By Lisa M. Belisle, MD, MPH
Originally published November 2, 2006, Community Leader

Humans and their food: a complicated subject. We eat for sustenance. We eat for comfort. We eat as a means to share with others. Because there are so many reasons to eat (and in this country, so much food to consume), we often have difficulty regulating our intake. This, of course, has lead to an epidemic of obesity and related diseases in the United States. Fortunately, we do have power over this problem. We can seek to eat mindfully, and well. As we prepare to give thanks for our bounty this November, let us decide to begin a more joyful and rewarding relationship with our food.

I counsel many patients about their eating habits. These are predominantly individuals with high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. The funny thing is that most of them don’t need advice about what foods to chose. Perhaps my patients are smarter than most (I’d like to think so anyway, given that they’ve had to good taste—so to speak—to chose me as a doctor), but most of them know what to eat. They also know what not to eat. They even, sometimes, know how much to eat. The problem is that there is a disconnection between their knowledge and how they put it into practice. Their lives are busy, and to eat correctly often requires more effort than they feel they have. Eating well drops to the bottom of their list of priorities, just above getting a root canal and having their toenails removed with pliers.

Eating correctly cannot be at the bottom of our list. It is crucial to our body’s ability to function, both in the short and long term. We need to do it right. How? By being mindful of what we are placing in our mouths. We should aim for ingesting the best possible food. If it tastes good, we treasure it more. If it is more expensive, (because it is of a higher quality), we will take in less of it. When our food is special, we look forward to eating it.

We should look forward to eating our food. It gives us life, and is a source of pleasure for our senses. We should take the time to be with our food—ideally in the company of family or others we care for—and savor every bite. We can do this even if we are alone. We can reduce our distractions and focus on the food. We can turn off the TV. We can chew every bite slowly. Then we can stop just before we are full.

Eating mindfully does require some foresight. First we must look at our nutritional requirements, then at the demands of our lives. Finally, we must find a way to integrate the two. We should set aside time each week to realistically orchestrate the meals that are to be eaten in the household, and out. If need be, we can cook some of them ahead of time, or use a crock pot. By making slightly bigger quantities, we can set aside leftovers for lunches or snacks. While planning may seem onerous at first, it easily becomes routine with time. It is also a small price to pay for having delicious, healthy food in our daily lives.

The fact that we can have delicious, healthy food in our daily lives is something we often take for granted. This is a mistake. We are living in a nation of relative abundance. For this we should be grateful. We should be offering thanks for every morsel that graces our palates. In our busy existence, this gratitude may fall by the wayside. November gives us a way to remedy this. As we gather with our loved ones this Thanksgiving, we should take the time to show our appreciation for the meal we are sharing.

By appreciating our food, which we’ve chosen wisely and taken the time to savor, we will be appropriately honoring its significance. We will be putting it back at the top of our life lists. Most importantly, we will be entering into a relationship that will nourish and sustain us for many years to come.