If you want to put yourself in the right frame of mind for eating, try a meditation beforehand. Don’t let the word scare you. A meditation can be anything you focus your physical and mental attention on. By saying aloud the message you want to program into yourself right before eating, you increase your potential for responding to it while you’re eating, thereby heightening your awareness to better connect to appetite signals. Here are a few ideas but, please feel free to create what suits you, because your own words will speak most passionately to your heart.

“I am relaxed and peaceful and anticipate enjoying a glorious meal. I will choose foods to enjoy, then savor them. I will honor my body by giving it as much nourishment as it needs and as much pleasure as I want. I will listen to my appetite and trust it to tell me when I am approaching satisfaction and fullness and when I have reached these points. Then I will contentedly stop eating because the moment will be perfect.”

“My mind and body will stay totally connected while I’m eating, though I will be talking and listening to other people. I will hear loudly and clearly my body’s messages about enjoying food and feeling full and satisfied, and trust and respect what my they tell me.”

“I am choosing to eat a food I love and will enjoy it until I’m satisfied and not one minute more. My mind and body will be in harmony while I’m eating this food, and I will entertain only pleasurable thoughts about it and about my eating experience. Guilt, shame, and fear will be far away as I embrace total sensory delight and satisfaction.”

ARE YOU READY?…

Find something that is small and tasty, like a grape, and hold it in the palm of your hand. And begin your Mindful Eating Meditation!

Take a few seconds to notice your preconceived ideas of what that grape may taste like and then let go of that thought.

Bring your focus to the grape in your hand. Allow your senses to become alive and alert. Notice the shape. The size. The texture of the grape. Notice the color and feel the coolness of it on your skin.

Now, consciously and slowly, lift the grape with your other hand and bring it to your mouth. Feel its texture and smoothness.

As you bring the grape to your mouth, notice the feelings of the muscles in your arm. Lightly touch the grape against your lips. Do you notice any change in your mouth? A bit more saliva maybe…

Now bite the grape and feel the burst of flavour in your mouth and on your tongue and teeth. As you chew, feel the texture and notice the movements of your mouth as the grape mo moves towards your throat and then…

Become aware of the absence of the grape, of the taste and the aroma…Do you feel like taking another bite on the grape for the taste?

Now think about the way you ate this grape… and compare it to the way you would normally just munch a bunch of grapes…

Not every munch can be classed as a Mindful Eating Meditation.