Mindful eating brings happiness and satisfaction
Have you ever eaten a snack and only realized that you finished it when you wanted to take another bite, but that bite was not there? The alternative to this is called mindful eating.
What is mindful eating?
Dr. Sheri Nsamenang
“Mindful eating is an approach to enjoying food nonjudgmentally and also intentionally paying attention to the eating experience by using the senses – sight, touch, sound, smell, and taste,” says Dr. Sheri Nsamenang, clinical and health psychologist at the McMaster Children’s Hospital Children’s Exercise and Nutrition Centre (CENC).
The recipe below is perfect for mindful eating. Fruit skewers, developed by Meant2Prevent, a youth type 2 diabetes prevention initiative, provide children and adults alike the opportunity to appreciate where the fruit came from.
“The benefits of mindful eating are that it supports a healthy relationship with food and increases awareness of our eating experiences, which then can support a recognition of satiety cues. This increases an appreciation of the role food plays in our lives. With all foods, we can slow down to notice it, notice how our senses react to it, and also contemplate the process it took for us to be able to enjoy it,” says Nsamenang.
A connection to Earth
These fruit skewers include common fruits, making these a breeze to assemble. When you and your family make the skewers, Nsamenang encourages you to think of this quote:
“This food reveals our connection with Earth. Each bite contains the life of the sun and the earth… We can see and taste the whole universe in a piece of bread! Contemplating our food for a few seconds before eating, and eating in mindfulness, can bring us much happiness.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, poet and peace activist.
These skewers would be great to make together with family or friends over the upcoming long weekend, the unofficial start to summer, when many Canadians spend more time enjoying the outdoors.
Fruit Skewers (makes 10)
Ingredients
- ⅛ cup chocolate chips
- 1 large banana
- 5 strawberries
- 10 grapes
- 10 blackberries (or other berry)
- ¾ cup Greek Yogurt
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Melt chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler. If using a microwave, microwave for 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute. When it starts melting, microwave for 30 seconds each time to avoid burning the chocolate.
- Wash, slice and skewer fruit. Layer 1 piece of each type of fruit on each skewer. Repeat until all of the fruit is used up.
- Prepare dip by combining yogurt and maple syrup in a bowl.
- Drizzle chocolate over completed skewers. Enjoy with yogurt dip.
