Since I wrote my series on mindful eating, many new readers have subscribed to my blog who may not have read the series. I also know some of you read the series without actually trying mindful eating. You know who you are. 
As a result, I decided to cook and serve one last dish of mindful eating. I want you to eat mindfully so you digest the benefits and wet your appetite for a full 30 day trial.
Your mission — should you decide to accept it — is to try mindful eating during one lunch today or tomorrow. Easy, right?
Embarrassingly Easy Instructions
For the one lunch that you choose today or tomorrow (no procrastinating!), please do the following:
- Eat the first three bites of the meal mindfully: Notice your level of hunger in your eyes, nose, mouth, stomach, and body. Take the time to eat the first three bites slowly. What does the food look like? How does it smell? What does it taste like? Do you like it?
- Eat the last three bites of the meal mindfully: Do the same thing as described for eating the first three bites. How do the last three bites compare to the first three bites?
That’s it. Well, there is one more thing – please write a comment and tell me about your experience. Did you like eating mindfully? Or did you hate it? What did you learn?
Come on, give it a try. What do you have to lose? You have to eat lunch anyway, right?
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. - Confucious
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Tags: Diet, Mindful Eating, Mindfulness
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Ok Roger, I am in. I will have a go tonight and report back.
Roger, I’ll eat mindfully today. Being mindful is fairly new to me but I’m loving it! Things that seem automatic and boring don’t have to be. It’s amazing to me how my body responds to mindful attention.
I accept my mission!
@Garry, @Stephen, @David Cain,
Great! Please let me and the other readers know how it goes.
Count me in! I’m planning on having a great meal at lunch today, so I’ll report back!
Jay,
I look forward to your comments!!
This is great advice. I really enjoy eating mindfully and I think it’s much better for me both mentally and health-wise. However, I have a REALLY hard time doing this sometimes. I mean, the way I woofed down my breakfast this morning was insane. It was like I hadn’t eaten in a decade. It’s funny that I read this post because I actually thought about it this morning and said to myself, “Man, you need to SLOW DOWN.” This post is a great reminder for me. Thanks!
I shall do as instructed, sir!
It went very well! I actually tried to stay mindful through the whole thing. Two things I noticed: the meal tasted delicious and lasted forever; and I ate less.
Very intrigued, I should do this more often.
@Positively Present: It is hard to do for every meal. However, I think you get benefit if you can eat mindfully at least one meal per day.
@Nadia: I look forward to comments!
@David Cain: That was exactly my first experience! I still find that food tastes better and is more enjoyable when I eat mindfully. It’ll be interesting to see what others experience.
It went really well Roger. It was amazing how you could pick out individual flavours in the meal. Initially I felt more hungry when I was eating the first parts of the meal, maybe this was down to my body knowing that I was starting to eat. Perhaps it helps when the meal is home made; I already knew what was in it and that maybe helped my senses pick out the different flavours. I wonder what the result would be for a ready made meal or take out.
Garry,
Thanks for completing the mission!
It sounds like you had a good experience. You might want to experiment with some different foods especially foods that you really like or dislike. I found that some of my favorite foods had very little taste which surprised me.
So, My follow-up:
I knew that I would be stuck inside today (Saturday), and so I decided to use yesterday as my “cheat day”..where I can eat whatever I want. This worked out perfectly for the “mindful eating” experiment, because I was able to eat the very thing that I wanted, and I was free to enjoy it, and focus on the mindful eating part.
I had been craving Quesadillas for a couple of weeks, so that’s what I had. Specifically, A chicken-cheese quesadilla, with some chips and salsa on the side.
I sat down with my meal, and I just inhaled the aroma. I took a few moments to breathe in the smell, and notice the texture. I don’t ask a “blessing”, per se, normally, but I took a few moments to be thankful for the meal. I thanked the chicken for giving it’s life, and I thanked the cow for giving the milk that became the cheese. I then thanked mother Earth for the grains that became the tortilla, and the chips. I know this might sound a little weird to most people, but I figured being mindful also included being mindful (and appreciative) of the various sources that brought the food to my plate.
I think it must have been a combination of having craved it for so long and being extra mindful about what I was eating, but that was the most amazing quesadilla I’ve ever had! It was just awesome! I chewed a lot slower than I usually do, and really savored the taste. I tried to stay mindful through the whole thing, but my mind was wandering a bit…luckily, I came back to the task at hand with the last bite, which was truly heavenly.
Overall, it was an awesome experience! I’m definitely going to be doing this more often. It was almost like making love to the food…very sensual.
Jay,
That’s really great! It’s worthwhile eating mindfully just for the great taste of the food. I do the same thing and it is really is sensual as you say.
It’s funny that you should mention being thankful for the food. This is one of the exercises in the mindful eating book that I don’t practice regularly. I think it’s a very good idea and also makes you a little more conscious about the source and quality of the food.
You are ripe for a full 30 day trial.
Thanks for this post. Bringing awareness into what we usually think of as “minor” or “little” activities like eating, driving, walking and so on has been so helpful to me.
Chris,
You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful.
Roger,
This sounds like a very easy mindful exercise. My stomach’s time clock is totally mixed up right now because I am on a trip to Switzerland, but I promise at my next lunch I will do your exercise and come back to tell you about it. Thank you for this post:~)
Sara,
I hope you’re having a great time in Switzerland! I look forward to you comments.
Nice.
Eating offers a lot of opportunity for mindfulness. I often find that as I chew if I’m mindful it opens new dimensions in flavor and the foods texture.
Definitely a form of meditation.
j
Jack,
Welcome!
Slow chewing and eating definitely makes it easier to eat mindfully.
Yes - I like ‘Mindful eating’… It is then that I can enjoy the dishes for what they are in particular. I sort of feel a one to one’ rapport with them !!
And when I get mindful of myself… I feel ‘grateful to the food grower’ and the rest who have reached me the food-material… and then at the end of the meal I feel like saying … May this meal energize me to ‘go good things’….
Of course — It is over the years … as I aged and got my share of life’s .. got and not got .. predicaments that I got calmer and got thus Mindful about my food-fairs !!
Thanks for this important Topic-discussion.
A Correction please… May this meal energise me to ‘do good things’.. is what I meant.
And then - I forgot to add that I feel happy whenever I have been able to prepare the dishes at their best.
Veda,
Welcome!
It sound like you already eat mindfully. I like your description of feeling rapport with your food. Also, I agree that gratitude about the source of the food helps us eat more mindfully as well. It really is amazing when you take the time to think about it.