Mindful Eating for the Merriest of Holidays

As part of my dietetic internship, I had the opportunity to prepare a seminar on "Mindful Eating" to help participants prepare for the holidays.  I’d heard of Mindful Eating as a healthy practice, but little did I know how beneficial it could be!

Life is busy and full of distractions, if not in our head with thoughts about something we did or something we plan to do, then from TV, internet, multitasking, time constraints, children’s activities, and social commitments.  When do we have time to truly focus on our enjoyment of food?

What is Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating means eating with awareness – awareness of the experience of eating. Mindful eating means tuning in to all of your senses:

• Eyes – sight of food
• Nose – smell of food
• Tongue – taste of food
• Touch – mouth feel of food
• Sound – noise of eating (crunching sounds)

Benefits of Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is definitely a worthwhile practice to develop, especially during the busy holidays.  Mindful eating has several benefits:

·         Greater enjoyment of our food (research has shown that the pleasure center in the brain is stimulated more when eating mindfully)

·         Eating more slowly = less food before reaching satiety

·         Greater awareness about whether we are full or not

·         Improved digestive function – when body is experiencing fight or flight, the digestive process is on hold (30-40% less effective).  Result:  digestive distress, impaired nutrient absorption, feeling of heaviness.

·         Allows us to tune in to physical hunger vs. emotional hunger.

How to Develop the Skill – Practice!

To practice mindful eating, get a good piece of dark chocolate, a sweet dried apricot, or a cruncy walnut.  Find a quiet place with no distractions and follow the steps below. 

1.      Look at the food – notice the color, texture, shape.

2.      Smell the food – inhale the aroma a couple of times and notice how you can “taste” with your nose.

3.      Take a bite – do not begin chewing yet.  Notice the flavors on your tongue.  With the chocolate, allow it to slowly melt and awaken all of your taste buds.

4.      Chew the food slowly – notice the feel of it in your mouth.  Listen to any sound that the chewing makes.

5.      Swallow the food – be aware of its inner journey to where you no longer experience it as food.

How was your eating experience different?  Did you notice anything new about the food you ate?

While it may not always be practical to focus every bite of food at this level of awareness, here are a few strategies to slow down your eating to focus your awareness on the enjoyment of your meals.

·         Eat with chopsticks and/or put your utensils down while you chew and swallow.

·         Eat with your non-dominant hand.

·         Eat without TV, computer, or newspaper.

·         At work, get away from your desk and eat outside or with an outside view.

·         Express gratitude for the food and/or eating companions when you begin your meal.

Implementing these strategies to eat more mindfully can improve your digestion and your waistline this holiday season.  Enjoy your favorite holiday foods to the fullest!

Free Lunch and Garden Discoveries

I successfully completed my first dietetic internship rotation this week.  It was exhilarating to have an opportunity to put my knowledge and experience in practice, and everyone I worked with was extremely supportive.  My first week included two assignments: (1) Assist with preparation of food and delivery of lunches for a free Summer Lunch Program and (2) participate in a Summer Food Academy for 4^th-5^th graders. 

Free Lunch

The delivery of lunches was fast and furious.  The USDA funds the free lunch program, but the funding is limited to $3.00 per meal which must cover the labor, delivery costs, and food.  Amazingly enough, the lunch included hot and cold entrée choices, two choices of fruit, two choices of vegetables, milk and a “treat”.  AND, the meals are delivered to almost 40 sites every day including parks, apartment complexes, and schools.  The food is loaded on small school buses with built in food warmers, coolers, and thermal packs that hold a milk crate.  Food and milk was kept frosty cold using ice packs.   At each site, we quickly set up a sturdy folding table and set out food.  There was always a line formed at each site, with 40-60 children ages 1-18 eagerly anticipating a nutritious lunch.  Lunch service was often as short as 15 minutes and the delivery schedule was tight.  We got a great work out unloading and reloading the bus at each site.  At several sites the kids chased the bus and waved as we drove on to the next neighborhood.

What did we serve, and did the meal include whole foods? 

While the hot entrée was standard fare for school age children (chicken nuggets, pizza, corn dogs), the children could also choose a fresh deli sandwich, small salad with chicken, yogurt, or peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  All of the fruit, vegetable, and “treat” items impressively included whole foods:  fresh orange segments, apples, and apricots; baby carrots, broccoli florets, sliced cucumber, and sliced summer squash fresh from the garden.  The “treats” included a carton of orange juice or a fruit cup with only 2 ingredients:  strawberries and sugar.  I was surprised to see only a very few of the children do their best avoid the raw vegetables, but parental encouragement quickly won every time.   I was even introduced to a new food:  raw sliced summer squash fresh from the garden.  At first we questioned the wisdom of including these raw.  I tasted a slice at the first site and enjoyed it.  At the next site, when we were asked “what did you bring?” our response was “crunchy organic squash freshly picked from the garden!”  We ended our service with an empty vegetable container.

Summer Food Academy

The Summer Food Academy was inspiring.  The program was from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. for three days.  Upon arrival, the students made breakfast, set the table, and ate together.  After a short outside recess, they participated in several lessons in the school garden including harvesting vegetables, creating a worm farm, composting, the life of a plant and edible parts, whole vs. processed foods, and reading Nutrition Facts labels.  Back inside the kitchen, the students prepared their lunch and ended the day eating lunch together.  The foods they experienced making included pancakes with fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, fresh strawberry jam, scones, yogurt and fruit parfaits, baked chicken or burgers, sushi, and homemade pizza.  In addition to their cooking contributions, breakfast included several different kinds of fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, bananas, apples, oranges) and lunch included the vegetables they harvested and more, both roasted and raw (green beans, onions, beets, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, radishes, cucumber, zucchini, and a fresh salad  with balsamic vinaigrette) and more fresh fruit.  We picked mint and seeped it in water overnight to enjoy mint water for lunch the next day.  Cabbage was served raw, roasted, and dressed as cole slaw so the students could experience the vegetable in many different preparations. 

Did they eat it?  The food was passed family style around the table, and each mounded fruits and vegetables on their plates at every meal.  The instructor set the expectation on the first day that everyone would take at least one bite of everything served.  Not only did they try everything – they cleaned their plates at both meals!

While we enjoyed the meals together, we discussed the importance of calcium, iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C and identified the foods on the table that provided the nutrients.  The students were quite nutrition savvy for their age and eager to share what they knew.  There were many new food discoveries and the students excitedly reported their experiences to their parent(s) at the end of each day. 

It was clear that the children had tremendous fun and left with a new respect for where their food originated.  They tried many new vegetables and found some new favorites to eat at home.  I left with a full heart and a full stomach, inspired to include more fruits and vegetables into my own meals.

Dietetic Internship Journey – the Beginning

During the next year, I will be gaining experience in the nutrition field as a dietetic intern.  I am extremely fortunate to have been accepted into the Bastyr University Dietetic Internship program.   I will work with several different preceptors in the areas of clinical nutrition, community nutrition, and food service management.  After I’ve completed the internship, I will be eligible to take the Registered Dietitian exam and then officially launch my private practice!

The coursework for my masters degree at Bastyr University was fascinating, with a perspective of both nutrition science and natural health.  What I learned supported my philosophy of disease prevention through lifestyle choices, treating the cause not the symptom, and using whole foods as a foundation to health.  It was a unique and wonderful experience to learn about and integrate health practices that fit with my values.

A challenge with the dietetics field is that the internship rotations are frequently in settings where the value of a whole foods diet is not recognized or affordable, symptoms are treated while the cause of the disease persists, and the healthcare system does not target prevention.  I know that I am definitely not the first Bastyr nutrition graduate to be in a position to reconcile the disconnect between what supports health and what the current healthcare system provides.  I am lucky that I get to participate in the only dietetic internship with a mission for interns to integrate whole foods, environmental nutrition, and complementary medicine perspectives into their experiences. 

I expect that I will get to experience a wide range of organizations whose philosophy may or may not embrace these perspectives.  My mission is to move the needle, however slightly, toward the end of the spectrum that supports the foundation of whole foods nutrition as an essential component of health care.  It may be through one idea I pass along, the experience of one patient, or my passion for helping others. 

I will share my experiences and “aha” moments over the next year.  My hope is that they help you better understand the power you have in your everyday food choices to impact your health.