Let’s talk about Savouring.
Savouring is appreciating and I mean really appreciating what you’re doing right now.
Oh yeah – and Savouring is also deliberately conjuring up really good memories. And Savouring is also thinking yummy thoughts about any future events you have planned.
But what we’re gonna focus on today is Savouring right now. And Savouring with food. My favourite! And we’re gonna do that with Mindfulness.
When I first wrote this blog I was more focused on why people binge eat or comfort eat or why they’re an emotional eater. And then how to use to Mindfulness to combat that.
But you know what? I reckon that Mindful Eating is an awesome way to eat cos it totally maximises pleasure.
I mean when you eat Mindfully you get to really taste the food. You get to enjoy every last mouthful cos your attention is focused on what you’re eating rather than on the TV or your To Do List or on what possessed your cat to go tearing around the lounge-room for no apparent reason.
When you eat Mindfully food tastes GOOD. But the good news is…… (drum roll)…… you eat WAY less cos you realise when you’re satisfied.
And yep….. this even works with chocolate. Believe it or not. If you eat chocolate Mindfully you WILL eat less cos you will realise how sweet and rich it is. And cos you’ve savoured every mouthful you won’t feel like you’ve missed out anything by only having a bit.
So it’s all good news.
Binge eaters, emotional eaters, and comfort eaters – you know it’s not about the food. It’s usually about feeling lonely or not good enough or wanting to stuff down emotions or wanting to escape from ourselves and our Inner Critic.
If you want to learn how to turn down the volume on your Inner Critic you can get my free e-book “How to Stop Your Inner Critic Killing Your Confidence” at https://www.healgrowtransform.com.au
So for Savouring Pleasure Seekers or for Eaters for Other Reasons follow these simple instructions:
This exercise is usually done with a raisin but you can choose chocolate, a strawberry, a hazelnut or any small and tasty morsel.
Have someone read these steps to you or read them through quickly first then do each one SLOWLY.
- Put your tasty little morsel in your hand and look at is though you had never seen anything like it before. Like you’re an alien that has just landed and you found this strange thing. Get REALLY curious about it.
Look at the colours, how the light reflects off it. Look at the shape and the contours. What do you notice about it that you haven’t noticed before? Turn it over in your hand, looking at it from every angle. Spend a good minute doing this.
- Now bring your tasty little morsel up to your face. Notice how your hand knows just where to go. Hold it under your nose and smell. What does it smell like? Notice what happens in your mouth. Is it filling with saliva? Does your mouth want to open and take the tasty little morsel in?
If you have something like a raisin, you can even see what it sounds like when you roll it around. Hold it up to your ear. Not everyone likes this bit. Only do it if you want to.
- Now place your tasty little morsel on your tongue. Notice the urge to chew but don’t do it. Just see what the tasty little morsel feels like on your tongue. Maybe it’s starting to melt and you’re already getting flavour. Maybe you notice some rough textures. Pay attention to what’s happening in your throat when you feel the urge to swallow. Roll your tasty little morsel around on your tongue and notice how the shape, flavour, texture changes. Do this for about a minute.
- Now let yourself chew. If you have something melty like chocolate maybe you won’t want to. You can just let it melt. Pay attention to how the flavour changes. Notice how it might become more intense, or sweeter or maybe even more bitter. Keep chewing until every last bit is ground down. Resist the urge to swallow it while there are still some whole bits in there.
Reflect on all the things you noticed about your tasty little morsel that you hadn’t known before. When I first did this with a raisin, I noticed how sweet they are, how intense the flavour gets, and how crackly they are when you hold them up to your ear and squeeze them. Like funny raisin music to my ears (I always did like playing with my food). I noticed how many colours were in each one and how different each was from the last – in colour, texture and flavour. Eating in this way made me curious about how the next would be different and it was easy to keep eating Mindfully so I wouldn’t miss anything.
So give this a go and see how many yum yum yum experiences you have with food. Oh yeah – and how much less you eat.
