Mindful Eating (47)

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Hi, everyone, and welcome back. Today, I am very excited about our mindful moment because we get to eat your favorite treat because in episode 45 we talk to my oldest childhood friend Lex Daddio of Daddio's Kitchen about her journey with an eating disorder. And this conversation got me thinking a lot about the relationship we have and the ways we engage with food.

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I often catch myself eating a meal while I'm working at the computer or journaling or doing something else, not being fully present with what I'm eating while I'm eating. So I think today is a great time to practice a mindful eating. So grab something yummy, something that you're excited to eat. This is often talk taught with a reason, but for me my go to is dark chocolate forever and always.

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So you do you grab your favorite treat and take a seat. And this practice isn't a cure or a replacement for working with a therapist or a professional. If you're struggling with an eating disorder and if you feel like a meditation on eating could be triggering in any way, skip this episode. Find another mindful moment in the queue that can better support you.

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So once you have your treat, I want you to settle in, place it somewhere easily within your reach and then we're going to start with three deep breaths. And I know that we always start with three deep breaths, but this is something I'm trying to incorporate as I make the transition into eating more and more. One reason because it helps bring the awareness away from whatever was happening before and land in the present moment with the food before us.

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And it also helps to calm our nervous system and activate the rest and digest part of the nervous system that will help with digestion as we sit with the meal. So let's start with our three deep breaths. Begin by bringing your awareness to the earth and where your body touches the Earth. Inhale, fill your chest, fill your belly with air.

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Exhale. Open your mouth, let it out again. Inhale. Fill the chest, fill the belly with air. Exhale. Open your mouth. Let it out. One more. Inhale and exhale. Take a moment now to just notice what's present for you. Maybe notice any thoughts that are in the mind rather than over identifying with these thoughts or getting caught up in them.

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Just kind of take a mental note and notice that your thinking take a moment to gently scan your body from the tip of your head to the tips of your toes without judgment. Notice how your body feels right now. Notice what sensations are present. Again, not over identifying with or trying to change what is. Just take a moment to breathe with what's here.

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Now, if your eyes are closed, I invite you to gently open them and look at that treat before you and using your sense of sight. Just take a moment to notice what it looks like. Notice the color, the shape. As you look at this food before you take a moment to acknowledge what earth elements went into creating this piece of food, the soil, the water, the sunlight, acknowledge the labor, the people, the hands that went into preparing this food.

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Take a moment to give thanks for those things and then you can slowly reach out and pick up that piece of maybe chocolate and start to notice what it feels like. Is it hot? Is it cold? Is it smooth? Is it bumpy? What's the texture like? What's the weight like? Notice if your body has any change in sensation as you pick this food up, you can slowly start to pull it in and notice how it smells.

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You notice any associations or memories that come up with this. This smell, any feelings that might arise. Notice if this food has a sound, maybe it doesn't have a sound right now, but maybe it'll have one when you start to eat it. Take a moment to notice the sound of your breath and then slowly place a small bite to rest on your tongue and notice the qualities of this food as it rests on the tongue you notice if it changes, I notice my bit of chocolate starting to melt a little change form.

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Notice if any of the other senses become stronger here. Maybe the smell and then slowly start to bite as you chew up every last morsel of this food. So not just taking like one bite and swallowing, take a few slow go mindful bites, really break it down here slowly swallow. I notice after I slow my chocolate, I kind of got to use my tongue to clear out my mouth.

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Maybe you take a sip of water and notice the qualities of that and then just take a moment to notice how the body feels. And I invite you to practice this same thing as you take another bite, slowly picking up this food, taking a breath as you gently place it on the tongue and slowly consume. And with this bite, bite, I invite you to get curious if this bite is the same, if it's better, or if it's worse than the last.

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And then again, once you've finished, notice how the body feels and you can continue to repeat this process as you finish the food before you or until your body is satisfied. So I invite you to bring in maybe even just one or two of these elements. And the next time you sit down for a meal and continue to get really curious and intentional about the way in which you meet yourself, the way you engage with your body and the food before you as you eat.

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So feel free to practice this any time you'd need a little mid-day mindfulness and chocolate boost where the next time you sit down for a meal, you will take one more breath together to close in through the nose and out through the mouth. You can slowly open your eyes as you return to this space. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to how the wise one grows today.

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And you'll even get a special shout-out in an upcoming episode until the next time. Let's keep taking it one breath at a time.