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Mindful Cooking And Eating

5/11/2021

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I'm a fast eater. Most of the time I don't even realize that I'm eating fast until someone points it out or I notice that others are taking more time. It's as though I'm afraid that it'll go somewhere if I don't eat it fast. Maybe it comes from being from a big family. There was never a shortage of food, but if I wanted seconds or thirds of my favorite dish I had better eat quick or there might not be any left. 

After a while it kind of became my thing...I'm a fast eater. I also tend to eat a lot and eat anything, so I became the girl that eats a lot of anything fast...it became one of my stories. I love food, but didn't take the time to really pay attention to it or savor it.

I also cook fast, and until recently I considered cooking to be a chore. Cooking was a means to an end. I want to give myself and my family good home cooked meals, but I really didn't enjoy the process. It takes time to shop, prepare and clean up the mess and I viewed it at a chore. I didn't appreciate the act of cooking.

A few years ago, I started to realize the importance of not taking for granted the act of creating my food and the act of eating my food. I learned that our food is impacted by our intentions. This changed how I view food, the process of preparing it and the act of eating it. 

When we eat, we are taking nature into our bodies. We are changed by what we eat, and in turn, we change what we are eating. Food creates a series of relationships, it links us to other individuals, to nature, to animals.

My rice experiment post demonstrates the power of our intentions. Now I work to be mindful when I prepare food, to intentionally infuse it with love and gratitude. Cooking is an expression of love and an act of giving, it's a profoundly sacred act. By blessing the food and infusing it with love and gratitude, I can positively impact my food. Even when I'm not making the healthiest choice, the food can be positively impacted by my intentions. 

There is power in eating. Michael Pollan has written several books about conscious eating. He states that eating is power, that every time we eat we have an opportunity to vote, to express our values. Do I choose pesticides or not? Do I choose local or not? Do I eat animals or not? He suggests that we be conscious about the choices we make and what we eat, because our choices are powerful, it expresses our vote. 

Michael Pollan's books talk about how many of our current problems are do to the collapse of home cooking. He states that on average we spend 27 minutes per day prepping food and 4 minutes per day cleaning up. Anyone who has ever prepared even a simple meal knows that it takes a lot longer than that to prep and clean up, suggesting that most of the food is highly processed and purchased already prepared. He also notes that 46% of meals in America are eaten alone. 

Corporations are cooking our food and the industry doesn't cook very well. They are not necessarily interested in our satisfaction with the food or our health and well being, they are interested in our cravings for fat, sugar and salt. They engineer the food so that we crave it. 

Michael Pollan offers up the following advice on food:

-Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.
-Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
-Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
-Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.

I am working to be more mindful about honoring the food that I am making and eating. Taking time to think about where the food is coming from and to be grateful for it and for the effort of those that produced it for me. Infusing it with love and gratitude.
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