Health Tip Of The Week - Experience Your Meals

We live in such a busy and rushed world, that many times we miss out on enjoying our experiences.  Between the demands on our time, technology, and social media, we miss out.  We tend to rush through the pleasures of life, instead of taking the time to be in that moment and appreciate it.  One of those pleasure is sitting down to a meal.  It seems simple enough, but it actually happens less now than ever before.  Instead of sitting down to breakfast, we eat it on our drive to work.  For lunch, we eat at our desks in the middle of multi-tasking.  For dinner, we run our families to the drive through, and eat our dinner while on our way from here to there.  We no longer taste and experience our meals.  We rush through them, eating as fast as we can between chores, which often leads to overeating.  We are consuming all that is in front of us, without thinking about if we are full or not.  We see it as a chore so when the food is all gone, we are done.

Stop, sit down at the table, present your food in an attractive manner (not in food wraps with plastic silverware), and experience your meals.  Take the time to enjoy the presentation, smell, taste, and texture.  It's an experience for our senses.  Eat slow, taking the time to really taste what you are eating, and to stop when you are comfortably full, not stuffed!  Taking the time to enjoy your meals means you will consume less, enjoy your food, and have a little break in your day.  It is also a time to connect and communicate with your family, which in many homes happens less than it should.

I am a stay at home mom.  During the school year, I eat breakfast and lunch at home alone, but I still sit down at my kitchen table for every meal.  I look forward to the break in my day to enjoy my meal.  For dinner, we all typically sit down together.  I am ALWAYS the last to finish, which most of the time leaves me eating half of my meal alone, but I refuse to be rushed.  I will take my time, not over eat, and enjoy my meal.  It keeps me from feeling deprived and is a relaxing activity that I look forward to.  So, ignore your phone, computer, and tv, and enjoy the moments of your day!!