The time to start eating mindfully is now

Mindfulness is all about bringing our attention to the present moment. Switching off the automatic pilot; ignoring the little voice in our heads that wants to distract us, and immersing ourselves in the activity we are doing at every single moment in time. From walking on the street; to reading; to exercising; to working; to drinking and eating. We can practice mindfulness throughout the whole day and enjoy the many positive effects associated with it.

Grow your own food

 Mindful eating starts way before we sit at the table to eat our food. The ingredients we use in our meals and how we source them are essential parts to consider when wanting to eat mindfully. 

Growing our own food is an ideal way of connecting to nature and developing awareness around what eating fresh ingredients involves. That awareness will be the underpinning of our mindful eating.

When you grow vegetables indoors you have the opportunity of witnessing the whole process very closely from the sprouting of the seed; to flowering; to fruit.  It becomes a wonderfully grounding experience, as every day you check in your plant until one day the peppers are out.

I remember the first time that I cooked and ate my homegrown chilli peppers. All those memories were so alive in my mind. I had nurtured those plants for weeks, and they were the fruits of all that compassion and care I have given them. It was a unique feeling of connection with something much bigger and more powerful than food. Ah, and the peppers tasted delicious in my homegrown pak choi, chillies and coconut oil salad recipe.

Buy mindfully

Growing your own food indoors allows you to grow your favourite crops all year round. Depending on how much you grow, there will be occasions when you would still want to buy fresh food from external suppliers. If that’s the case remember the following:

🥕 Buy seasonal produce locally to reduce transport-related CO2 emissions and support local businesses

🥕 Buy organic for greater flavour and quality

🥕 Pick up surplus fresh food from local community fridges to fight food waste

Fresh and quick recipes

Once you have managed to get your home grown or alternative organic ingredients, you are ready to go into the next phase of mindful eating: cooking. A lot of people don’t cook because either they don’t have enough time, or they don’t know what to cook. In my experience, you would need to spend more time sourcing your ingredients, than cooking. As a rule of thumb, you should be able to cook a nice meal in no more than 30 minutes.

There are so many advantages to cooking recipes made with fresh ingredients. They are healthy, tasty, flexible, and time-efficient. I have found the best recipes when I have a) organised my meals in advance; b)dare to try something different, and c) looked for inspiration (listening to music when I cook it’s one of my favourite).

Build a weekly “mindful” menu

It would help tremendously to have some sort of weekly menu. This doesn’t need to look like an “institutional” or “diet-based” menu, and it can be 100% adjustable. Having a mindful menu would help us raise awareness of what we are eating and when. I would also reduce the number of decisions we have to make on daily basis. For most people, this would mean avoiding last-minute decisions that would normally involve desperate rather than mindful meals. 

What you have in your menu can vary depending on personal preferences. These are some tips to build mindful menus:

🥕 Eat as many vegetables as you possibly can

🥕 Don’t forget your proteins and carbohydrates

🥕 If you have a vegan diet, you will need to adjust your portions, so you eat enough

🥕 Vary your meals from week to week

Finally, don’t be afraid of varying your menu if there is a good reason for it eg. reuse something you have in the fridge from the day before; using an ingredient that needs eating before it goes off. 

Batch cook to avoid food waste

Food waste is a massive problem in western societies. In the UK alone, households waste around 10 billion meals a year, the equivalent of 20 million tonnes of Green House Gas emissions. There are simple things that each of us can do to reduce these sad numbers. Batch cooking is one of them.

I must confess that I love batch cooking. I started when my daughters were babies, and I would make a variety of homemade purees on a Sunday, and freeze them for the whole week. I found it very creative and relaxing, and one of those rare activities that would help me connect with my inner self, overcoming sleep deprivation and general tiredness. Fast-forward 16 years later, batch cooking is still one of my very favourite activities. 

To be able to successfully batch cooking you will only need a big enough pan to cook, and individual or family portion size freezer-friendly containers or bags. Make sure you wait for the food to cool down before you put it in the freezer, as otherwise surrounding food might thaw. It’s wise also to label the content and date of each portion. It’s amazing how similar all home frozen food looks!

How to scale up recipes

Most recipes have been designed to make four portions. This might not be enough when you want to batch cook, as you would normally want to make a few extra portions to freeze. The way around this is quite simple. You can apply a formula to work out what quantities you would need to cook, based on the yields you’d like to achieve. 

The first thing you need to work out is the conversion factor for that recipe. This is found by dividing the number of servings you want by the number of servings in the recipe. Then you multiply all the ingredients by that number, and voilá, you have scaled up your recipe. 

Choose a mindful meal routine

I would normally have most of my food intake by 2 pm. Often I don’t have proper dinners, which makes lunch my main meal. To me that makes a lot of sense because it means that I have food when I’m most active; and by the time I go to bed my body has been winding down for a few hours, which helps my sleep.

Your meal routine will vary depending on your body as well as mental and physical activity. It would also change throughout your life as our bodies tend to react differently to food as we get older. It’s important that you listen to your body and that you choose the routine that better adjusts to your needs at that particular phase in your life. 

Create your own eating ritual

The last thing we want to do is to gulp down our nicely cooked meals watching the telly or, even worse, in front of the computer. Multitasking is one of the main obstacles in our way to mindful eating. The most effective way to guarantee that we eat mindfully is by creating our own eating ritual. 

A mindful eating ritual would help us fully enjoy our meal, as well as eat less and have better digestion. This is an example of what an eating ritual may look like:

🥕 Reserve some time to eat. Ideally not less than half an hour

🥕 Sit down at a table to eat

🥕 Drink a glass of water before every meal as well as throughout the meal

🥕 Show gratitude for the food you are about to have

🥕 Avoid eating too fast by chewing every bite thoroughly 

🥕 Stop eating when you still aren’t too full

🥕 Have some herbal tea after you have finished

🥕 Meditate for a few minutes at the end of your meal

Mindful eating challenge

Having just one mindful meal a week could make a huge difference to your physical and mental health, as well as the planet. However, if you want to fully immerse in the mindful eating experience, a monthly challenge would be a perfect way to try out your new routine and enjoy the benefits of it. 

You would normally need more than 21 days for your body to change and assimilate a new habit so try to be patient! Challenges can be done either individually or in a group, and you don’t need to wait until January to start your challenge! Right now, it’s the perfect time to do it. Why not try a mindful eating challenge? 

To share your #mindfuleatingchallenge pictures or for tips and recipes on how to eat mindfully follow us on @ourladyofgreens.