Mindful Eating Miniseries Part 3: Savor Each Bite- Practicing Mindful Eating

Remember from our Mindful Eating Mini Series Introduction, mindfulness involves bringing one’s full and deliberate attention to what you are doing at the time you are doing it. Mindfulness embraces a moment by moment awareness of the thoughts, feelings, and surroundings of ourselves and others.  Mindfulness includes acceptance, an awareness of our thoughts and feelings without judging them.

The assignment this week was to invite yourself to a celebratory dinner experience.

1. How did you treat yourself as your own dinner guest? What did you do?
2. How did this compare to how you typically eat?
3. Did the food taste any different in this special environment?
4. Did you feel more in tune with your feelings of hunger and satiety?
5. What was your overall reaction to this exercise?
6. Would you do this on a regular basis?

Celebrating the meal allows us to be in the moment and enjoy the experience. It deters the usual multitasking in thought and action and supports you to be in the moment. You become more aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. This week we will expand up the experience of eating.

Do you ever find that before you finish chewing the food that is in your mouth, you begin thinking about the next bite? Do you generally pick up the next morsel or forkful before you finish the first? The following activity will ask you to pay full and deliberate attention to your current bite, to savor the moment, to savor the food.

Prepare two slices of fruit. This could be two types of apples, granny smith and gala, or two different fruits entirely, pineapples and strawberries. Place them on a pretty plate. Prepare to complete each step below, pausing in between to ponder the bullet points below.

1. Close your eyes. Take a moment to think about where this fruit came from. Imagine where the fruit grew. Envision how it travelled from the farm to our town to sitting in front of you.
2. Open your eyes. Look at the fruit’s color and shape. Try your best to concentrate on only the fruit. Take a moment to think about the details you see.
3. Pick up one piece of fruit. Notice the scent of the fruit. Imagine how this piece of fruit is going to taste.
4. Now, take a small bite of the fruit. Chew slowly. Try to place your entire focus on this piece of fruit. What is the texture? How does it taste? Is it sweet?
5. Notice the burst of flavor. Take time to chew slowly. Take small bites, chew slowly, until the first piece is gone.
6. Next, pick up your second piece of fruit. Look at the details. Smell it. Imagine the taste. Bite the fruit. Feel the texture and compare the taste. Chew slowly. Take small bites, chew slowly.

Consider this experience. Have you ever eaten like this before? We generally do not take the time to savor each bite. Did the fruit taste any different to you than it has in the past? Was it satisfying? What do you think would happen if you ate like this on a regular basis? Even though it might seem silly, try this for one meal or snack this week.  You may be surprised at how much more satisfying food can be when you stop, taste, savor, and enjoy the experience.