Mindful eating is maintaining an in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you put into your body. It involves observing how the food makes you feel and the signals your body sends about taste, satisfaction, and fullness.  It’s about understanding the value the food brings to your body, or the destruction the food has on your body.

Food is not just calories.  It’s information that talks to your DNA and tells your body what to do.

Every machine, computer, technology needs something to make it work effectively.  A motor vehicle, for example needs the correct fuel in order to run.  Your computer needs the right antivirus to protect it from harm, and will only output what you have input.

Your body is no different.  In order for your body to work optimally it needs to have the correct foods to fuel it.

We are constantly taught to love ourselves, to love our bodies.  So if you love your body, why would you feed it foods that can cause disease and ill health?  You wouldn’t put diesel in a petrol car, would you?  The engine would cease, and it would cost your thousands of $ to have it repaired.  You wouldn’t download dodgy software just to play games on your computer and run the risk of your entire hard drive becoming corrupted, costing you thousands of $ to have it repaired. 

The same though process applies to our bodies.  Our bodies are machines, and we owe it to ourselves to be mindful of how we fuel them. 

When you consciously eat, you are treating your body with love.

• Be mindful of the ingredients contained in packaged foods.  Read the labels, and avoid anything that is highly processed, contains hidden sugars, wheat, artificial flavours and colourants and dodgy preservatives, aspartame, soy, trans fats, vegetable oils, and especially chemical symbols! (This is putting diesel in a petrol car, or downloading the dodgy software onto your computer)

• Choose naturally grown, organic foods.  Foods that are fresh, grass fed and locally grown.

• Ask yourself if you are in fact hungry before you eat.  Or is it perhaps an emotional response that has triggered your mind to reach for something to eat?  Simply be aware and notice your feelings. 

• Start with gratitude.  Mindfully be grateful for the food you’re about to prepare and consume.  From the farmers who farmed the land to grow the food, to the store where you bought it, for the blessings to be able to buy the food and being grateful for the HEALTH the food is going to provide to your body.  Meaningful gratitude is powerful when you acknowledge the entire process.  You don’t have to be “religious” or “spiritual”  to say thank you.

• Be present as you prepare your food.  Washing it, chopping, dicing, cooking, adding spices and fluids – it’s all a process to be “spiritually connected” to the meal.  It’s a sign of respect to the animal or plants your about to consume.  Relax and enjoy the process as a quiet celebration.

• Sit at a table and set yourself a place.  While this may not always be practical, its important to be calm and relaxed when you’re eating.  Remember that stress spikes blood sugar, so if your rushing, standing, and eating, or even sitting in front of the TV watching something that takes your focus off your body, you’re not present with your food.  You want to savour the tastes, the aromas, the texture, and the emotional response of healthy choices.

• How much you’re eating!  Start with smaller portions and learn to stop when you’re satisfied.  Anything more is simply indulgence and gluttony.

• Clean up after your meal.  It symbolises the end of the feeding process and shows respect for your body and for your home.