Has Your Eating Routine Gone out the Window!

Body
Physical Wellness

Do you always find yourself eating on the run? Are you “rolling up the rim to win” every morning? For many, drive-thru restaurants, and eating while driving, working, or watching TV have become common routines.

These behaviours indicate that in today’s culture there is a desperate need to reestablish our relationship with food. This need is seen in the epidemic rates of obesity in adults and youth, in the parade of fad diets that introduce fear into eating and perpetuate imbalance, in the prevalence of chronic illness and in our obsession with weight.

Humans have the potential to be in balance with all parts of life, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental. With respect to the process of eating, there seems to be a disruption in this balance.

This has resulted in many people having an abusive relationship with food. An abusive relationship with food can take several forms, including overeating and obesity, excessive restriction and eating disorders, eating to cope with emotional needs, stress-induced eating and a fearful approached to food. We must find a way to regain the joy of food! It would be tragic to lose the celebration of coming together as a community to eat, the enjoyment of cooking and creating exciting dishes and the thankfulness for the food we receive.

Unfortunately eating has become a task which we usually blend in with other tasks in our life such as, driving, watching television, or using the computer. Have you ever had the experience of eating a bowl of chips and realizing that it was finished, but not remembering eating it? This type of behaviour is very common, because we lack a sense of mindful eating. Put more simply, our brains ignore the fact that we have eaten, because it was busy focusing on something else.

Mindful Eating

In order for the brain to register that a full meal has been eaten, one should have an awareness of how the meal was prepared, a proper environment in which to eat and an understanding of why they are eating. By creating a sacred eating space in the home with placemats and candles, eliminating distractions such as TV, and incorporating a ceremony or ritual, such as giving thanks for the gift of food, you will enhance your awareness of the true value of food. Making this a conscious effort will allow you to feel fuller for longer, prevent health related disorders, and bring your body into balance.