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Mindful
Eating
March 2005
I just finished
reading an article in the April issue of, Spirituality and Health,
on "mindful eating", entitled "Know Your Hunger" "Finally!" I
thought an insightful approach to eating and dieting. The author,
Jean Kristeller, PH.D. has been using meditation techniques since
the early ‘80's to help people with compulsive eating problems. In
the last 10 years her work has developed into the Mindfulness
Based—Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT). She has found that as we
become more aware of our feelings of hunger and fullness, what we
like and don't like, how we eat and why we eat as we do, our
patterns change. Instead of allowing ourselves to be bombarded by
outside stimuli as to what we should eat, we begin to follow our own
inner wisdom. We begin to have a more balanced and healthy
relationship with food. Now why do you suppose the billion dollar
diet industry doesn't tell us this?
Though I have been fortunate not to ever have to lose more than just
a few pounds—something I'm very grateful for, I can only imagine
what it must be like to have to lose 20-30-40 pounds or more. I,
like most people, have watched people we love struggling with their
weight. For my mother, it lasted a lifetime. For her the struggle
was exacerbated by diabetes, depression and the slue of medications
they required. Over the years I've observed the struggle with a
mixture of compassion and frustration, which I've pondered from time
to time. My mother wasn't strong enough to consistently change her
habits. She was from the old school and believed that disease and
hardships were things that you were randomly dealt—mala fortuna—and
could do little about. As I watched the struggle continue, I
observed how she contributed to her problems while I watched
helplessly wondering, "Does it have to be this way?" I've come to
believe that losing weight is, in part, a matter of inner
introspection and a willingness to accept what your body and your
spirit tells you and then do something about it. The struggle to
lose weight, like all struggles, always comes with clues as to what
in particular to you is off-balance. So strongly do I know this
that, if I can inspire anyone to begin to accept their part in their
own healing, I know they will have opened a doorway that can change
their life.
If you are comfortable with a few extra pounds and they don't
present any health problems then, regardless of what the media would
have you believe, your weight is not an issue. Unfortunately for
most people, this is not the case. As we know, obesity in this
country, even in the very young, is at an all-time high. Texas I
believe, is trying to pass a law that will require schools to send
home a weight and health report along with a student's grades. Is
this an act of desperation? Eating disorders and food related
diseases abound. These are desperate times. What is it about our
relationship to food that is so off-balance?
Though I will not comment on the psychology of eating disorders,
there are many others far more qualified than I to address this.
What I do know is that the body is magnificent! Each cell in our
body knows exactly what to do—perfectly--every time—with no
interference from us. It takes a lot of work—in most cases—over a
course of many years to create and maintain an unhealthy body.
Disease and pain is usually our body's last resort to get our
attention when we have failed to heed, other more subtle warnings.
Our body knows what it needs for optimum health and weight. It's
just that there's too much interference from modern life to clearly
read our own signals. We have forgotten how to hear and feel our
body's innate wisdom.
We used to do this naturally as babies. As infants both my children
loved vegetables. Now as a young adult my 21-year-old daughter,
after years of refusing to eat any vegetables except for sweet
potatoes, is finally enjoying salads and a variety of vegetables.
She even turned me onto seaweed salad—delicious. My 17-year-old son
on the other hand still eats only romaine lettuce and string beans.
However my son never lost his ability to eat like a baby does. He
eats only when he's hungry, even if he's at a family gathering,
laden with food. He only eats what he's in the mood for—which makes
menu planning a bit tough—but regardless of how much he liked
something yesterday, he won't eat it today if he's not in the mood.
His friends take care of the leftovers—I have some of the best in
town—so I'm not too concerned about "wasting food"—a sin where I
grew up. Yet, aside from hoping he'll soon grow more adventurous in
his food choices, I think that he has the right idea. Basically, my
son has, at this point, developed what will probably become a
life-long pattern of listening to his body for clues as to what and
when he wants to eat. Unfortunately, even this "brilliant" boy has
succumbed to the influence of outside stimuli by loving, a bit too
much, the chemicals of fast food. So what is a chef--mother to do? I
am humbled to revert to a very old adage, "If you can't beat them,
join them". I started making the fast foods he likes in healthy
ways. He benefited from many delicious discoveries as I invented my
versions of fajitas, quesadillas, grilled pizzas, spicy mac ‘n
cheese, salads with blackened or sesame chicken, tomato soup with
tortellini, and …well, you get the idea. Of course all of this is
leading to a new book. It's an alternative to fast food and teaches
beginning cooks how to make their favorite dishes, using real
food—not the microwave. (Due out some time in 2006.)
Watching my children make food choices, from the
instinctive—naturally good for you kind—to choices that are a result
of cultural hypnosis, it is clear how brainwashing gets to us all in
some form or another. Hopefully, somewhere along the line we awaken
from our slumber and become aware of what serves us or doesn't. And
if we've been paying attention, we begin to be guided by our
mistakes, our failures, our pains and go back to our instincts. Why
follow diets that concentrate on specific food groups and are bound
by rules and restrictions? Sooner or later you have to go off them.
Then what? By all means be informed. Find out about chemistry and
food combining, vitamins and nutrients. Try that diet if it calls
you. But ultimately be your own judge about what to accept or not.
Find out what works for you, your lifestyle, your likes and
dislikes. Be in rhythm with your body. Doesn't that sound better
than being at war with your body?
Develop a healthy relationship with food by looking within yourself
with honesty, forgiveness and a sense of adventure. Listen to the
whispers of your body and follow its guidance. And if one day that
voice craves a "super sized meal" by all means indulge yourself.
Just share it with half a dozen others.
Food, like anything else, can be gift from God and our fine Earth,
meant to give us life and infinite pleasure, or it can be a means of
slow poison. You choose.
Chef Silvia
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