“Take time to appreciate the food on your plate. Notice the colors and textures. Take a bite. Slowly experience the tastes on your tongue. Put down your fork and savor.” ~Melinda Beck, Wall Street Journal/Health Journal
Food is constantly on our minds. But often, food loses its taste when you’re facing a midlife divorce. We eat mindlessly. It just no longer seems to satisfy. During times of stress and grief, we either eat distractedly as a diversion, or we eat as a substitution for a love we have lost. Neither way of eating is good.
Be Mindful
In fact, in our country, hardly anyone eats mindfully; we eat out of hurried habit or in a constant search for emotional satisfaction.
During the next meal you eat, pay attention. Be aware of the flavors. Be attentive to the ‘mouth feel.’ Listen to your body when it says, “that’s enough.” Melinda Beck’s article advises to: “Put down your fork between bites. Eat slowly. Savor your food.”
Appreciation
Let’s start being mindful with our meals right this instant. If you are having a cup of coffee, fully appreciate the sensual pleasure of that. Feel the warm mug in your hands. Smell the rich aroma. Taste the dark, sophisticated flavor.
If you’re having blueberries, really look at them. Notice their color, and taste their unique flavor. Really notice the sweet blackberry preserves on your crunchy English muffin.
A Gift
Food is a wonderful gift, and like so many other things in our abundant life, we so, so often forget how precious that gift is. Today, let’s start a new mindfulness journey by simply eating with more consideration. Do everything today with more gratitude and true appreciation.
We have so many incredible things to be thankful for, and our food is a daily blessing we should neither abuse nor take for granted. Let’s be mindful, too, of those who do not have enough to eat today and do something to help.
“Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little. If I’m too full, I might get independent, saying, ‘God, who needs him?’ If I’m poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God.” ~ Proverbs 30:8-9 (The Message)
