September 2024

Mindful Eating

• An Herbalist’s Perspective on What Makes a Good Diet
• Slowing Down
• What Are You Craving?
• Alchemy In The Kitchen

Living in a culture where overweight and obese people are looked upon as weak or lazy because they aren’t perceived to have the inner discipline or willpower to restrict their appetite, it is no wonder that many people feel despair when trying to change their eating habits.

Mindful Eating – What Are You Craving?

(and) the brain will take over. Your hand will reach the refrigerator or pantry in the blink of an eye before your frontal cortex has time to process what is happening and make a rational decision.

Imagine what would happen if you let go of all restrictions. You indulge yourself in the food that you crave the most. How much will you enjoy it on the first bite, the first day, week, and so on? Eventually, even the foods you crave most will become dull to your taste buds. What if you let yourself experience your cravings until you satiate them? What will emerge?

Eating is in your nature

Eating speaks to your first chakra. It is an activity that grounds us in nature. We are dependent on nature for sustenance that will keep us alive. Our forefathers and mothers, the hunter-gatherers’ lives, were fully immersed in the rhythms of nature, the days and nights, seasons of abundance, and seasons of scarcity. Food safety was not for granted then; they could not store or accumulate reserves. They lived with what they had in the present moment. Instead of a pantry, they used their body to store excess food for lean time. Today, most of us live with a full pantry and refrigerator still in our bodies; the need to store for lean times compels us to finish everything on our plate and reach for more.

Our ancestor’s diet was mainly vegetarian. Hunting was a hard job; even if they were successful, with no refrigeration, meat got spoiled fast. Fruits, leaves, and roots were their staple foods. Roots were the most valued source of calories because of their carbohydrate content, which was a supreme source of energy. While most fruits were sour and leaves were bitter, roots were sweet. No, not as sweet as the sweets we bred into our modern diet, but more of a blend type of sweetness that relayed the presence of carbs. Since digging for roots without a pitchfork was a hard job and roots were a good source of nutrients, the brain started rewarding us for “doing a good job” by releasing dopamine. To this day, you get a dopamine rush when you eat foods high in carbohydrates, which explains your craving for baked goods, pasta, and pizza.

You are born to eat

For newborn babies, breastmilk comes in the context of feeling the warmth of their mother’s body and listening to their mother’s heartbeat. It speaks of safety, warmth, and love. The link between food and these feelings of safety stays embedded deep in our psyche as we grow. Trying to sever these bonds without fulfilling our need for love and safety, especially in a culture that advocates scarcity, sets the stage for failure in your quest to improve your eating habits.

Eating your emotions

If you feel like your body is betraying you when it tempts you with unhealthy cravings, ask yourself what unfulfilled needs your body is trying to distract you from. Maybe your job is not feeding your soul; you might be depressed or lonely. Whatever it is, overeating and snacking are the body’s way of masking unwanted feelings.

Sometimes, feeling tired and thirsty disguises itself as food cravings. We are so removed from sensing the signals the body sends us, especially if we are on the go, that we don’t fully register what we need at the moment.

Once you take the time to connect to your body’s physical and emotional needs, you will not need to use willpower to control your cravings. In fact, you will stop controlling your body and start trusting its inner wisdom.

Eating goes far beyond filling your stomach, counting calories, or calculating carbs, fats, and protein. It speaks to your relationship with your body and mind and how much you can manage emotions such as boredom, pain, anger, and shame.

Nurturing your body is the ultimate act of self-love!

Food cravings are signs of unmet physical and emotional needs. Mindful eating means stopping to ask: What are you craving?