Wait, what?! Yes, you can practice mindfulness while eating, and it’s a great way to do it. Here’s how, and we’ll start off easy.
- Pick a time where you are alone
Pick a quiet place where you are alone and won’t be disturbed for about 10–20 minutes. Not always easy for many people, but even this step is an important part of the exercise—carving out a quiet and secluded place and time. - Pick a meal that you can eat in a mindful manner
Can be anything, really, but something that has you chewing I found to work best. We are going to take bites of something and concentrate on it, wholeheartedly. So, drinking your lunch is not optimal, at first (we’ll get to that later.) - The bite
Take a bite or forkful of your food. Not too big, not too small; just enough to work on for about 10–13 chews. (Yep! We are counting.) The real work starts now… - Clear your mind
If you have meditated, you know how to do this. If not, clear your mind of thoughts, focus on the food in front of you. If a thought other then your food or chewing comes in, I like to visualize my hand coming up into my mind and gently sweeping that thought off to the left or right, out of view. If it is a negative thought, I imagine it going over a cliff. - Now, take a bite
Take a bite of food, concentrating on the action of bringing it to your mouth, then concentrate on every step and motion of the activity of eating.
- I see the food.
- I select the part I want to eat.
- I pick it up.
- I place it in my mouth.
- I set the fork / spoon down (and or place hands in lap).
- I close my eyes and concentrate on the chewing (slowly and with intention), counting them out to a preselected number (10, 12, or 15…).
- Each bit I concentrate on the flavors, the textures, the noises my body makes. If thoughts, judgements or memories come up, push them to the side.
- Swallow, concentrating on the action of swallowing.
- Repeat, until the the meal is done (or my timer goes off—I sometimes set it for 10 minutes, to keep me honest.)
What Are We Doing?
It’s mediation, in a way, while we eat. Clearing our mind is part of it (meditative), but the act of concentrating on the chewing, the flavors, the textures, the noises, the swallowing is the mindfulness part of it.
During this, I noticed things like:
- flavors I had not noticed before
- textures that were new to me
- memories it brought up (to explore later)
- judgements it brought up (to explore later)
- an uncomfortableness to eating with my eyes closed (again, to explore later)
- an uncomfortableness to eating so slowly (later!)
- and a lot more
What Do We Get From This?
Who knows! We are all going to take something away from this that is unique to each of us. The exercise is meditative, but also a way to bring up things we don’t typically think of while eating. Things I got from it where:
- Why do I eat so quickly?
- Why have I not noticed that texture before?
- How slow can I eat and still enjoy it? (See section below about the apple.)
You may get a raft of different questions and things to ponder during your exercise, and that is the point! Recognize them , note them, and think about them after you are done. Then repeat the process to see what else comes up.
You Don’t Just Have to Do This While Eating
You can apply this to just about any activity (though some may require your eyes to be open 🤣.) Changing a car tire, making a smoothie, folding clothes.
What Happened When I Ate an Apple Excruciatingly S-l-o-w-l-y
I also did this with the idea that I would see how slow I could eat something, and what would happen. I chose a nice, crisp apple. I chewed incredibly s-l-o-w-l-y. To the point where it took about 30 seconds to take a bite of the apple slice.
I was blown away at what it brought up. A practice in patience, for one, and an incredible understanding of textures in an apple I never experienced before. Strongly recommend doing this with a really good, crisp apple, or high quality sausage, or even something where there is good mouthfeel and textures. (Crackers were weird, but that can be a good exercise too!)
Yes, You Can Do This While Drinking A Smoothie
As I mentioned above, I suggest starting off with a meal you chew. But, you can certainly do this while drinking a shake or smoothie. Something with good texture and flavors will help in that they tend to bring up feelings and details you may not have noticed before. And those things can bring up things to explore later.
Again, it’s all about exploring the duality of noticing things and being able to shelve them for later.
In Summary
Mindfulness can be applied to just about anything, but doing this exercise while eating is something else entirely. You may walk away from it with a new appreciation for food, your body, or even get a bit skeeved out by it all. Which okay too! It’s about the experience, and exploring your feelings that come up.
