Lessons from a tangerine: you are how you eat.(bastyr u: health research from grad students)

Editor's note: Better Nutrition, in collaboration with Bastyr University a world leader in the advancement of natural health sciences, has established a grant program to foster well-researched articles by graduate students. Each article is vetted by a Bastyr faculty member. The intent of the program is to provide readers with new and reliable information while encouraging future leaders in various health disciplines.

I see a desperate need in today's culture to reestablish our relationship with food. I see this need displayed in the epidemic rates of obesity in adults and youth, in the parade of fad diets that introduce fear into eating and perpetuate imbalance, in the prevalence of chronic illness with underlying poor nutrition and in our obsession with weight.

I believe there is a grand design that created us to be in balance. With respect to the process of eating, I see a great schism in this balance and a maladjusted relationship with food as nourishment. We are missing the celebration with which we come together as a community to eat, the celebration and enjoyment of working together and nourishing our bodies with thankfulness for the food we receive. I would like to share with you the idea of mindful eating as a tool to bring ourselves back to homeostasis. My hope is to spark interest in mindful eating so that research will be done to look at its efficacy as a treatment.

Before I became a naturopathic medical student at Bastyr University, I began my exploration into the world of meditation to heal myself and was introduced to the idea of mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen master, uses the term "mindfulness" to refer to keeping one's consciousness alive in the present reality. In his book, The Miracle of Meditation, he tells a story about a conversation of future plans with his friend Jim while they are eating a tangerine. Jim becomes so focused on talking about his plan that after popping one tangerine slice into his mouth, he has the next slice up to his lips. Thich Nhat Hanh says to him, "You ought to eat the tangerine section you've already taken." This Zen master's analysis of the situation was that if his friend was eating anything, he was eating his future plans, not really tasting the tangerine.

The progression of mindfulness in medicine and human health notably includes the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and fellow researchers at the Stress Reduction Clinic of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn is the founder of a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which is rooted in active contemplation of conscious awareness. This practice focuses on awareness of the breath in a setting of nonjudging, acceptance and patience with the practice, leading to a state of observational detachment and relaxation.

The Harvard Medical School has published a "Guide to Relieving Stress" that includes a section on mindful eating. It suggests that you sit down to eat, and inhale and exhale a few times to help you focus on the moment. Look at your food, take in the aroma, and chew slowly to savor texture, flavor and sensation. Think about how you ...