayed open to changing your mind? One reason I love Ayurvedic food advice is that it encourages a sense of mindfulness around the entire process of eating, and that mindfulness encourages you to create a relationship with yourself where you pay attention to what works and what doesn’t work. Not based on what someone else told you, but based on your own trial and error and intuition.

A few tips for how to encourage a mindful ritual around food:

1- Eat in a calm state of mind.

If you feel anxious, angry, emotional, or irritable, give the emotions a few moments to pass before eating. Set a timer for 3 minutes and sit still and breathe slowly and deeply, in for at least four counts, out for the same length of time. Sometimes we’re not actually hungry, but we’re using food to avoid feeling what we’re feeling. When an emotion is running wild in our beings, it’s hard to take the time to be present with and appreciate what we’re eating. Think of eating as a longitudinal research study. Over time, as we stay present day by day, we gather information about what foods interact well with our systems and foster greater energy, and what foods actually deplete us. The longer we can stay present, the more data we have to work with.

2-Eat what you actually like.

I’ve found it’s more powerful to create a list of all the whole foods I enjoy eating and that energize me as opposed to making lists of foods I cannot. For awhile, I had a huge poster hanging in my pantry that listed real foods that I knew I would actually eat, and when I made my grocery lists I’d pull from that. Do you love pizza? Eat the pizza! AND be observant with how your body feels after. The more awareness you give to how your body responds to different foods, the more you will start to crave the foods that energize your system.

3-Stay seated for a few minutes after you’ve finished eating.

Notice the sensations of warmth, fullness, and satisfaction that ripple through your belly and heart and breathe the nourishing feelings throughout your nervous system. Even just a few deep breaths will help you to notice the effect the food had on your body and mind.

Ultimately, mindfulness is a technique that builds a sense of contentment and fulfillment in so many areas of life further than how you eat. It can lead to more joy, living with purpose, and creating health in your body and mind. Don’t just take my word for it—give it a try and BE CURIOUS about how mindfulness around your food changes (or not) the experience of eating for you. Listen and be open to what your body is telling you.

“Yoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is. We are allowing other people to be what they are, and we are sanctioning our own bodies and our own minds to fully manifest.” Richard Freeman

Let this be an invitation to listen to the innate wisdom you carry within you.