_{The Pleasures of Eating}

Hello Beautiful,

It is now November in the Northern Hemisphere. Mornings are getting much cooler here in Chicago. I’ve finally moved my hibiscus tree and mighty fern plant inside, into my living room. Not sure if there will be much room for visiting guests over the holidays, as my plants are now taking up the space of a sectional couch.

The southwestern sunlight exposure is great, but the colder air temps on the first floor of my townhouse over the winter months may not be conducive for some of these green beauties. I’m going to do some research on plant grow lights.

What are some of your transition rituals for the changing seasons? 

I already mentioned my bedroom decluttering project in October and part of that included taking the cooler weather clothes out from the cedar chest and replacing them with the summer clothes.

My mom gave me that cedar chest when I was twelve, so it helps me connect to her when I reach in and smell the cedar aroma that still exists fifty (50?!) years later. Smells do that don’t they? They take you back to times in your past (good and bad).

The unique connection between our sense of smell and memory stems from the way our brains process olfactory (smell) information. Unlike other senses, smell signals bypass the thalamus (our brain’s relay center) and directly connect to our limbic system. This direct connection allows smells to evoke strong emotional responses and vivid memories.

The cool thing about our human design is that our sense of smell was essential for survival. It helped us identify food sources, potential dangers (e.g., bad food), and even potential mates. This connection between smell and survival is hardwired into our brains.

In this week's newsletter, we'll delve into the pleasures of eating and how using all of our senses can enhance our well-being. Let's keep exploring the pleasure of living in our human bodies and the simple joy of feeling good, without the guilt.

Feature Article

 Using Food to Help You Wake Up Your Senses

So, we discussed how smell can trigger past memories (good or bad) and why it was important as a human design feature for survival. But let’s move past the paradigm of survival and explore how sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch can enhance your daily pleasure, especially using food.

We need to eat food everyday to survive and thrive, so food can be a wonderful way to help you connect to your body and practice some mindful eating. Being mindful when eating means being 100% present (opposite of distracted), being non-judgemental, and using your five senses.

The Raisin Exercise: Mindful Eating Meditation

Have you heard of the raisin exercise? I mentioned it in a recent podcast episode with Graeme Waterfield when he was talking about being present to sensations in his body regarding sexual energy.

I had not thought about the raisin exercise for mindfulness in quite a while, but hearing him talk about being present with his sensations brought the experience into my memory as an analogy to what he was saying about being present in his body.

I think it is a great introduction or reminder about how much we can activate our five senses while eating. By activating our senses, we experience more pleasure that would normally be hidden from us when we are just gobbling down food or eating in a distracted fashion, like when watching TV or using other electronic devices.

Here is a great 6-minute video taking you through the exercise. There are other raisin mindfulness tutorials on YouTube, but I like the words and the images on this one. I like how Julia Delaney says to pretend that you have never seen or touched a raisin before (this is called “beginner’s mind).

After you watch the video, she invites you to try it again, without the video, and pretend once more that this raisin is the first one you have ever experienced.

This is the same advice for any mindfulness exercise or for increasing your sense of joy and wonder. When we approach any situation with the attitude that we have seen this/done this and have little new to learn, it stunts our ability to improve our experience or skill.

Intuitive Eating

If you haven’t heard about the concept of intuitive eating, it is both a concept and a book released in 1995 by two registered dietitians (now on it’s fourth edition) to help their clients feel more empowered about eating and food choices. Rather than focusing on a diet, they emphasize cultivating an attunement to our bodies.

What does the word “attunement” mean? Typically the definition means becoming aware of and responsive to another person’s needs and emotions. One of my favorite descriptions of attunement between two people is where a mother and child’s heart rate (and breathing rate) attune to the same beats per minute (typically a lower rate) when the mother cuddles the child.

Attunement with a partner happens when you hold hands, hold a touch with your palm on their body, hug or cuddle. I can’t find the exact number of minutes this takes, but practice this yourself and see how many minutes it takes you to feel more relaxed.

Authors Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN of the book Intuitive Eating, support the same skill of attunement that embodiment therapists, mindfulness and tantric practitioners use to direct your focus back to your OWN physical sensations in your body = Self Attunement.

Self attunement is a rare skill. Most of us live up in our heads, not in our bodies. When our minds are thinking about what is right or wrong (rules), thinking about the past (ruminating), creating scenarios about a future that hasn’t happened yet (anticipatory anxiety), or talking to ourselves in a disapproving way (inner critic), we disrupt our ability to attune to ourselves.

Coming back to the present moment and how your body feels and what it wants can be practiced dozens of times per day. Each time you practice this coming back to your senses is a win, not a failure.

The process of Intuitive Eating is also a practice. The authors created ten principles, which you can check out yourself, by clicking the link below to their website. Let’s highlight Principle #4 (taken from the website):

Principle 4: Discover the Satisfaction Factor

The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of their goals of healthy living. In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence—the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that you’ll eat the right amount of food to feel physically and emotionally satisfied.

Food, like sex can have a lot of associations to guilt and shame. We are unconsciously conditioned by culture, family, etc. about what is “good” and what is “bad”. But, we are adults now and it is time to question whether a message you received decades ago is helpful for your well-being today.

I invite you to practice slowing down and enjoying/savoring your next few meals. Check in with your body and your five senses. Does the food look pleasing to the eyes? How does it smell? Close your eyes while chewing and focus on the sensations and tastes inside your mouth.

Eating can be a pleasureable experience for yourself and to share with loved ones.

Now it’s your turn

What is your take away from this issue?

How present are you when you eat? What is one thing you could change to become more mindful with eating?

Are there any foods that you have stopped enjoying because you feel guilty or ashamed when eating it?

Relevent Podcast Episode:

• S4Ep8: Sexual Energy Mastery for Men with Graeme Waterfield

See you again next Friday!

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