The holiday trifecta is upon us! We will indulge in the giving of Thanks this week, and within 4 weeks, it will be the Christmas festivities for many of us, and finally, we wrap that up with New Years Parties. What a glorious time of fun and food!
So here’s a tip to consider, should you feel you want to maintain some semblance of control over your food choices this year.
Take your time to enjoy your food!
Not only can this help you control your urges and slow your eating, but it is a meditative reminder to slow down and appreciate the gift of food, the joys of the occasional indulgence, and the process of eating.
When you go to eat anything from an appetizer to an entree or decadent dessert, really take a moment to ponder all the work that went in to the food. And I don’t just mean the work of the host or person who prepared the food. But from the ground up.
Think of the farmers who work in the hot sun during the summer so you can have the grains that go into your flour or corn based foods. The gift of nature that took its time to slowly grow that good. And the people who harvest the food, to clean it. Think about the small employees working hard at either little local factories or stores or the large chains, who prepare the packaging and run the registers. Give a quiet Thanks to all these hands that went in to making your food available. And of course, a mindful thought to the person who finally prepared it in their kitchen. Whether that was a few moments placing it in the oven, to several hours chopping, dicing, glazing, or rolling. Who else may have been involved in that bite?
With all the time and effort that went in to preparing that food, try to take more than a fraction of a second to wolf it down — and instead be thankful for the gift of food, thankful that you can fill your body, and mindful of how that food tastes and feels in your mouth.
Savor it.
Savor the holidays, savor the parties, savor the people, and appreciate all the little things. Slowly, deliberately, and with awareness of our intricate, interconnected, magical world.
Happy Thanksgiving!