How to Enjoy Food More
Weightless Bliss
Food is wonderful --- the smell, the taste, the texture, the colour. There are many delightful things about good food, but how can we enjoy food more without packing on the pounds?
Hunger
Hunger is the desire for food. It’s programmed into our bodies. So, the first step to enjoying food is to listen to our bodies. Eat when you’re hungry, don’t eat when you’re not. If we live with other people, we have to make some accommodation. We will need some regular mealtime. But the trick is to make it regular. If you eat close to the same time each day, you will likely be hungry at mealtime.
Forget Hang-Ups
Many of us have food hang-ups. We eat too many sweets. We feel guilty when we eat too much. We sometimes get bad associations with certain foods. Put that all to the side. When you are eating your meal, approach your food like you’ve never eaten that meal before. No guilt, no hang-ups.
Take Time
Don’t rush it. One thing we often fall into is rushing through our meal to get on to the next thing, whether it is work or play or a social event. Stop. Take the time to relax when you eat. If you have the privilege of eating with another person, take the time to relax together and talk.
Set a Place
Sit at a comfortable table. Not on the couch, not at your desk. Eat at a table, always or nearly all the time. Meals are not just a means to an end. They are not a nuisance to be kept as short as possible. Meals are a time of wonder. We live in an age where most of us eat like kings with a wide array of foods from all over the world. Have a seat and respect the food.
Gratitude
Before you eat, and as you eat, give thanks for the food you are about to eat. Almost all of us are blessed with an abundance of tasty, healthy food. Keep this in mind at every meal and every snack. It makes food taste better.
Focus
Don’t share mealtimes with devices. Share mealtimes with other people as often as you can, but don’t share mealtimes with the TV. The only talking during mealtimes should be by people in the room: you and your family or friends. TV can wait. Nowadays, almost everyone has a way of recording a program and watching it later. You don’t gain by watching TV during a meal --- well, you do gain, but not what you want.
Serve it in Style
Place your food on your best china. Maybe that’s Corelle plates, but notice how the plates are uncannily round and often colourful. If you’re blessed with fine china, use it. Nice plates are not just for high-brow food. All food benefits from nice table settings. Even if you’re eating mac and cheese, serve it with style.
Observe
Look at your food. Notice the colour and the texture of the presentation on the plate. Even with mac and cheese, take in the orange-yellow gloss on the slightly curved, tubular pasta. Note how the cheese sauce sticks the noodles together. Move it around a bit on your plate. Load up the fork and lift it slightly, and then turn it over.
Listen
Does your food make any sounds? Is it still sizzling? Does it snap, crackle, and pop? What does your soup sound like when you stir it? Does your plate ring when you touch it with a fork?
Savour the Scents
Before you even lift a fork, take a nice, big snout full of the glorious aroma. Maybe it’s BBQ meat or fresh bread. Whatever you’re eating, smell it first. Take it in, pause, store that in the memory banks. Feel the steam rising from the baked potato. Try to decode the complex aroma of a multi-spice tomato sauce. Savour the complex smells and the beautifully blended scent of the whole meal.
Taste and See
Finally, take a bit of food on the fork and ease it into your mouth, gently sliding the fork out of your moist lips. Then, lay the fork down and roll the food around your mouth and begin to chew. Catch the flavour at the tip of your tongue and how it changes as it rolls to the back of your mouth. Feel your teeth compress it and bring out more flavours. Once you’ve swallowed, pause for a moment to recall the complexity of the flavours. Sample another bit of food with your fork and slowly lift it to your eager lips.
Master Your Thoughts
When you are eating, think about your food and the people with you. Meals are a place of refuge and time to recharge. The goal of meals is not to scarf as much food in as little time as possible. Think about your thoughts. What are you thinking about? Don’t put your brain on wander mode when you’re eating. Too often, we shovel food into our mouths without realizing what we are doing. Our thoughts are on what we have to do next or on the TV that is clowning for us. Look at your food and think on it. Good food has a rich history and comes from a rich culture.
Feel Your Feelings
We all have complex feelings with food. Sometimes, we use food to fill a lack in our soul. Food makes you feel good, but don’t use food to calm the emotional storms of life. It doesn’t work. Every time you eat, check your emotional state. Am I anxious? Am I depressed? Ask if you’re eating to calm the turmoil in your gut or from hunger. These feelings can be confused. If you catch yourself eating to fill an emotional need, pause, stand up, and ask yourself, ‘if I eat this, will I feel better tomorrow?‘
Don’t Judge
Don’t jump all over yourself if you’re halfway through a bowl of ice cream before you realize that you’re eating to calm emotional turmoil. Pause. Eat the second half of the bowl with the intent to enjoy it, but eat it slowly, with no guilt. If you can’t eat it slowly without guilt, set it aside. Maybe you’re eating when you really need emotional support. Food can’t give that to you. Call someone, talk to a friend, or find some quiet.
Fail Forward
But if you fail with eating, and you will, or if you eat out of emotional need instead of hunger — remember that failure is on the path to success. You can’t get where you want to be without failure. Fail, learn, probe your feelings, and move on. Leave guilt behind. What happened yesterday no longer matters. Failure is inevitable. Use the awareness of your thoughts and feelings to fail less often, but when you do fail, remember that failure happens on the road to success.
Enjoy Food
Food is intended for pleasure, but often we feel guilty eating. Stop it. Forget your guilt and start enjoying it. Enjoy food by taking the time and making a place to get its full experience. Give your food and the people you eat with your undivided attention during mealtimes. You’re not enjoying food if you’re stuffing your face as you run out the door or if you’re a zombie in front of the TV. Eat only when you can give food its due and enjoy it. Food can bring you joy if you give it respect.
