HOW do you EAT ?

[Acaja]

Hi guys,

I'd like to start an interresting discussion. I know everyone here is more or less concerned about his diet, and I reckon that, well, it's a good thing. So, keep up the good work!

If you want to start a diet that's your call, and I can't say you have no choice : diets are everywhere. Micronutrition, Chrononutrition, Ultrasimple Diet, food and vitamins supplements, biological food, even no food at all like this indian everybody's talking about.

Hence, my girlfriend's a dietetician so she allows me to keep this subjet under review quite ofen. We talk a lot about her patient's needs, how she can optimise their diet, what she learns everyday. So, basically, just doing the Work.
But you see this is not really my point here. AS part of the work, I told myself " hey, let's find what works for me, and then what can I learn about it".
Then I figured that If I wanted to know what was working for me, I first had to find what was NOT

And after a year of tests, I figured I should share my experience with you all.

So I'm first :

-Eating too much? yeah, sure, can't help it, I ALWAYS have to fill my stomach.

-Too much fat and sugar ? well maybe, but I didn't FEEL like I'm eating too much of these.

-Eating too FAST? Huh, I dunno, i must admit I never really thought about it

-Do I masticate my food the right way? I sorry but, what IS the right way? I was told to chew, chew and chew again when I was a kid, but was I applying this NOW?

-How do I feel myself when I'm eating? Easy one : totally lost in my thoughts.

-How do I feel FOOD when I'm eating ? Tough one : sometimes I can concentrate on the taste if it's something I really like, but most of the time, I just don't and just Fill myself.


As I was starting my quest for awareness, something stroke me while praticing meditation and breathing exercices : Why the h#### haven't I tried to be in that particular state where everything is just calm, plain, while experiencing food??? I mean, stupid me, c'mon give it a try!

Then first move was settled : being aware as much as I can so I can self-observe my errors. Get rid of my thoughts (or at least SEE that I'm thinking about something else) while eating, be in the NOW and let the food be PART of it.

That was so much FUN. Indeed, I was eating too fast because I wasn't really paying much attention to my sensations. Oh my, food is just soooo much better when you take it slowly ! Where do all theses tastes come from ??? Ok, now, let's try to masticate more, like real masticating, and see how the magic is revealed. Now I feel like the taste can last minutes in my mouth! Even my nose and my BRAIN are more participating in this symphony. As I chew more, I realise my stomach feels so much relief, thanks to the action of my salivary glands, it's peace in there. My stomach can rest while I'm eating now, which allows me to feel the REAL SATIETY maybe for the first time of my life. The assimilation of the nutrients can start peacefully.
I understand something : I don't have to twitch my poor stomach this bad, don't have to strech its tissues because that is NOT satiety, it's just attempting to reach my belly's physiological barrier (how healthy can such an attitude be?)

Then, just by doing this, a healthy talk between your body and your mind goes back to the beggining: just listen to what he's telling you, trully, to eat.
He'll say "vegetables" if you need fibers and light meals, " meat, fish, eggs" for protids, "starches" if more energy is needed. He can say "sugar"(not in the sense of carbohydrates naturally present in many organic food), but the voice becomes more and more weak. Same for "unuseful fat, salt, etc..."

Notice that I'm not even talking about diets, but just about the way you can PLAY with your food habits, may you feel they are balanced or not. All the things I've told you made me loose 18 pounds quasi effortless, and it's getting more and more simple thanks to this forum, my girlfriend, my entourage...and me :P


So I'd be glad to hear you now : HOW do you eat ?

 

[truth seeker]

be in the NOW and let the food be PART of it.

I think the way you described is the optimal way to eat. It's best to eat sitting down at a table (which I don't always do) and really be conscious of tasting the food. The way we eat should be a reflection of the way we try and live our lives - mindfully. :)

 

[EGVG]

be in the NOW and let the food be PART of it.

I think the way you described is the optimal way to eat. It's best to eat sitting down at a table (which I don't always do) and really be conscious of tasting the food. The way we eat should be a reflection of the way we try and live our lives - mindfully. :)

I agree with you, I've had many problems with food and weight and body image, But that is al programing. Know I sit down to eat, I don't starved myself like I used to and I don't eat after 8pm. I don't binge anymore. The best thing I've learn from my therapies dealling with my eating disorders is exactly what Truth seeker said, that we should eat mindfully. Every human being should be educated in nutrition since kinder garden, it primordial to live in a much much healthy world.

:)
EDU

 

[Gimpy]

be in the NOW and let the food be PART of it.

I think the way you described is the optimal way to eat. It's best to eat sitting down at a table (which I don't always do) and really be conscious of tasting the food. The way we eat should be a reflection of the way we try and live our lives - mindfully. :)

I'm not one for sitting at a table to eat unless its an 'occasion' and everyone else is. (That has to do with my legs falling asleep and being unable to get up.) Usually in the morning I eat with Hubby if he has the time, and if he doesn't I sit for about an hour on the couch to eat. Lunch is pretty much the same, and in the evening Hubby and I sit on the couch together. It sounds boring, but with a restricted diet, and without all the additives, food tastes better and more complex to me now, even though it tends to be simple food. :D

 

[Acaja]

The way we eat should be a reflection of the way we try and live our lives - mindfully. :)

Funny you mention that because I've noticed that, before I awakened a bit more, I had this odd habit of always grabbing food while there was some in my mouth already. It was like I didn't care about what I was eating right NOW, but merely trying to GET RID of it so I could think about the next bite, then put it in my mouth, and repeat the same mistake again and again.

Well, turns out I was doing this with my whole life...

Honestly, look around and watch people eating : who actually DON'T do that? Who isn't sleeping?

 

[truth seeker]

When I think further on it - when we are not mindfully doing anything, it's sort of like we don't really respect ourselves. We don't respect the life given that has provided food for us. We don't respect the farmers and all the worker's time and toil it took to get the food to us. We don't respect the energy we put into earning the money used to purchase the food. We don't respect ourselves enough to really sit down and taste our food. In short, we don't respect our lives and the world we live in.

Of course it's easier said than done to be mindful all the time. I'm not sure if it's even possible but perhaps how we eat can be one of many beginnings into learning how to pay attention. Just a thought.

 

[Laura]

It can be excellent practice at self-observation. Actually think about what you are doing, every aspect that is involved with it from where the food came from, to the taste, how you are experiencing it, what it is doing to your body, etc.

 

[Acaja]

When I think further on it - when we are not mindfully doing anything, it's sort of like we don't really respect ourselves. We don't respect the life given that has provided food for us. We don't respect the farmers and all the worker's time and toil it took to get the food to us. We don't respect the energy we put into earning the money used to purchase the food. We don't respect ourselves enough to really sit down and taste our food. In short, we don't respect our lives and the world we live in.

Sometimes before eating, I think about people around the world who can't even supply for their needs, about those who die from starvation. Sometimes I imagine what my life would be if I had a tongue cancer or whatever avoiding me to eat normally.
It's not sadness, just objectivity.
We often wait to loose something before realising how precious it was. So I just sit down and thank life for giving me all I have. Respecting your self is a step to respect the others

 

[3DStudent]

I have thought about making a post similar to this too. The practical side of eating and what exactly you do when you eat. I used to overeat a lot and be physically "heavy" and guilty because of it. This has improved though in recent times.

The thing is that I don't really have the time to overeat. I often am rushing to get my lunch down and leave for work. So I decided the other day to not heat it up and put a bunch of spices like I usually do. This gives me about 10 more minutes so I don't have to rush. I was thinking on the lines of it's not even necessary to heat it and give it more flavor. And I've always been a fast eater so this whole going slow and being mindful is something I don't really experience.

Funny you mention that because I've noticed that, before I awakened a bit more, I had this odd habit of always grabbing food while there was some in my mouth already. It was like I didn't care about what I was eating right NOW, but merely trying to GET RID of it so I could think about the next bite, then put it in my mouth, and repeat the same mistake again and again.

Yeah, I've done this, it's like a race and you just want to get it down and anticipate the next bite. I think this is how a binge starts, and it's really like an animalistic feeding frenzy.

Sometimes I feel like eating is a burden. Like another thing you have to do that gets in the way. And when it comes time to eat it's like, "Aww, I gotta do this again." I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it though, I like date bread and pancakes. I just don't want to make them all of the time.

 

[Oxajil]

Thought this might be interesting:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=36

Does the number of times I chew my food impact my digestion?

Chewing is an extremely important, yet oftentimes overlooked, part of healthy digestion. Most people put food in their mouth, chew a few times and swallow their food, as if their sole focus was how quickly they could get their foods to their stomachs.

Our mother's might have repeatedly told us to "chew your food", however most people do not do this well, probably out of habit, conditioning and attitude towards food. When the idea of sitting down for a relaxing meal that focuses truly on the enjoyment and nutritional benefits of food takes second fiddle to the pressures and stress of our modern-day, on-the-go lifestyles, it is no surprise that many people do not slow down when they eat and take the time to chew their food.

Yet, in reality it doesn't really take much time and effort to chew your food, and what you get in return is well worth it with better health and a greater enjoyment of food being some of the rewards.

Digestion begins in the mouth

Most people think that digestion begins in the stomach. Yet, with proper, health-promoting digestion, this process actually begins in the mouth. The process of chewing is a vital component of the digestive activities that occur in the mouth, inextricably linked to good digestion, and therefore, good health.

The mechanical process of digestion begins with chewing

The action of chewing mechanically breaks down very large aggregates of food molecules into smaller particles. This results in the food having increased surface area, an important contributing factor to good digestion. In addition to the obvious benefit of reduced esophageal stress that accompanies swallowing smaller, versus larger, pieces of food, there is another very important benefit to chewing your food well that comes with its ability to be exposed to saliva for a longer period of time.

The chemical process of digestion begins with chewing

Food's contact with saliva is not just important because it helps to lubricate the food, making it easier for foods (notably dried ones) to pass easier through the esophagus, but because saliva contains enzymes that contribute to the chemical process of digestion. Carbohydrate digestion begins with salivary alpha-amylase as it breaks down some of the chemical bonds that connect the simple sugars that comprise starches. Additionally, the first stage of fat digestion also occurs in the mouth with the secretion of the enzyme lingual lipase by glands that are located under the tongue.

Incomplete digestion can lead to bacterial overgrowth

When food is not well chewed and the food fragments are too big to be properly broken down, incomplete digestion occurs. Not only do nutrients not get extracted from the food but undigested food becomes fodder for bacteria in the colon which can lead to bacterial overgrowth, flatulence and other symptoms of indigestion.

Chewing relaxes the lower stomach muscle

Chewing is directly connected with the movement of food through your digestive tract, and in particular, with the movement of your food from your stomach into your small intestine. At the lower end of your stomach, there is a muscle called the pylorus. This muscle must relax in order for food to leave your stomach and pass into your small intestine. Sufficient saliva from optimal chewing helps relax the pylorus, and in this way, helps your food move through your digestive tract in healthy fashion.

Chewing triggers the rest of the digestive process

Yet, the contribution of chewing to good digestion does not even stop there. The process of chewing also activates signaling messages to the rest of the gastrointestinal system that triggers it to begin the entire digestive process. This is because when chewing is a well-paced, thorough process, it can actually be said to belong to the "cephalic stage of digestion", the phase in which you first see, smell and taste your food. The length of time spent chewing the food is related to the length of the cephalic stage of digestion since with more extensive chewing the longer the food gets to be seen, tasted and smelled.

Cephalic phase responses have been extensively analyzed in the research literature. The release of small messaging molecules that is critical for digestion, such as cholecystokinin, somatostatin and neurotensin, have been found to increase by over 50% just by the mere sight and smell of food. Additionally, research has shown how chewing, as well as the activation of taste receptors in the mouth, can prompt the nervous system to relay information to the gastrointestinal system to expedite the process of digestion. For example, stimulation of the taste receptors can signal the stomach lining to produce hydrochloric acid that helps in the breakdown of protein. Additionally, chewing signals the pancreas to prepare to secrete enzymes and bicarbonate into the lumen of the small intestines.

Practical tips

For healthy digestion to occur, it is important to thoroughly chew your food. While various health professionals advocate distinct numbers of times you should chew food, we recommend more personal guidelines. We feel that instead of prescribing a set number of chews for each biteful that people should instead get a sense of their own eating, and develop more of a relationship with their food, enhancing their own knowingness about what is best for their health.

Our suggestion is that you chew your food completely until it is small enough and dissolved enough to be swallowed with ease. A good rule of thumb is as follows: if you can tell what kind of food you are eating from the texture of the food in your mouth (not the taste), then you haven't chewed it enough. For example, if you are chewing broccoli and you run your tongue over the stalk and can tell that it is still a stalk or over the floret and you can still tell that it is still a floret, don't swallow. You need to keep on chewing until you can't tell the stalk from the floret.

The benefits of thoroughly chewing your food will extend beyond improved digestion. It will cause you to slow down when you are eating, making more space for the enjoyment of your meal. Food will begin to taste even better when there is more focus and concentration on the process and act of eating. By chewing your food well, you will be able to better enjoy the benefits of the World's Healthiest Foods - their abundance of nutrients and great, lively tastes.

 

[Beau]

Gurdjieff talks about eating and chewing food in Meetings with Remarkable Men:

Seeing this, the dervish asked me: 'Tell me, young stranger, why are you eating like that?' I was so sincerely astonished by this question—which seemed to me very strange and to say not very much for his knowledge—that I even had no desire to reply to him, and thought that we had made such a long detour in vain, to meet a man who was not worth talking with seriously. Looking into his eyes, I felt not only pity but also ashamed for him, and replied with self-assurance that I chewed my food carefully so that it might be better assimilated in the intestines, and, referring to the wellknown fact that properly digested food gives the organism a larger quantity of calories necessary for all our functions, I repeated all that I had extracted from various books on the subject.

Shaking his head, the old man slowly and with conviction uttered the following saying which is known throughout Persia:

Let God kill him who himself does not know and yet presumes to show others the way to the doors of His Kingdom.

After that Sari-Ogli put a question to the dervish which he answered briefly. He then turned again to me and asked:

'Tell me, young stranger, you probably also do gymnastics?'

I was in fact working very hard at gymnastics at that time and although I knew all the methods recommended by the Indian Yogis, I kept to the system of the Swede, Mueller. I told the dervish that I did work at gymnastics and considered it necessary to practise twice a day, morning and evening, and I explained briefly the kind of exercises I was doing. 'This is only for the development of arms, legs and in general the external muscles,' said the old man, 'but you have also inner muscles which are not affected at all by your mechanical movements.' 'Yes, certainly,' said I.

'Good. Let us now return to your way of chewing your food,' the old man continued. 'If you chew in this way as a means to health or for the sake of other attainments, then I shall have to say, if you would like to know my sincere opinion, that you have chosen the worst possible way. By chewing your food so carefully you reduce the work of your stomach. Now you are young and everything is all right, but you are accustoming your stomach to do nothing; and when you are older, owing to the lack of normal work, your muscles will be to a certain extent atrophied. And that is bound to occur if you continue this system of chewing. You know that our muscles and body get weaker in old age. Now, in addition to the natural weaknesses of old age, you will have another brought on by yourself, because you are accustoming your stomach not to work. Can you imagine how it will be then?

'On the contrary, it is not at all necessary to masticate carefully. At your age it is better not to chew at all, but to swallow whole pieces, even bones if possible, to give work to your stomach. I can see that those who have advised you to practise this mastication, and also those who write books about it, have, as is said, "heard a bell without knowing where the sound came from".'

These simple, obvious and consistent words of the old man made me completely change my first opinion of him. Until then I had put questions to him out of curiosity, but from that moment I felt a serious interest in him, and began to listen with the greatest attention to everything he said. Suddenly I understood with the whole of my being that ideas I had hitherto accepted as indisputable truths were incorrect. I realized that up till then I had seen things only from one side. Now many things appeared in quite a new light. Hundreds of new questions arose in my mind concerning this subject.

 

[Nawd]

LOL I feel like that sometimes. There is just so much stuff to do before hand, to actually consume food, in order to survive.
I do enjoy working in the garden, but then I feel bad because I love those pretty tomatoes, I watched them grow, and I'm not going to see them tomorrow because I am going to eat them. :D

Sometimes I feel like eating is a burden. Like another thing you have to do that gets in the way. And when it comes time to eat it's like, "Aww, I gotta do this again." I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it though, I like date bread and pancakes. I just don't want to make them all of the time.

 

[manitoban]

I've found my relationship with food has changed drastically in the past year. Most of my life, I wasn't really even interested in food, barely thought about it, and often forgot to eat, and only noticed when my stomach was rumbling.

Now I am so much more conscious of what I eat, when I eat it and so on. Never thought this could ever happen, but now I love vegetables for example. I not only eat ten times the amount or more I used to I'll even juice them and drink them as well! Eating is a completely different experience when you are actually paying attention to what effect it will have on your body.

 

[Avi]

I've done both sides of it, take the time to clear and set the table, engage in the cooking process, enjoy a nice meal, etc, and doing this frequently, though I could not say daily, to eating fish with my hands while on the go. Oh, and I like what Heimdallr posted by Gurdjieff, thought of that when reading the article.

This month particularly my appetite has altered entirely as well. In experimenting with the process of complete detox I've noticed how much sugar particularly affects me. It is practically entirely cut from my diet, but do like ice-cream. This week though I had one and it altered my mood considerably afterwards. Already I know how negatively bread or pasta or pizza can affect me and buying rice milk these days, no more caffeine, gluten, dairy sugar, soy or any hfcs if at all possible. In fact, most of that's been cut out for months now, but every once in a while a pizza or an ice-cream. The last couple weeks in particular though dropped about 12 pounds.

But mostly I will eat maybe a pound of salmon or a pound of mince, with rice, and thats it. Some days I have just fish. Or chicken, maybe steak. Or maybe fruit or bacon and eggs, and veggies though I should eat more of those. Thats it. Oh, and supplements plus lots of water.

So my eating these days is similar to 3D, not that it is a hassle, because I always take time to prep dinner for my dogs, rice or chicken or mince with kibble, but it has been awhile since I've really cleared the table and done the whole sit down and enjoy thing. Takes more time for prep cook and clean than to eat. Again it is not so much that though as I don't have the cravings or extreme blood sugar drops where I HAD to eat as before.

Yet it is important to nourish the self in this 3D world so it is interesting to observe this as I used to be quite a stickler for properly sitting and eating rather than my bear-like clamp on salmon filet pulling it piece by succulent piece. :D

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Yeah, I've done this, it's like a race and you just want to get it down and anticipate the next bite. I think this is how a binge starts, and it's really like an animalistic feeding frenzy.

I've always been a fast eater. When asked why, I tell that back in high school, we only had a half hour for lunch, and by the time I got through the lunch line, there was like five minutes left to shovel it in, so I learned to eat fast. I don't remember how I ate before that, except that it wa a LOT. My mother used to shove food on us, she'd make a pie and cut it in four pieces, each of us four had a quarter of a pie for dessert. My brother and I would open a box of cereal and keep adding milk to the bowl till the box was empty. In one sitting. Also as a kid, I would make ice-cream floats (mostly ice cream, lilttle bit of soda pop) and eat three of them at a time, using up a half gallon of ice cream. I'd walk to the store and buy a pound of M&Ms candies (you could get them for a twenty-five cents back then) and eat the whole bag in one sitting. My Friday night treat was sitting down with a good mystery and two bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies. I didn't have many friends, and got picked on a lot, so food was both friend and comfort. No wonder I got hooked on sugar, and reallly destroyed my body so now that I'm older, it's all catching up with me.

Most of the time, the highlight of my day was what I was having for lunch/dinner. So taking away those "treat" foods leaves me with little to look forward to. Just don't feel the same way about plain chicken and veggies. And I hate to cook, my mother instilled that in me also, so believe me, it's "plain" chicken and veggies!

I'm working on eating slower, and more mindfully, trying to break all the bad behavior patterns of my 'yout. :)