This is the final post in the Mindful Eating series. To view previous posts, please visit:

(1) Learning to Eat Mindfully
(2) Thinking about Food
(3) Choosing the Foods We Eat
(4) Cooking with Awareness
(5) Serving Food Thoughtfully
(6) Preparing to Eat
(7) Experiencing the Meal
(8) Cleaning with Intention

Eating mindfully is one of the most exquisitely simple things we humans can do. Allowing the swirling world inside your head to fall away – your planning, your fears, your regrets – is liberating like nothing else is. Being there with the meal and truly experiencing it can change your relationship with the food you eat, not just in the moment, but every day.

If we are to live simply and mindfully, there is one thing we must do above all others, and that is to be true to ourselves, to the things we believe and hold dear. Making decisions this way is not always easy, but it is always simple. Many people know what foods will best nourish their bodies, what foods help them feel energetic and clear minded, but they do not eat them. Instead, they choose not to think at all about how a food will affect them. The food is barely noticed – not as it is chosen, cooked or eaten. They do not recognize that this food will become an elemental part of them, providing fuel for their bodies and comprising every cell.

Eating can be a way of honoring not only our bodies and our minds, but our most deeply held beliefs, other humans, the animals who share this world with us, and the Earth, itself. Meals eaten in awareness are fulfilling like little else is. Of course, the consequences of our eating without understanding and mindfulness – on our bodies, on other sentient beings and on the planet – are also extensive and profound.

If you are still consuming animal products such as meat, milk, cheese and eggs, it is time to look deeply into your decision. If you were born into a culture that routinely “farms” animals for human consumption, you may not have given this decision much consideration. In fact, you may not have realized you were making a choice, at all. When animal products appear in the refrigerated section of the grocery store wrapped in styrofoam and cellophane, weighed and priced, when you do not see the carcass of the cow or pig, when you, in fact, have never spent time with either species, it is easy to forget that suffering was involved – but it was. All sentient beings suffer. It is no different for a chicken or calf. It is no different for the family that experiences hunger every day because they do not have enough food to eat. Raising animals for human consumption uses an extravagant and unreasonable amount of natural resources such as grain that could feed the world’s hungry.  Farming animals also appropriates tremendous amounts of water, burns more fossil fuels than all the world’s cars, trucks, ships and planes, combined, and pollutes our soil, waterways and air with over 130 times more excrement than is produced by humans.

We must look deeply into our food, not only as we are eating it, but before we have even prepared it. We must see how consumption is a thread that connects us to other all other beings.  We must see the tired farmer who planted this tomato. We must see the rain, the sunshine, the microbes in the soil. We must see the insects and small animals who fed on the leaves.  We must see the work of many hands – the mother who harvested tomatoes in the heat of the day, the man who drove the truck a thousand miles to bring them to your town, the low-paid produce girl who placed this tomato on the shelf.

“When eating fruit, remember who planted the tree; when drinking water, remember who dug the well.”
~Vietnamese Proverb

In fact, we can look deeply into this plump, heavy tomato and see all the way back to the beginning of the cosmos. Everything is interconnected. We can recognize that all that has ever happened in the universe was necessary in order to support the existence of this tomato.

When we slice the tomato and place it into the pan, we do so with our full awareness. When we choose how much tomato to put onto our plate, we do it mindfully, remembering that there are those people who do not have enough food to eat. When we smile at those around us before eating, we remember the people who are lonely and do not have anyone to share food with.

When we place the tomato into our mouth, we experience the taste and texture entirely. We chew the tomato slowly, but we chew only the tomato – not our projects and plans, not our anxieties, not our memories. We savor the tomato, the experience of the meal, itself, the friends who are gathered around us, and we do not allow our usual forgetfulness to overtake us.

And, when we have finished, we restore the kitchen and dining room with the knowledge that it will soon be time to mindfully prepare food again.

Preparing and eating food connects all living beings. We each need nourishing, healthy foods in order to thrive, and we want to know that those we love, our family and friends, are able to eat these foods, too. Sharing food is one of the most crucial and tender ways humans care for each another all across the planet.  

Eating mindfully is an art. It takes daily practice in order to do it skillfully and easily, but it is something all of us are able to do, if we choose to… and the more we choose to, the more unremarkable and routine it will become. Of course, you will forget, sometimes, and that is okay. It is very difficult to maintain a state of mindful awareness at all times, even for those who dedicate their lives to living this way. There is no one judging you. When you find your mind wandering, simply notice and bring yourself back into the present moment. That’s all.

Above everything, enjoy eating. Allowing yourself to experience the meal fully, from thinking about food to cleaning up after you’ve eaten, is one of the most precious gifts you can give yourself. It will change how you see, not only the food on your plate and in your mouth, but the world around you and inside you. Open your eyes to the countless, everyday miracles that surround you and support your existence.

Then, make some tea.