Eat the best first

LOVE YOUR FOOD

When you eat single-mindedly, without any distractions, you will feel better and stay healthier, write Bharat & Shalan Savur

It’s time the East gifted the world with the healing practice of meditative eating — a beautiful experience that goes beyond mere fine dining. I practised it and recommend it to all. It’s a lot to do with attitude.

In keeping with our eastern humility, I underpinned eating with gratitude. I was grateful that the meal was cooked with so much love and care. Grateful, too, to have food and a companion to share it with. You don’t need words.

You express your gratitude by being fully present at the table. When you eat with full attention, you are saying a silent ‘Thank you’ that you can eat, can taste the food.

Since in keeping with its spirit, I’d stopped snacking between meals, I ate with healthy hunger instead of a dutiful appetite. I took delight in the tastes and textures. When I caught myself eating too fast, I paused, took note and resumed slow chewing — this is how you practise being aware.

You don’t swallow too quickly, for then, you don’t taste the food; nor chew so slowly that you lose the taste. Take just the right time-span.

I inhaled aromas, revelled in colours and broke my old habit of keeping my favourite for the last. Instead, I ate the best first and savoured it because my tongue was fresh, not saturated with other tastes.

Further, when there’s no TV, stereo, conversation to distract, you eat with high awareness and eat less because you are fully present to instantly catch the body’s signals of satisfaction. This way, you either lose or maintain your weight. 

I believe we should not be obsessed about what we eat and drink. Too much information overloads our brain, dulls us with guilt and suffocates awareness. The truth is, the more meditative we are, the more aware we are of what our body needs.

It is also vital to be open, to tolerate and understand the world with a deep knowingness. For, when you take in the breathtaking beauty of the world, the body too breathes in the nourishment. Come, dear all, let us eat meditatively; let us live with grace from our exotic eastern depths.