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Need advice on mindfully eating
chela
Veteran
I am middle aged female and new to Buddhism. I tend to overeat, and am in constant battle with myself to eat the right types of foods. I have never been over-weight until recent years, which may be partly due to my age. I have done some soul searching about my eating habits, and have realized that I had to "turn off" my focus on food when growing up due to the fact that I wasn't fed properly. It's a long story, but has to do with being raised by single mom who worked all the time and never cooked meals and rarely bought groceries. So I believe that living so long with so little to eat, I had to ignore my hunger pains and thoughts about food.
Now, as a mom, I make sure that my children receive decent meals and this is always something in my mind to provide for them. While I do think about food frequently, I find that when I'm eating, I don't ever really feel full and tend to overeat. Sometimes I don't even realize how much I'm eating. This issue is compounded due to the fact that I am hypoglycemic (low blood sugar), so I really can't go a long time without eating something, and if I eat carbs (without having protein), I get light-headed after a few hours and have to eat again. I used to have black-outs until I figured out what was wrong with me, so now when I do feel hungry or feel like I'm getting light-headed, I make sure I eat because blacking out is scary and dangerous. Fasting is not something I can do because it's actually dangerous for me.
It seems easy enough. I KNOW that I need to be more mindful about eating. But for some reason, I'm having a really hard time with this. Does anyone have any suggestions on HOW to be more mindful with food and my eating issues? I know I can go on a diet and count calories-- I've done this before but it's very time consuming and difficult to keep up long-term. Are there any teachings that would be helpful?
Now, as a mom, I make sure that my children receive decent meals and this is always something in my mind to provide for them. While I do think about food frequently, I find that when I'm eating, I don't ever really feel full and tend to overeat. Sometimes I don't even realize how much I'm eating. This issue is compounded due to the fact that I am hypoglycemic (low blood sugar), so I really can't go a long time without eating something, and if I eat carbs (without having protein), I get light-headed after a few hours and have to eat again. I used to have black-outs until I figured out what was wrong with me, so now when I do feel hungry or feel like I'm getting light-headed, I make sure I eat because blacking out is scary and dangerous. Fasting is not something I can do because it's actually dangerous for me.
It seems easy enough. I KNOW that I need to be more mindful about eating. But for some reason, I'm having a really hard time with this. Does anyone have any suggestions on HOW to be more mindful with food and my eating issues? I know I can go on a diet and count calories-- I've done this before but it's very time consuming and difficult to keep up long-term. Are there any teachings that would be helpful?
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Comments
I rarely eat until I'm satisfied, I eat until I'm full. And I keep the weight down by running.
I'm pretty sure the problem is similar to drinking in that I use food to try and change the way I feel. If I'm restless, irritable, or discontented, reaching for a bag of crisps or a choccy bar is the easy way out. In this sense I'm pushed about by my suffering.
I think when I was younger sex was on my mind an awful lot, and now I'm older it seems food plays a rather lager significant role in my life. I've had pet cats just like me.
I look forward to reading some replies.
I'm missing a Few things but in a nutshell fresh produce without gmo. Not sure if ur a vegetarian but if u are vitamin b12 is necesary for the development of the brain and vegetarians usually don't get enough always try and get vitamins from foods rather than pills as they are easier to digest.
I'm no nutritionist or Anything watching dr. Oz helps too as they really go in depth with stuff u can go he has a website to watch videos I think it's doctoroz.com or something
When buying juices try to get the stuff that isn't from concentrate. When cooking olive oil is one of the best lubricating agents that can be used. Hope this helps.
Also knowing where your products come from helps as anything from japan is most likely going to be highly irradiated.
I think my problem is more in the area of will power and control, rather than knowledge of healthy foods.
Check out what oryoki is.
I was on retreat and was forced to eat in the style of Japanese oryoki and it was profound how completely mindless I was at eating.
I don't want to say more because there is a lot of self discovery in this process. So attack it from how you use the utensils to how the utensils are placed to the arrangement of food, etc.
It sounds a bit OCD but really it forces us to examine everything and move slower.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/mindful-eating-as-food-for-thought.html
peanut butter and jelly on whole grain - at least it's only part sugar
nuts - some fat but protein
grape tomatoes - pop a few of these whenever you are in the kitchen
fruit - I have some each afternoon particularly before exercising
granola bar - not a 'candy bar' kind. I like nature valley
raisin bran - good for digestion
olives
crackers with turkey pepperoni
beef jerky - satisfies hunger exceptional relative to calories
Before you eat, do a short dedication;
"I take this food, not for fun, not for pleasure, not for fattening, but simply to provide fuel for the body."
Then when you eat, don't do anything except eat. No tv or music. Just concentrate on the act of eating and chewing.
Finish each mouthful before taking another.
There is also a meditation on the repulsiveness of food... But that's a bit more serious and can set up unhealthy habits in non-monastics.
I quite like the recommendation of @JamestheGiant , and I would add that we all have a tendency to be in a hurry about things, so it helps to slow things down I bit. I have found that the silent recitation of mantra deliberately and with attention before every bite, and then carrying that attention to the whole process really does slow things down. It gives your body time to register the intake, but don't try this if you are in an unavoidable hurry though. You probably won't be able to finish your meal
As far as eating mindfully. The very first step of digestion (and thus getting needed nutrients into your body) is chewing. If you eat, say, a loaf of bread from the store versus a loaf of bread you hand make, you notice fast how much more chewy it is when you make it. Bread from the store dissolves in your mouth. It's engineered that way. The processed foods dissolve so you can eat more and more of it. Keep things as close to whole foods as you can, and chew it alot. Even fruits and veggies, the action of chewin them well (like 20 seconds of chewing per bite) releases a lot of the phytochemicals and such that you need. If you do not chew them adequately, you miss some of that nutrition because they do not digest in your intestines properly. So, #1 chew slowly. Put down your fork while you chew and pick it back up again. That alone will make a huge difference in how much you eat at a meal before you start to feel full.
#2 note all the sensations. The flavor, the texture, everything about the food.
#3 do not eat under distraction. In the car, at your desk, in front of the tv. Shut everything off, sit at the table, and pay attention to all parts of your eating. How the food feels when you first put it in your mouth. How it tastes. What it's features are and what was put into that food in order to bring it to your plate (ie, the sun, water, soil, farmer's work, etc that put the apple on your plate). Remember to put your fork down between bites.
If you do just those things with everything you eat, your meal time should get higher and it gives your body time to get the message from stomach to brain that you are full. Most people who end up overeating do so because they eat so fast, and eat processed foods that dissolve so fast they don't have to chew them hardly at all, that by the time their brain registers that they are full, they are over full. For whatever reason, the chemicals released that tell your brain you are full, take about 20 minutes to affect the brain. So, eating slowly makes this process more effective and you are more likely to realize you are full before you have over eaten.
as time goes on, and you "trade up" in your food choices, it wont even feel like this gigantic task that it seems like it is for you now. the bottom line is, you want to feel better and you want it now, but we know from meditation that there are growing pains, learning curves, and often times even regressions. it doesnt happen overnight. one snack, and one meal at a time, and you will eventually see the changes you want to, both outwardly and inwardly. and seriously, eat fruit! its delicious, time consuming (apples) and so much better than partially hydrogenated anything.
and forgive yourself when you make the wrong choices, but be mindful of how those choices make you feel. sugar disrupts you natural bio- chemistry for up to eight hours, its diverts your natural energies away from other parts of your body so that it can process the sugar out of your body. sugar is a toxin. your body does not want it. and good luck!
I also totally agree with what @TheBeejAbides said. That is how I started making changes. Instead of telling myself I couldn't have a whole list of stuff, I just started adding better stuff. Over time, much of the bad stuff naturally disappeared because I craved the healthier foods instead. I still have my moments. PMS is rough, lol, I crave flaming hot cheetos and coke like no one's business. But where I might have those things 1-3 times a month now, I used to eat them multiple times a week. When I stopped eating most grains, my allergies all but disappeared, and the redness that I had to my skin disappeared. For a long time I was told I had rosacea, but it turns out it was all inflammatory response to grains.
Interesting thing to read about. Thich Nhat Hahn wrote a book with another lady called "Savor" that is about mindful eating and habits. Some parts of the book I really didn't like, but there are some really good exercises in it and overall I found it worthwhile. I just had to ignore the stuff that rubbed me the wrong way.
Everyone I've ever got to know, has some addiction to deal with (myself included). The main thing I think I see all addictions share, is the support of an ego based view.
I sometimes wonder if the difficulty in addressing an addiction is because it's really more of a symptom than a cause. It better fits the definition of a compounded delusion where it's almost impossible to directly deal with because it's real cause remains hidden from the effects.
Even trying to address the symptoms unknowingly places you in an adversarial position with your own identity structure.
So far, those who I've known that have best dealt with their addictions, have really just been softening and dissolving their own ego.
The following video explains why leptin doesn't work today.
The best advice is to simply eat real or whole foods.
Typically I add: 1 banana, 1 apple, some strawberries or whatever I have, few spoonfuls of greek yogurt, protein mix (hemp, whey, and soy), ground flax seed, and a 'green' mix with wheat grass and spirulina and all sorts of other chlorophyll type stuff.
Not all of this is necessary, but since I'm just throwing it in the blender, I figure... why not?
They say that the reason obesity is such a problem these days is because when you're eating McDonalds or whatever, you're not actually satisfying your body. You're filling your stomach, but what your body is actually craving is the specific nutrients that bad food doesn't have... so we keep eating... and if we keep eating junk, then our bodies are still hungry... so we keep eating. It becomes a pretty viscous cycle.
As far as the whole 'mindful eating' thing goes, to my understanding, a lot of it involves properly chewing our food. When we eat too fast, by the time our body gives us the 'full' signal, we've already eaten too much. So chewing slowly and completely can actually help this problem in a simple way. It also helps reduce indigestion by better breaking down the food before it gets to our stomachs, as well as helping to create more of the enzymes in our saliva to help break the food down. More enzymes=more nutrients extracted.
One more thing to think about! How much water do you drink? They also say that in dehydrated individuals, people often misinterpret thirst for hunger. So sometimes when you're feeling hungry, you might actually be thirsty.