eat in peace

We have all progressively become busier and busier, I am yet to meet an adult man or a woman who is not extremely busy! We all want to achieve a lot, work hard, manage the household, spend time with our kids, socialise and even vacation with a vengeance ! It is almost taboo to appear as though we aren't busy all the time and actually have time to enjoy it all. Even our food doesn't escape this lack of time! We eat like we fill fuel in our cars, its mechanical, on the go, just to keep the engine running. Coffee in the car, sandwich on the go, bowl of cereal while checking mail. Its just another chore, an item on a list to be ticked off.

But, we are not machines, we are complex, intelligent, emotional creatures and food involves a complex integration of hormonal, neuronal, physiologic and metabolic controls. Moreover our state of mind, moods, how and where we eat also affects our food and how our body responds to it.

Few years back I was reading this book by Rujuta Diwekar -"Don't lose your mind, lose your weight", and there is some great advice there! For me the big lesson was a really simple one, and yet it changed my entire approach towards food.
She talks about eating food in a calm state of mind. The reasoning behind it, is that when you are disturbed, agitated, sad, angry or stressed, the body perceives it as a threat to its survival and doesn't produce the digestive juices required to breakdown and assimilate the food, instead the food gets converted to fat (we have acquired this evolutionary intelligence over centuries to survive drought, famine and floods). Stress caused by work situations, relationships, traffic, lack of sleep etc leads to the secretion of cortisol. The function of cortisol is to lower the metabolic rate, prevent fat burning and help convert food to fat.

So, I tried it, eating with a calm mind, focusing on the food, its taste, its appearance, its smell and even on how I felt eating it. If I was upset or agitated, I first calmed myself, concentrated on my breath and ate only when I was at peace or could focus on the food. Initially I ate alone, so that I was not distracted by conversation or other's moods, situations etc. This took sometime to become a habit but has improved my relationship with my body and my food tremendously. This practise ensures that you never overeat or indulge in emotional eating. The food gets digested well, nutrients absorbed, there is no indigestion, acid reflux etc due to poor digestion. And most importantly, you enjoy and appreciate every bite. Unmindful eating leads to overeating because you are not satisfied till you are stuffed, eating in a  positive, peaceful and mindful manner satisfies you with a much smaller portion size, adds to your sense of well being and nourishes your body. As you practise this for a while, you will realise, that you are more in sync with your body's needs (your body will crave the nutrient its lacking, e.g. if your activity levels increase, the body craves more protein rich foods etc). Of course this helps you lose weight too...
So try it, eat in peace!