2915: Mindful Eating: How Eating A Sultana Can Improve Our Attention by Dr. Jenny Brockis on Nutrition Advice

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. Mindful Eating, How Eating A Sultana Can Improve Our Attention by Dr. Jenny Brockis of drjennybrockis.com. And I'm Dr. Neal Malik, reading you some of the most popular health and fitness blogs out there, with permission from the websites of course, and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. So I'm going to keep this intro nice and short. Let's get right to the post as we optimize your life.

[00:00:30] Mindful Eating, How Eating A Sultana Can Improve Our Attention by Dr. Jenny Brockis of drjennybrockis.com It took probably all of 10 to 15 minutes to eat that sultana, or what we call in the States, a golden raisin. Mindfully. As I sat in the mindfulness class being encouraged to use all of my senses to really experience eating it, I realized several things.

[00:00:56] Firstly, that sultanas are really interesting to look through, like squishy pieces of amber revealing hidden treasures. They also make a crackling noise when held close to your ear and rolled between your fingers. Secondly, that eating a sultana really slowly, to feel its texture in my mouth, to actually taste it, to experience biting into it, made me realize I'm not that keen on sultanas.

[00:01:20] Thirdly, and most importantly though, is that for many of us, eating our food has become a secondary activity, devoid of pleasure and mystique. The Role of Mindfulness Mindfulness is a way of engaging fully in the present moment. It is a way of quieting down the frenetic mind, which is forever busy thinking about the past and predicting the future. It is a way of just being.

[00:01:45] It is a way of enhancing attention and focus, skills which in our distracted modern world are at risk of being ever diminished. I recently caught up with friends for dinner at a restaurant. We had so much to talk about, there was much discussion and laughter. It was only as we said our goodbyes that it dawned on me that I had paid virtually no attention to the food that had been ordered and eaten. I had been so busy focusing my attention on my friends.

[00:02:12] The food had been good, I'm sure, but had I really enjoyed it, savored it, yet alone tasted it. Eating that sultana reminded me that I am as guilty as many others of ignoring the present in the rush for the future. The next meeting, the next task, the next idea. When eating alone, how many of us use that time to catch up on reading the newspaper or a magazine or tuning into the television?

[00:02:38] How many of us sitting down to eat as a family plonked down in front of the television? As a teenager, I was addicted to those chocolate cream eggs that were sold in the lead up to Easter. The trick was to see just how long you could make the egg last. I think 40 minutes was my record. That was probably my first and unintentional experience of eating mindfully. The advantages of paying attention to what we eat.

[00:03:04] Paying attention to our food allows us to really notice, that is, pay attention to, what we are eating, as well as whether we like the food or not. It allows us to recognize other cues, such as satiety. If we eat on the run, cramming the next snack into our mouth as we hurtle out the door, we deny our body and brain the opportunity to tell us that what we have eaten was good, bad, or indifferent. And we ignore those signals indicating we've actually eaten enough.

[00:03:32] Fast food is often poor quality, cheap food that may contain far too much fat, salt, or sugar. But because we often consume it fast, we're less likely to notice that it actually doesn't taste very good. If I had to sit and eat a chicken nugget mindfully instead of a sultana, which is not something I would want to do, I think it would really highlight the nastiness of the nugget being overly fatty, devoid of any real chicken taste, or any other particular taste for that matter.

[00:04:02] Traditionally, food has played a major role in our society. Today, special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings are still marked with special feasts. But everyday meals are often rushed, slapped down on the table, and eaten quickly so that we can return to other more important items. Today, eating is perceived more as an interruption to the busyness of our day, as something we have to do to refuel our body and mind rather than enjoy doing.

[00:04:31] So why not have a go at eating a food mindfully, as an exercise in reconnecting with the simple pleasure of enjoying good food? It could be a strawberry, a tomato, an apple, even a sultana. Just take your time to hold, look at, smell, and taste. Remember, by pausing to enjoy the moment, we enhance our ability to pay attention. So if you want to improve your attention skills, this is a great way to start. Some questions to ask ourselves.

[00:05:00] Would eating more mindfully allow us to reconnect in a good way with food? Would paying attention to our food, its taste, texture, and aroma make us more open to trying different foods? And could mindful eating, by leading us to eat less, be one way to start tackling the obesity problem? What do you think?

[00:05:25] You just listened to the post titled, Mindful Eating, How Eating a Sultana Can Improve Our Attention, by Dr. Jenny Brockes of drjennybrockes.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. Dr. Dean Ornish, one of the biggest supporters of mindful eating once said, quote, How we eat is just as important as what we eat, end quote.

[00:05:49] Through his research, he found that using mindful eating techniques like the ones described in today's post by Dr. Brockes, can lead to less calories consumed at each meal, while experiencing the same level of satisfaction. This is because, again, as Dr. Brockes said, when we're distracted while we're eating, we tend to eat more food more quickly. And then we feel hungry soon after that meal. We don't realize that we just ate something.

[00:06:17] Now, does this mean we have to eat every single meal alone and in the dark, distraction-free? No. But if we can incorporate mindfulness every once in a while, it may start to make a difference in our eating habits. And to answer Dr. Brockes' question about whether this may be one way to start tackling the obesity problem, studies have shown that, yes, mindful eating may even help us reduce body weight. All right, that'll do it for today.

[00:06:45] I'll be back here tomorrow for our usual Friday Q&A, so definitely stay tuned for that where your optimal life awaits. The next time is Dr. Brockes. The next time is Dr. Brockes. The next time is Dr. Bonel Musik and Dr. Lenzenam.