We all eat food. Eating food all across the world is considered as the most crucial part of the day. In few cultures eating food is actually worship.
Eating is a natural response to the need of our body i.e. to satisfy our hunger. We eat so that our body and mind gets nourished. We feed our body good food so that we can live well and think good.
But however due to our fast paced lifestyle, our work deadlines and abundance of food around us eating food is becoming mindless, fast and sometimes narrowing down to calorie counting.
No! this is not what we are supposed to be doing when it comes to eating. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine once said “Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”
Such a profound statement with such deep meaning, isn’t it? But how do we make our food our medicine.
I believe the key to it is “MINDFUL EATING”. Mindful eating is nothing but our ancestral method followed by our grandparents and the earlier generations. It is eating with an intention to nourish ourselves and eating with all our senses actively concentrating on what is in our plate. Experiencing what is in your plate, indulging in the aroma without judging.
It is to think what you are eating, how much you are eating and why you are eating. Mindfulness in eating goes a long way in making you food conscious and also helps you to stop your unwanted cravings.
A few tips that can help you practise and master this art are –
• Create the correct atmosphere for eating. Sit down, relax, make a silent prayer thanking god for the blessing of food.
• Eat together, this is our ancient practise. Revive it. Remember the good old saying “A family that eats together, lives together”.
• Keep all distractions away. Make your eating time a no laptop, no TV ,no mobile phone time. Talk with each other.
• Lay your food in a plate. Taking one thing at a time, little by little. Enjoy the flavour, indulge in the aroma. Look at the food, this has two benefits one that it stimulates your senses and as a result your mouth, stomach start producing the needed juices for digestion. These juices help keep problems of indigestion and acidity at bay and secondly you get conscious of how much you are eating.
• Chewing the food well. A study shows that a person who chews the food well ends up eating adequate.
• Eat on time. Our body has a biological clock within. It needs it nourishment time to time. It helps set our internal hunger cycle on track and thus there are less cravings.
• Strike a balance with all the food groups include little of everything i.e carbohydrates, proteins, fruits and veggies.
• Keep your food simple and local. Cook what is seasonally available.
Would like to conclude with a famous quote “To eat is a necessity but to eat intelligently is an art”.

Dr.Shamaila Khan, a graduate from Mumbai. She is passionate about healthy eating habits and also holds a diploma in Diet and Nutrition.