Savouring the joys of mindful eating.
Mindful eating helps with weight issues and emotional responses
Michelle Brewer instructs the people in her mindful eating class to look closely at their food and breathe in the aroma before taking a bite, swirling the textures in their mouth and tasting each spice and tang on their tongue.
One bite and there’s a pause.
Another bite. Another pause.
“Just let the food linger in your mouth,” Brewer says, reminding people to put down their fork or spoon between each bite. “Do you hate these pauses? Would you rather keep eating?” As a matter of fact. Slow eating is deliberate, a reminder for people to savour the tastes in their mouths and feel the sensations in their bodies so they recognize when they no longer feel a physical need to put more in their mouth. During her workshops, Brewer teaches people how to gauge their hunger on a scale — where zero is starving and 10 is unpleasantly full — and stop eating when they hit “the lightness of five.” Different from being full, Brewer says, this is the sensation of satisfaction.
For people with overeating or under-eating problems, recognizing that sensation can come when they’re made aware of their eating habits and how those habits are influenced by emotion, circumstance and habit.
Mindful eating also teaches people to really enjoy the food they eat by paying close attention to the dishes in front of them, without the distraction of TV, phones or books.
The practice is good for everyone, not just people with weight issues, Brewer says. It also encourages people to make thoughtful choices, such as more vegetables and fewer starches.
“Thoughtfulness is more about my choice in what I eat and mindfulness is the whole process,” Brewer says. “It’s not just about making quoteunquote the right food choice or the right portion size. It’s about thinking about yourself in that equation. It’s ‘Am I thinking about myself when I cook it?’ ‘Is this the right time for me to eat?’ ‘How is it going to feel in my body now and after digestion?
“Are you really giving yourself to the experience psychologically, esthetically, emotionally?” Brewer asks. “You’ll never really be satisfied unless you experience the food with the five senses.”
Brewer shares her own story of overeating to fill loneliness. When she was young and her parents separated, no one gathered for dinner anymore. Now she’s divorced and once again eating by herself.
“Food can be a stable, emotional presence if you’re feeling lonely.” Brewer makes sure to sit at her dining table and use a placemat, to help keep eating special. Mindful eating helps her recognize when her stomach is satisfied so that she doesn’t overeat.
“What would be the reason to eat past your hunger? If your hunger goes away at five and your body has cues for hunger, why would you ever eat beyond that?”
Josie O’Reilly, 52, says she sometimes eats too much when she’s angry, stuffing in food instead of voicing concerns.
Whi le taking Brewer’s classes, she lost five pounds.
“It has changed everything,” she says. “I am so much more calm.”
When O’Reilly has afternoon cravings for snacks at work, she now assesses whether she’s actually hungry or perhaps simply trying to avoid work. She often ends up with leftovers now because she’s satisfied before eating everything from her plate.
“I don’t eat until I’m full anymore,” she says. Eating mindfully “gets you in touch with more in your life than just eating.”
Jared Potts never thought he had bad eating habits. Before the class on mindful eating, he ate whenever it was convenient. But because he’s young with a high metabolism, he never had to worry about gaining weight.
“I always felt compelled to eat more, more, more,” says Potts, who works in construction. “I was always pushing, not ever feeling like I was ever going to have enough.”
“It’s not the weight (that worries me), it’s a destructive eating habit,” Potts says. “I wasn’t even thinking twice about my food. I would often let my hunger dictate how fast I ate.”
Now that Potts has become more mindful, he doesn’t get as hungry anymore, since he eats smaller things between meals. He has also slowed down at dinners, putting his fork down between every bite.
“It was groundbreaking,” he says, adding, “How you eat is how you live.”
Brewer offers workshops in various locations and has partnered with Blush Lane, MacEwan University and Noorish.
For more information, head to michellebrewer.com. jsinnema@edmontonjournal.com twitter.com/jodiesinnema