During all these years of cooking healthy meals for myself and others, I realized last week that I don’t put as much thought into how the food is eaten compared to how the food is prepared. I was reminded of this idea when looking through old photos of my year abroad to a little town called Nantes, France during my junior year in college. The whole year was filled with adventures to amazing countries that were so cool to experience, even if for just a day or two. And although each city had its unique qualities, one thing stayed the same.
Be it:
Tunisia
Germany
Switzerland
England
Spain
or Holland, everywhere we went, people took the time out to eat mindfully. It was such a fascinating idea for an American college student who was used to cramming in salads while poring over a textbook, studying for a major exam. I was all for savoring my food, but multitasking while doing so was definitely a necessity.

It was such fun sitting down with other students in different countries to enjoy a meal that would last for 3 hours. Truly savoring every bite while taking in the presentation of the food and the company that surrounded me helped satisfy my appetite with less food, because the experience was truly appealing to all of my senses. I suspect that this may be the reason many people in these countries maintain a healthy weight their entire lives: they aren’t trying to satisfy every need with only one thing: food.

I am no psychological expert, but I am an expert on myself. I find that I tend to eat higher volumes of not-so-healthy food more mindlessly when there are other needs that must be addressed. These needs rarely have anything to do with food, and everything to do with issues that should be brought to light in order to continue life with a sunny and healthy outlook.

Next time you have a meal, really think about what it is you’re feeding. If it’s more than just your stomach and your body, maybe it’s time to take a little emotional inventory. This quiet and light supper helped appease many different needs:

Your Healthiest Life: This may seem like a silly experiment, but I found that my little meal helped to reawaken the need to consider myself more intently when creating meals and eating them. Make the time to do it – I had to forego a trip to the park with the kids, my husband, and the dog to create this lovely little parenthesis for myself in the middle of the day. The food tasted so much better when I did nothing but chew and enjoy the flavor – no texting, no watching movies, no surfing the internet. Make the time to experiment with a little meal once in a while, and try to do it more often as the days progress. I think you’ll be surprised at the outcome.

QUESTION: How do you savor a good meal?