Mindfulness and Eating

One of my favorite parts of the Mediterranean diet is the base that it’s built on.  When I think of eating a meal in cities near the Mediterranean, I think of groups of people eating together outside and listening to music or a family sitting down at a dinner table with a home cooked meal. Now don’t get me wrong, some American families do these things too, but many of us are just too busy to do this as much as we would like.  Oh yea, and COVID has of course made this more difficult.   But eating together and having conversation helps us to eat less.  We tend to be more mindful of what we are eating and we enjoy what we are eating so much more when we are with others and not “on the run.”  Think of yourself on the couch or in the car eating your snack or your meal:  How much are you concentrating on what you are eating?  Are you eating just to eat?  Or are you actually enjoying the food and flavor?  Is your body actually sending signals of hunger or are the signals more of stress or boredom?  Enjoyment and mindfulness surrounding food and meals changes what we want to eat, when we eat it and how we eat it.  Just think, having MORE enjoyment in what you are eating and how you are eating it could mean improved health.  What great news!!!!