Mindful Eating

Hi, and welcome to the Headspace eating exercise. So I think it's very tempting these days as we're eating to be distracted at the same time. Not really to be present with our food. Perhaps we're watching TV or busy sending emails or reading something, but it's very rare that we're actually present with the taste of our food. And of course the result of that is that we don't really feel that connection. It's just something we do, perhaps it's through habit or an idea of just of sort of fueling the body. There's no sense of enjoyment and appreciation. So this is a short exercise which allows you to sort of step out of the mind, to step away from those distractions so that you can be more present, so that you can enjoy and appreciate your food just that little bit more. So this exercise is best done sort of so you'd be undisturbed and although you can apply mindful eating to anything, it's easiest to learn I think when you're doing it with just one object. So personally, I like to use a really nice piece of chocolate for this exercise, but you can use a piece of fruit, whatever kind of works best for you. But I'd like you to begin, not with it in your mouth or even in your hand, just on a surface in front of you. And very often we tend to just put the food in our mouth very quickly. We don't really see it. So just taking a moment to observe the food, to notice the colors, the shapes. And just to take a moment to consider or appreciate where that food has come from, perhaps how long it would have taken to grow. Or how long it took to make. So just connecting with the journey of that food. As you pick the food up, just starting to notice the sensation. So it might be the temperature of the food, the texture of the food, and looking at it a little more closely as you bring it up to take a smell. As you smell, you may well find the mind drifts off to a particular kind of place. Food very often does that for us. But just noticing the smell and then gently placing it in the mouth. Not chewing it straight away, but just using the tongue to move it around the mouth. So you start to notice the flavors, the subtleties of flavor. Noticing where in the mouth you taste those different flavors. If it's a piece of chocolate then can just allow it to rest in the mouth to move it around just a little bit as it melts. If it's a piece of fruit then you'll probably need to chew it a little bit. That's fine. Just gently chewing it, noticing the taste, the flavor, the sounds, the texture. Maybe still noticing the smell of it, but not rushing the process. Just enjoying...