- The Art of Eating Mindfully and A Simple Act of Gratitude

Mixed Mushroom and Cheese Risotto

You just finished your plate of mushroom risotto. You had a Waldorf salad and a couple of garlic bread sticks for your appetizer. You are already 98 per cent full but you’re eyeing for that salted caramel brownie in the dessert menu. You order the brownie and start ravishing the warm and rich fudgy chocolate. You reach out for another piece but realise your plate is already empty.

Fudgy Wudge Chocolate Cookies

How many times have we had a meal without actually knowing what we actually ate? Some of us may have even struggled to recall what type of food we ingested for our last meal.

Why not picture this instead: A group of people seated on the floor in rows, each with their own plates filled with food. It is lunchtime and the only sound you hear are the clinks of metal utensils. It is so quiet that you even start to wonder if the person next to you can hear you chewing and crunching the food in your mouth.

Eating One Bite at a Time

Commonly practiced in retreats, the purpose of eating in silence, or to eat mindfully is to push us beyond our cravings, and to put a stopper to factors that encourages the habit of stuffing our bellies.

Mindful eating is not a diet, or about giving up anything at all. It’s about experiencing food more intensely – especially the pleasure of it. How do we have the power to eat mindfully, if we wish to and how we can enjoy this process even more, when we decide halfway through that our body has had enough.

Although the concept of mindful eating has roots in Buddhist teachings, non-Buddhist can practise it as well. Just like Christians say grace before their meals, an important component of eating mindfully is to reflect about the origins of the food, and to be grateful for the people who helped in making the food. From the farmers who planted and harvested your grains, to the truck drivers who provided transportation, to the market grocers who sold them to the people, and finally, to the people who cooked and prepared your food in the kitchen.

Do not underestimate this simple act of gratitude. You will be surprised how it can arouse a great sense of contentment and joy.

“When I ate with a sense of gratitude 

  and loving-kindness, a joyous feeling 

  of appreciation aroused in me.”

This does not only made the food taste “so much better, it also helped us digestion” as we began to eat mindfully during a retreat. This constantly reminds ourselves to eat mindfully and with a sense of gratitude for every meal. In fact, it is highly recommended for anyone to do it as well!

The Benefits of Practising Gratitude

Those who practice gratitude constantly report a hose of benefits:

(i) Physical
Sleeping well and feel more refreshed upon waking
Lower blood pressure
Less bothered by aches
Stronger immune systems

(ii) Psychological
More alert, alive in the now
More joy and pleasure
Higher levels of positive emotion
More optimism and happiness

(iii) Social
Feel less lonely and isolated
More outgoing
More forgiving
More helpful, generous and compassionate

Indeed gratitude is a powerful relationship-strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we have been supported and affirmed by other people. It has two components:

Firstly, it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are blessings, merits and benefits we have received in this ‘samsara’ world of imperfection. And when we look at life as a whole, gratitude encourages us to identify some amount of goodness in our life.

Secondly, by practising gratitude we figure out where that goodness comes from and be humbly thankful as we reflect upon them instead of taking things for granted. We gratuitously acknowledge that we are dependent on other people whether big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.

Putting into Practice

For ourselves, we found an increased awareness on the amount of food we really need to consume rather than to habitually overeat.

We ate less than what we used to eat in the past as we are more aware of how full we are. Although the occasional tendency of opening the fridge door after a meal still arises, we have less thoughts of having second helpings, or wanting to snack after our meal. But it’s not all that simple and easy. Sure, we may all look calm and serene while eating in retreat conditions, but beneath that peaceful demeanor, a raging struggle dominates the mind, “Yes, eating mindfully is not easy. However, with practise and some perseverance, it can be done in our daily lives.”

Before eating, we would make it a point to say a few words of thanks in our heart and for which we must also thank of our teacher, Venerable who taught us:

“I partake this food not for fun, not for pleasure, nor for beauty, but purely for the sustenance of my body and mind. I shall eat with a sense of metta, to all those who have painstakingly prepared this meal for me. May this food nourish and replenish my body so that I can continue to practise and develop my mind.”

This practice helps us to cultivate gratitude and contentment on a daily basis. Perhaps you can give it a try too.

Deep sense of Eating

Besides eating with a sense of gratitude, we need to constantly reflect on the purpose of why we eat: Whether we eat to live or live to eat? Our rhythm of life is increasing every minute by the day.

During mealtimes ask ourselves constantly: “Does my body need this? Why am I eating this?”

With constant practise, right motivation and reflection, the art of mindful eating may not be an uphill task against old formidable mindsets after all.

So are you still going to call for that second helping of brownie?