Empowering Your Plate: Having A Mindful Relationship with Food

As the saying goes, you are what you eat.

Find some of our favorite recipes to get pono with your diet.

Food. It is delicious. It nourishes our bodies, fuels our lives, and brings people together. Yet, in our fast-paced world, our relationship with food has become… complicated. We eat on the go, mindlessly snack, and sometimes feel disconnected from the source and impact of what we consume.

For many, food had been reduced to nothing but an obligation. But food is so much more! It is a source of vital energy that sustains our physical and emotional well-being. When we approach food with this understanding, we start to make conscious choices about what we put on our plates.

Farm to Table

Imagine the journey our food takes. It begins with the seeds in the ground, watered and cared for from months to years. It needs to then be harvested, cleaned, transported, stocked in the produce isles, and finally taken home and cooked. That is a long journey, and with the modern convenience of always having fully stocked shelves has made it easy for us to take that journey for granted. Taking a moment to acknowledge this process cultivates gratitude for the abundance that sustains us.

Studies suggest that gratitude can positively impact our relationship with food. A 2016 study published in "Frontiers in Psychology" found that participants who practiced gratitude before eating reported feeling more satisfied and less likely to overeat. By expressing gratitude for the journey our food takes, we appreciate the effort involved and approach mealtimes with a sense of intention.

Slow Down & Savor

Nowadays, we often rush through meals, barely registering the taste, texture, or even the simple enjoyment of the moment. Mindful eating encourages us to slow down, savor each bite, and appreciate the flavors and textures and nourishment our food provides. This present-moment awareness allows us to make conscious choices about portion sizes and avoid overeating.

Some important things happen in our body when we slow down our eating and become more present. When we take more time to chew our food, your saliva has more time to break everything down and makes the nutrients more easily digestible. It also takes 20 minutes on average for our brain to register when we are full, which is why slower eaters tend to eat less and do not develop digestion issues that fast eaters often develop.

By cultivating mindful eating habits, we can transform mealtimes from a mindless activity into a nourishing and enjoyable practice.

Stay tuned for the next part of "Empowering Your Plate" where we will explore other ways to cultivate a mindful relationship with food, including using your plate as a tool for balanced nutrition and listening to your body's natural cues for hunger and satiety.