An Excerpt from The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda by Michelle S. Fondin
Awareness comes on all levels. Food awareness is important in reconnecting the body-mind. If you’ve ever tried to feed a young child, you know that it’s a struggle to get him to eat when he’s not hungry. Certain food, situations, emotions, environments, or circumstances can create a disconnect between the body and the mind and soul when it comes to eating. The reason that so many people struggle with eating is that, while it’s a necessary act for survival, it is also tied to our upbringing, emotions, and relationships. Perhaps for you, food, in the past, meant a loving gesture from someone in a loving relationship with you. Or maybe not eating was a way for you to protest rules set by a parent or authority figure, by going on a “food strike.” Or maybe you experienced food, or lack of it, as a source of punishment.
Through eating awareness we can disarm an emotional or Pavlovian response, by letting go of the triggers and tuning in to our bodies for signals of comfort and discomfort. The shift that must take place is a shift from eating to live, or survive, to nourishing the temple that houses our soul. Eating is a pleasurable, sacred act. It should be respected and revered. In the previous chapter, we discussed dharma. How can you live out your dharma if you’re feeling lousy all the time because of the food you’re consuming or how you’re consuming it? Believing with all your heart that food is medicine will change the way you approach food altogether. You will no longer be imprisoned by the food itself, food commercials, and artificial products on grocery shelves. Instead you’ll be looking for ways to optimize your energy level with proper food intake.
Here are ten guidelines for eating awareness:
1. Eat only when you’re hungry. This may seem like a no-brainer, but how many times have you eaten only because you looked at the clock and noticed that it was coffee time, snack time, or lunchtime? A good exercise is to put your hand over your stomach, close your eyes, and feel if there’s any undigested food left in there. You might feel a slight sense of fullness. Or you might also feel a little indigestion; or if you burp, you can taste undigested food. That’s a good indicator of an undigested meal. Another way to decide if you really need more food is to keep track of when you last put anything in your mouth besides water. For Vata types, two to four hours should go by before they eat again. Pitta types should wait three to five hours between meals, and Kapha types should wait four to six before eating again.
2. Eat in a calm environment. Your body should not be agitated from extreme noise, blaring lights, or a heated debate when you’re eating. You also should refrain from watching TV, listening to the radio, browsing the Internet, texting, and talking on the phone. You can’t remain aware when you are distracted.
3. Put down your fork between bites. Enjoyment from eating comes from pacing yourself. You can’t enjoy your food if you’re shoveling it in. You’re not a garbage disposal. I can assure you: no one is going to take your food away from you.
4. Eat two cupped handfuls of food at a meal. You would be surprised how effective portion control is at making it possible for you to lose weight, maintain weight, or feel comfortable after a meal. To measure how much two cupped handfuls is for you, start with a dry substance such as uncooked rice. Fill a bowl with the rice, and set an empty bowl nearby. Using both hands together, scoop up enough rice to fill your hands, and place it in the empty bowl. Do that twice. Then, using a measuring cup, measure the amount of rice you put in the second bowl. Most people will find they’ve scooped out about two or three cups of rice.
5. Stop eating when you’re satisfied but not full. When you’re satisfied, you usually sigh once. You look at your plate and say, “That was good.” If your plate is still half full, have someone take it away, or put the leftover food in a container, or throw it away instantly. You may have no clue what “satisfied” feels like because you’ve always eaten until you’re full. But with practice you will regain the ability to detect your body’s signals of satisfaction.
6. Do not eat if you aren’t enjoying your food. Please, for your health, respect this guideline. I have fallen into the trap of eating bad food, and I imagine you have too. Just because the food is in front of you, you eat it — even if it’s poor quality, too greasy, too fatty, or just plain disgusting. Maybe you have a fear of wasting food, or apathy has crept in. Whatever the reason, remember that the energy that comes from the food will be nourishing your body and your cells. If the food isn’t appealing to you, your cells won’t like it either.
7. Sit down to eat at a table with a pleasant setting. Please do not eat while sitting in your car, standing in your kitchen, or walking around a park or mall. Sit down and be mindful of what you’re doing. Clear out your eating space. Remove papers, books, computers, mail, and bills before sitting down to your meal. Put some fresh flowers or candles and a nice place mat or tablecloth on the table. Again, it’s impossible to ex- tract all the good healing chemicals of a fresh meal if you’re staring at a Visa bill for five thousand dollars lying on the table.
8. Drink only water at meals, in small amounts. Drinking large amounts of anything dilutes the gastric juices and makes digestion difficult for your body. The water should be at room temperature; take only small sips throughout the meal. Any other beverage should be consumed outside of meals.
9. Do not eat when you’re upset. Eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby is not going to heal your relationship with your spouse, and finishing off a cheesecake will not make your mother stop telling you what to do. It’s also true that skipping a meal because of an emotional upset will not kill you. You likely have some reserved energy in your body that will make up for that one meal. But eating while upset can create a host of digestive issues and may make you sick. Just sip warm water until you’ve calmed down or feel genuinely hungry again.
10. Feel gratitude for the food you have. Give thanks to the Creator, in whichever way you conceive it, to the cook, to the waitress or waiter, or to anyone else involved in preparing and serving your food. Even if you don’t see them directly, have gratitude in your heart. This sense of gratitude will allow the best digestion and assimilation of nutrients possible.
Michelle S. Fondin is the author of The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda. She holds a Vedic Master Certificate from the Chopra Center and is a member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association and Yoga Alliance. She treats clients at her Ayurvedic Path center, speaks and offers workshops, and lives in Herndon, Virginia. Visit her online at michellefondin.com.
Excerpted from the book The Wheel of Healing with Ayruveda ©2015 by Michelle S. Fondin. Printed with permission of New World Library. www.newworldlibrary.com