Tuesday, May 22, 2012

the eating slowly experiment: mindful eating (results)

Three weeks pass in the blink of an eye. Or...in the scarfing of a meal. That is how long I've been practicing mindful eating as my fourth test method in the eating slowly experiment.


Results. Mindful eating is a romantic concept. Taking the time to mindfully chew, think, and process your food is the way I would certainly like to eat in an ideal world. But life isn't ideal. My life (like yours) is littered with rushed meals, stressful days, and a tired body and brain. At the end of a long day it is HARD to take the effort to think so carefully about dinner. To me it seems that mindfulness is a skill that will require careful cultivation over time. 


Here is my observation. The methods that were not concrete or measurable, like the mindful eating method or the pause and calm method, were easy to forget or skip. I even had to write myself post-it notes and scatter them around the house to remind me to eat mindfully, hence the pictures (and yes, I support radon testing). More concrete methods, with a tangible task, like the fork down method, were much more successful.

When I did manage to eat more mindfully, the meal was not only slower, but more pleasurable and satisfying.

I want to cultivate the skill of mindful eating, I do. As a result of this experiment I have been reading several books on the topic, which I hope will help me incorporate this type of behavior into my life. One book in particular, Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays, has a series of meditations and experiments included with the book that I would love to attempt. If you guys have any interest in doing this together in the form of an interactive 'mindful eating experiment', please let me know. Otherwise, I will do them on my own (hopefully) and report back to you.
 
 
Do you practice mindful eating? Pretty please comment on this post and/or e-mail me (mylessseriouslife@gmail.com) with your thoughts on the subject. Look for an introduction post for the final eating slowly method soon!

13 comments:

  1. Hey! I am totally in on doing the mindful eating experiment with you! This is something I have been working on with little success, so it would be great to have someone to do it with for support and to share ideas! That book looks really good too- I think I'll go and purchase that one :)

    Just email me (you can use the contact form on my blog) with more details!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yay! so glad you are interested in doing this. let me see who else is interest and think about it. will be in touch. if nothing else - me and you can do it! sample size of 2!

      Delete
  2. It is great to hear how your mindful eating experiment is going. I find it interesting that the table says the chopstick method is the least succesful, I wonder why!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i think the main reason the chopstick method didn't work was because i'm super great at chopsticks! ;)

      Delete
  3. You're right - it's a romantic concept...but not so much a practical one (for me anyways). It's totally not measurable - after all, what is mindful? Thinking about your jaw chewing as it does it? The flavors, textures, feelings?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes, it is a really subjective and personal thing. i think this book i found will help some though...

      Delete
  4. I love to hear how this is going for you. I admire it! I scarf my food down far too fast, but sometimes I just don't have a lot of time. I don't doubt for a second that eating was far more satisfying when slooooowed down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is amazing the difference it makes!

      Delete
  5. I only eat mindfully about half the time now. It's just really not possible to eat mindfully at work - I'm just trying to take bites of food between phone calls/patients, you know? But at home I do really, really focus on my food and it really helps me feel satisfied with less.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. at work i totally get it. i try and always take a lunch break and at least focus in (although usually i'm still doing other things, like right now!)

      Delete
  6. Mindful eating is definitely tough but I have gotten way better at it lately. I would say that since I first started becoming aware of trying out mindful eating I have noticed a huge difference BUT that came over a 1-2 year period! It is a very slow process...so that can frustrate a lot of people!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd love to eat mindfully...maybe when the school year ends and I'm not scarfing down my lunch and snacks in the few uninterrupted moments I can get before picking up my kidlets :) A few years ago I went from counting every calorie to eating intuitively, which was very difficult, but I am much better at it now. Although I am still tracking my food intake (to make sure I get enough protein), I try to pick what I want, rather than what I feel like I *should* eat.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Look at you girl! Trust me, I know how difficult the whole "mindful eating" thing can be-- especially when you come home late and are more than ready for dinner! But the fact that you're taking these steps and testing out these methods is awesome. Great job :)

    ReplyDelete