It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means the biggest feast of the year is about to go down. Thanksgiving Day, which originally started out as a feast to celebrate the good harvest of crops between the Native Americans and the English settlers, is the best excuse to pig out and not feel guilty.
It’s also a great excuse to not have school for at least five days. After all, it’s about giving thanks for having a cornucopia of food, so stuffing yourself with plenty of turkey is the best way to get into the festive spirit.
Now usually when I think of Thanksgiving, I think about a long table with a huge turkey in the middle, and loads of food on either side of it. And then I think about how badly I want to eat it. When actual Thanksgiving Day comes, I have the urge to stuff all the food in my mouth, but I have to stop myself because I know I’ll have a terrible stomach ache later. My dad always uses a technique which he eats called mindful eating.
It’s supposedly better for your health because when you eat smaller portions slowly, only a small amount of food is going into your stomach, and you get to savor the taste.
This technique allegedly helps lower stress, and can even help you lose weight. According to tcme.org, which is The Center for Mindful Eating’s official website, mindful eating has “the powerful potential to transform people’s relationship to food and eating, to improve overall health, body image, relationships and self-esteem.” All you have to do focus on the food in your mouth by eating it slowly.
According to zenhabits.com, eating slowly has many health benefits. When you eat slowly, you consume less calories. It takes 20 minutes for us to realize that we are full, so eating slowly can help us reach that point.
Eating fast can cause us to overeat, and we may end up eating past our full point. This goes for any food that we eat. Of course eating healthier foods is better for our bodies nutritionally, but eating anything slowly can help us lose weight. Also, you have to factor in exercise, otherwise you may just end up putting on more weight instead of losing it.
As you eat slowly, you tend to savor your food more, so you enjoy the experience of eating more. By paying close attention to the texture and the flavor of the food in your mouth, you “cultivate the possibility of freeing yourself of reactive, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and acting (tcme.com).” Basically, you release yourself from your normal habit of hastily eating all of your meals, especially when you’re under many stressful conditions.
Chewing slowly is great for the digestive process. By chewing your food thoroughly, it makes the food easier to pass through your stomach.
The digestion of starches and fats starts in the mouth. The breaking down of the food particles will now be easier for your stomach to handle since they’ve already been partially broken down by your saliva, and the small particles will easily pass through the intestines. This is a nice technique to use to avoid those embarrassing gassy moments.
The final reason why mindful eating is so powerful is because it helps lowers stress. My father has a very stressful job, and by eating mindfully, he is able to fully relax and enjoy himself.
In a way, it’s sort of like meditation, but you’re eating instead of chanting with your eyes closed. Being in the moment of enjoying your meal can help you relax more, rather than rushing through it.
So be sure take some time to enjoy your Thanksgiving feast rather than stuffing your face with everything you see. You’ll enjoy your weekend more without that painful stomach ache.
Tara Temkar can be reached at taratemkar.minaret@gmail.com.