Week 1: Eat Well

I’m definitely not the only one who has eaten lunch while working only to look at an empty plate and wonder where my food went. Chances are, you’re also guilty of the occasional distracted and mindless eating—chowing down while texting, grubbing in front of a computer, or munching at a movie theater. In fact, it’s probably difficult to recall a recent time in which you were concentrating totally on your meal.

Mindful eating places awareness on the menu, whenever and wherever we eat. As well as making us watchful about what we eat, it aims to transform our relationship with food by focusing on the how and why of eating, encouraging a more holistic point of view. Ultimately, this means we have a better chance of understanding what foods nourish us and what foods help us stay healthy while also encouraging a deeper appreciation of every meal, every mouthful, and every ingredient.

When was the last time you truly paid attention to what you were eating — when you truly savored the experience of food? Often, we eat on autopilot, chowing down a meal while our attention is on the TV or the screen of our devices or a book or a daydream.

Mindfulness invites us to remove those distractions and sit uninterrupted with our food and fellow diners. In doing so, we begin to take our time over a meal. In eating more slowly, we savor the flavors, the aromas, and the textures. We reconnect with our senses

Once we bring our attention to the entire experience of eating, we stop getting lost in the thinking mind and become less caught up in any complicated emotions we might have around food. Quite simply, we allow ourselves to be re-acquainted with the pleasure of eating.