Benefits of a Mindful Breakfast

I’ve always enjoyed a good breakfast, especially my turkey sausage, omelette, and avocado. But this morning I noticed that while eating my breakfast, I wasn’t even thinking about eating. I was absorbed in a video about Tai Chi — a worthwhile way to spend time, no doubt — and had put my eating on autopilot. When I realized it, I wondered how many other times I do this.

And of course if I have to wonder about it, it means that I’ve rarely been mindful of what I’m eating. Of the thousands of meals I’ve had over my nearly 50 years in this body (roughly 54,000…yeah, I did the math), there may only be a few dozen times when I’ve really focused on what I was eating. Outside of the last half of my meal this morning, most of those other times probably came just after reading one of Thich Nhat Hahn’s books a few years ago.

I’ve already realized the importance of mindfulness in what and how much I eat. I do this by recording what I eat each day. But perhaps I would eat less — and at the least enjoy what I eat much more — if I practice mindfulness while I’m eating. Something as important as what I put in my body should be given direct focus rather than be put on autopilot…especially for someone who is trying to lose weight.

Mindfulness when eating can encompass the entire process and involve all the sense. As I finished the last half of my breakfast and sat down to write this, I thought about these aspects…

Visual

We can appreciate the pleasant appearance of the food, its colors, shape, and texture. Whether we prepared it or not, we can appreciate the time it takes to not only prepare the meal in front of us, but also to grow, harvest, process, and transport the ingredients so that we can have a conveniently available meal each day.

Olfactory

Most foods have some type of aroma to experience. Even fresh, uncooked vegetables have a subtle aroma to take in. It may be the earthy smell of something grown in good soil. Or it may be the almost overwhelming aroma of a savory dish that permeates the entire area. Either way, smelling your food gives you a more complete picture of what you’re about to experience, and helps begin the process of digestion by triggering the extra production of digestive fluids in your body.

Audible

This isn’t always available to us, but we can take note that it does not exist if that is the case. Other times, when eating fajitas at a restaurant for example, we can hear our food before it even reaches the table.

Tactile

Whether we touch the food directly or with utensils, the food can be experienced by touch. This even blends together with the visual, as one can confirm the texture of the food that we already looked at. We find out quickly, if we couldn’t already tell, if something is tough or tender, light or dense, chewy or fleetingly delicate. We get a better sense of its denseness as we lift it and feel its relative weight. We can feel the heat or lack of heat of our food near the lips, letting us know if the temperature is acceptable. We again experience the texture as in goes into the mouth, where the tactile continues and blends with…

Taste

This is the sense that we think of most when eating. When we’re on autopilot, it’s likely the only sense that registers with us…and then only if the taste is exceptionally pleasing or displeasing. But when we eat mindfully, we can experience the flavors more vividly.

Our tactile senses are still at play with taste. As we chew our food, we can feel it break down, perhaps releasing even different or more intense flavor. We can choose to swallow on autopilot or do so mindfully when we know the food is ready to be swallowed. We continue to feel it as it enters the throat and slides down into the stomach. This is the point where we think it ends…but does it? Shouldn’t we “feel” it further? At the least, we should be mindful of the stomach and how full it feels. When it feels full, we know to stop eating. This is the mistake many of us make — the mistake I’ve made most of my life.

Beyond the senses

Pleasure or displeasure

Taking pleasure — or lack of — is similar to the senses, even though it normally isn’t thought of in such a way. At the least, it’s a feeling that blends with the senses. Something as simple and common as a meal, normally experienced by only taste and perhaps smell, can enliven all the senses if we eat it mindfully. And if we’re eating mindfully, we’ll consider our food as a source of pleasure when eaten properly and in the right proportions. But when we take in too much food or the wrong type of food, our pleasure decreases. The displeasure can lead to the common expressions we often use: “I’m so full! I ate too much! I’m miserable!” Or perhaps the displeasure will create feelings of sickness that lead to vomiting and/or diarrhea. When we are not mindful, displeasure demands our attention, and pleasure can go unnoticed and unappreciated.

When we don’t take time to appreciate simple pleasures, the relative weight of displeasure seems much larger in life. It’s just like watching the news: we put 95% of our focus on the negative, and we ignore the positive. With those statistics, it’s no wonder we’re a nation on anxiety medications.

Gratitude

You don’t have to believe in a creator to express gratitude for the food you eat. And if you do believe in God (by whatever name you use), there is more to be grateful for than the common notion of “saying grace.” Our modern food delivery system is a complex web of moving parts, some of which seem fragile and potentially easy to compromise. Were this logistical labyrinth to fail at some point, most of us would run out of food in a matter of days. So yes, giving thanks for our culinary conveniences makes sense. And the effort you make in giving gratitude improves your health and wellbeing in myriad ways.

Cleaning Up

Cleaning up after a meal pays off as well. If you don’t take this simple action, have you considered why? Are you expecting someone else to do it for you? Do you prefer to have all the benefits without any responsibility? Would taking care of this simple task help show gratitude toward that person for what they have done for you? They have set an example for you to follow. Perhaps, as has been my experience in the past, you can be grateful for the patient tolerance of that person in the times you don’t clean up your mess. And by beginning to do this yourself, you can take responsibility for yourself.

Unless you’re still an actual child, not taking responsibility for your own mess is simply acting childish.

Carrying on

If we can be mindful during the span of our breakfast, and that can benefit us, then this seems to be a great way to start the day. With mindfulness, well…in mind, we can cary it into other parts of our day. If you have a commute to work, what better place than behind the wheel to practice mindfulness?

As a motorcycle safety instructor, I teach the practice of mindfulness while riding. It’s called by another name, but it’s still the same practice. And using it creates safe riders and reduces fatalities. Perhaps the next highway safety campaign could promote mindfulness rather than learning from dummies.

Preachy? Nah…

If you have read this far, you must have taken this post to be helpful rather than “preachy.” It’s okay either way. If you found it preachy, well…you probably aren’t reading this part. But the truth is that I didn’t write it for you. I wrote it for myself, as a reminder to be more mindful...not only during meals, but in all that I do. This isn’t a new topic or any groundbreaking new spin on it. It’s just my thoughts and perspective on an ancient idea, and the beneficial action of writing them. For me, that’s enough to make it unique and worth my time. So…if you made it here, I’m glad you found some benefit in it as well. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.