Calm Eating

In my path of learning to be an intuitive eater, I've committed to not eat anything until I take a few deep breaths in order to put myself into a relaxed state.  And once I start eating, I slow down, chew my food fully and be conscious and mindful of every bite.  By doing this I find that I reduce my levels of stress before eating anything and keep the levels of stress down during my meal.  This focuses a majority of my energy on digestion, where I want it to be.  There are still times when I eat mindlessly.  While I have significantly reduced the amount and frequency of mindless eating, it still happens from time to time.  By pausing to take several deep breaths before eating, I am taking a few minutes to consider if this is something I really want to do, and make the eating more mindful and purposeful.  And by eating slowly and calmly, and taking the time to fully chew my food, I will enjoy the taste so much more, and notice that I have had enough food and not overeat.

We have all heard of the “fight or flight” response.  This comes from our ancestors – when they hunted for their food, the body was programmed to give all of its energy to escaping from potential danger.  If energy during those times was being used to digest food, then they wouldn’t have enough energy to run, and might become another creature’s dinner.  The opposite response is called “rest and digest”.  When we are calm and quiet, our energy is mainly focused on digesting our food.  After that big Thanksgiving dinner, when everyone is laid out on the couch, the “rest and digest” response is in full control.

In today’s society, so many of us are overly stressed so much of the time by so many factors, many of which are beyond our control.  I know I feel like I am under constant stress and often find it very hard to relax.  When we are so stressed, the body doesn’t know the difference between getting stuck in traffic or watching the depressing news on TV or the tiger that’s about to eat us.  By being in this constant state of stress, our energy is not directed to digesting our food.  And this results in weight gain (or more difficulty in losing weight), indigestion and heartburn and we don’t absorb the nutrients in the food we are eating.  If we just put ourselves into a calm state before (and while) eating, then our energy will be where it needs to be.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to maybe lose a few pounds, not have digestive issues and know that we are taking in the vitamins and minerals in our food.  Think how much healthier our society would be by just taking a few deep breaths before every meal and eating that meal slowly and mindfully.