Mindful Eating for People Who Love TV

Eating mindfully sounds really satisfying… and soooo boring! I have tried eating mindfully for periods of time and I actually did feel more satisfied with my food. I had greater enjoyment of it and more memories of eating… and yet, in the end, I always went back to TV. I love taking a break, putting a funny show on my phone, eating a good meal, and escaping from the world. The only problem is that after the meal, I’m left feeling full, but hunting around for more food to satisfy my cravings. I need some sort of happy medium, because the fact is, I’m not giving up eating and TV, and yet, I want to enjoy my food, especially when I worked hard to make it. Here’s what I decided: I will eat mindfully for nine bites, each satisfying a different type of hunger. Then, if I still want to, it’s back to TV!

Types of Hunger

According to Mindful Eating, by Jan Chozen Bays, there are nine types of hunger. If we don’t satisfy these hungers, we will be left craving food. Satisfying our hunger is a basic human need. Prowling through the cupboards after a meal isn’t a personal weakness. It just means that hunger wasn’t properly satiated. The nine types of hunger are: stomach, cellular, mouth, nose, ear, eye, touch, mind, and heart. Below are explanations of each type of hunger.

• Stomach Hunger – This one is pretty obvious. Is your stomach empty or full? But often, when we think about it, we are most comfortable when our stomach is 4/5 full. You can check in with your stomach near the beginning, middle, and end of a meal to see whether it would make you feel better, or not, to keep eating. If you end up too full, no worries. Just be curiously mindful of the experience, and this will help you to end your meals sooner in the future.
• Cellular Hunger – Our cells want the right balance of nutrients. If we are sensitive to our bodies, our cravings may actually tell us what our body needs. Bays recommends we consider whether we are craving: liquid/solid, vegetable or fruit, root or leafy, citrus or not, salt, starch, or protein. Artificial flavours and colours can trick our bodies into thinking we are consuming the nutrients we need, so it is likely wise to try to satisfy cravings with whole foods first, and use foods with artificial ingredients as “fun foods.” I like to think about cellular hunger before I start my meal (if I’m eating alone and completely choosing what I want to eat).
• Mouth Hunger – Our mouth wants different tastes and textures. This is why we eat way more at a buffet, with many options, than we do at a single course meal. Being mindful of mouth hunger is also an opportunity to assess whether you are actually thirsty. You may end up feeling satisfied by savouring a flavourful cup of tea.
• Nose Hunger – Have you ever walked by a Cinnibon or KFC, smelled their delicious smells and suddenly really wanted some? That’s nose hunger.
• Ear Hunger – There are certain sounds that go with eating that we often don’t explicitly notice: The scrape of our fork against the plate, the crunch of the food as we chew it, crumbs dropping. These sounds make a meal more satisfying. We wouldn’t enjoy chips in the same way if they didn’t crunch.
• Eye Hunger – Just think of food billboards. McDonald’s billboards show the hamburgers so extra big that they don’t even fit the billboard. This effect gives you the same perspective as if you’re holding the hamburger up to your mouth, about to take a bite. You eye hunger is satisfied with a variety of colours and shapes.
• Touch Hunger – We have a lot of sensory receptors in our fingers, lips and tongue. Many cultures find eating with their hands more mindful and enjoyable. Consider picking up a piece of pizza with your hands, versus eating it with a fork and knife, or the feel of a fresh strawberry on your lips as you bite into it.
• Mind Hunger – This has to do with our mind’s idea of what we should be eating. North American culture has sent us conflicting messages throughout the last few decades about what, how much, and how often we should be eating. Our mind hunger may change based on which health fad is recommended at any given time. Bays recommends staying away from absolute statements about any food being “good” or “bad” and following a “middle way.” According to the book, Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, making any food completely off limits puts our minds in deprivation mode, leading us to eventually binge on forbidden foods.
• Heart Hunger – Heart hunger is about our need for connection. My heart hunger is satisfied by my mom’s homemade apple pie because it reminds me of happy afternoons helping my mom in the kitchen and family dinners together. However, any food can fulfill heart hunger if you allow yourself to consider all the people and effort it took to get the food (and all their ingredients) onto your plate. The farmers, truck drivers, store employees, etc that it took even to get the cinnamon for the muffin you are eating, can help you realize just how connected we all are, and increase your feelings of gratitude.

Now, before you flip back to Netflix, I’m going to give you the instructions for our first nine bites of food. Don’t worry. It won’t take long.

Instructions

Most important: PAY ATTENTION

Choosing Your Food

Do you want (cellular): liquid/solid, vege/fruit, leafy/root, citrus/not citrus, salt, starch, or protein.

Actual Eating

Pretend you are a food scientist discovering a new type of food on another planet. You are examining all aspects of this meal to report back to the curious scientific community on Earth. Your only tools for examination are you senses.

Bite 1 (eyes): Really look at the food on your plate and your fork/spoon (or hands) and notice the shapes and colours, bumps and ridges.

Bite 2 (nose): Smell the food on your plate or on your utensil and try to partial out the different scents as if you were trying to determine the ingredients just by scent.

Bite 3 (touch): Touch the food with your hands if appropriate. Touch the food to your lips. Put the food in your mouth and notice how it feels as it moves around your mouth during chewing and swallowing.

Bite 4 (mouth): You probably have been tasting your food more just in the first three bites. Now focus only on the taste and texture of this bite.

Bite 5 (ear): Listen to the sound as you pick up a piece of food and chew.

Bite 6 (heart): What did it take to get this food on your plate? Think of each ingredient and how far it might have come from; the many lives that were touched in the making of it, transporting of it, storing it, selling it, and creating this meal. Does this meal remind you of any memories from your past?

Bite 7 (Stomach): Notice what it feels like to swallow this bite and how it feels as it arrives at your stomach. How full do you feel right now? Are you satisfied or still hungry? Are you starting to feel somewhat full? If you are getting full, you might want to pay attention after the next few bites to see when you’ve had enough.

Bite 8 (Cellular): Is this meal satisfying you or is there some other category you are craving that you have not had yet? Is this a tired time of the day for you? You might just be craving sleep.

Bite 9 (Mind Hunger): If you feel like you ate the wrong thing and are already full, it probably won’t help you to get more full eating a salad, even if your mind says you should have eaten a salad. If you savoured your food and enjoyed it, that’s great. Enjoying food is an important part of life. You can choose something else for your next meal. No food is ultimately bad or good. No food makes you bad or good. If you listen to your body, and make a variety of foods available and equally easy to grab, you will end up eating a well-rounded mix of food.

Conclusion

Sometimes I still fool myself into thinking I can watch TV and fully enjoy my food. In this case, I sometimes even realize half way through my meal and use the LAST nine or so bites to quickly run through all the types of hunger. Usually, at that point, I realize I hadn’t needed a second hamburger to feel satisfied, but it’s too late now! Better luck (and mindfulness) next time, Jacqui!

Now get back to that TV show. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt isn’t going to re-watch itself.

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