Michael Pollan Counts Down His Favorite New Food Rules

Michael Pollan is an interesting & informative writer, whose works feel more like one side of a conversation, rather than a one-sided discourse. This is a short section of Food Rules (confession: I have not yet read it, but WILL) & brings a new dimension to the concept of mindful eating. *****I especially like Rule #4 *****

Here’s more, which includes a slideshow of delightful illustrations.

Peace through food??

Why, yes, indeed.

The PeaceMeal Project explores the intersections & connections between sustainability, eating mindfully, how food is grown & distributed, creating a more peaceful planet.  Visit PeaceMeal Project for info re their online course Cultivating Peace Through Food. It started last week, & I am a week behind, but no doubt they will convene it again. For it’s a fascinating idea, don’t you think……. world peace through our relationship with food?

Growing food, eating, & other food issues cross all boundaries & barriers

Eating: the goal? or, the process?

Finally, it has dawned upon me: When we sit down to eat, the end goal is a big factor in the degree of mindfulness (or, mindLESSness) we will bring to it. By end goal I mean: Eating to satiate hunger OR Eating to “clean your plate!” One, when undertaken mindfully, will have us eating just enough, not wasting, & being aware of our place in the whole chain of events that brought our food to us. The other precludes entirely any notion of mindful eating. Indeed, eating til the food is gone necessarily means shutting off our ability to be aware of a moment, & closing down our ability to pay attention to our physical & psychological needs.

Following that childhood injunction to “clean your plate” is a goal-oriented approach, where the end is what matters, not the intervening moments. Eating mindfully, on the other hand, is process oriented, where the ‘journey’ matters most, the attending to the totality of the experience. Very often, as in many other areas of our lives, we have no idea this choice is being made. I certainly did not, & was virtually unconscious when it came to food & eating choices.

For someone like me, whose eating has often had nothing to do with actual physical need, the goal-oriented, eat-everything-you-see approach is very damaging. It creates excess weight, psychological blockages & the opportunities for self-loathing, which would color everything that came after, for days at a time. Here’s the curious thing: I am usually more process-oriented in other aspects of my life, feeling that the way of things is more important than the point of things. For example, I always felt that I had to choose between attending to the greater, immediate needs of my kid or achieving educational & professional goals. Caring trumped ambition, by a very long shot. I believe that being kind is more important than always getting what you want.

But when it comes to food, eating, meals, this hasn’t been true. Though I have mostly eaten healthy food, eating in & of itself was more often about quelling deep, unmet psychological hungers, or numbing myself in the face of anxiety, boredom, fear, rage. There was just no room for attending to the journey — I had to get there! get there!! …. that is, eat everything in front of me. And find more, & then eat that too.

At least I see it now, this underlying, unconscious choosing. So the question then becomes: How will I choose from now on???????

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Mealtime, for the mindful #3: The Five Contemplations

The Five Contemplations

Here are two versions of Buddhist/Zen mealtime gathas.

First, seventy-two labors brought us this food;

We should know how it comes to us.

Second, as we receive this offering,

We should consider whether our virtue & practice deserve it.

Third, as we desire the natural order of mind to be free from clinging,

We must be free from greed.

Fourth, to support our life we take this food.

Fifth, to attain our way we take this food.

First, this food is for the Three Treasures.

Second, it is for our teachers, parents, nation, & all sentient beings.

Third, it is for all beings of the six worlds.

Thus, we eat this food with everyone.

We eat to stop all evil, to practice good, to free all sentient beings, & to accomplish our Buddha Way.

And, an adaptation of The Five Contemplations, by the Soto Zen Text Project:

We reflect on the effort that brought us this food & consider how it comes to us.

We reflect on our virtue & practice, & whether we are worthy of this offering.

We regard greed as the obstacle to freedom of mind.

We regard this meal as medicine to sustain our life.

For the sake of enlightenment we now receive this food.

(http://www.buddhistglobalrelief.org/documents/5_Meal_Contemplations_Gathas.pdf)

Mealtime, for the mindful #2: The Yagna Mantra

The Yagna Mantra

Many devotees of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, or Amma, say this Hindu prayer before eating. We chant it in Sanskrit, but I present it here in English. This mantra speaks to the inherent oneness of things: The food, the eating, the offering of it, That To Which It Is Offered — all are One. Something like that:)

Brahman is the giving, Brahman the food offering;

by Brahman it is offered into the Brahman fire,

Brahman is that which is to be attained

by complete absorption (samadhi) in Brahman action.

(Bhagavad-gita, 4.24)

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Mealtime, for the mindful, #1

In my journey toward more mindful eating, & all the adventures therein, I am finding that making an aspiration before eating is helping me keep a “bigger picture” outlook. Eating, meals, food — this aspect of life reaches far beyond mere survival & just feeding the body. The worldwide & time-wide plethora of traditions surrounding food, involving eating together, using food as a spiritual offering testifies to that. Personally, making an aspiration before a meal helps me avoid overeating, & allows me to make it a part of my overall mindfulness practice.

I am launching an effort now to ‘collect’ mealtime prayers, aspirations, blessings — I would lovelovelove for y’all to submit those that have great meaning for you; even those you may have been taught as a child, but no longer use.  I want to find these from all faith traditions, philosophies & secular practices, so please post them in the comments, or direct me to where I can find them. Please include any thoughts, feelings, etc that you have for them.

As I write this, I am initiating a project: I shall make a book out of this!!

Mindfulness is not the sole province of Buddhism, of course, but the Buddhists DO know a fair bit about it, haha. Here are a couple of Shin Buddhist mealtime prayers, from this website: http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/buddhistprayer/id4.html. Also on this site, there is a very nice exposition of the place prayer has in Buddhism, how it aids in reconditioning our inner being.

Buddhist Mealtime Prayer

This food is the gift of the whole universe

Each morsel is a sacrifice of life

May I be worthy to receive it.

May the energy in this food

Give me the strength

To transform my unwholesome qualities.

I am grateful for this food,

May I realize the Path of Awakening,

For the sake of all beings.

Namo Amida Buddha.

Shin Mealtime Prayer (in Japanese & English)

Before meals recite:

Ita Da Ki Masu

I take this nourishment in gratitude (to all beings).

After meals recite:

Go Chi So Sama

Thank you in deepest gratitude (to sustain my life).

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