By Leo Babauta, Zen Habits
“There is a meditation exercise in which you place a
raisin in your mouth. You do not eat the raisin. You meditate and allow
it to sit in your mouth unmolested. The raisin plumps up and becomes a
juicy fruitness in your mouth, tempting you to bite it. This is a
powerful example of how eating is different when you are truly aware of
each morsel.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
When my family and I visited Tokyo earlier this year, it was a bit sad to see the rise of fast food in Japan.
It’s a beautiful country with a rich history of a traditional
lifestyle, incredible food, and good health. They’ve perfected the art
of food preparation, using the freshest ingredients to create small
portions of beautiful dishes.
And while there still aren’t many fat Japanese people, especially
compared to the U.S., I’d bet that will change with the insidious
growth of fast food restaurants on many a street corner. McDonald’s is
prevalent, of course, but so are many other Western food chains and an
increasing number of Japanese fast food outlets.
It’s been awhile since I’ve written about the Slow Food
movement, but I really believe it’s the answer to many of our problems:
health and obesity, the hectic and stressful pace of modern life, and
the lack of happiness in a complex and often burdensome world.
This is the Anti-Fast Food Diet — a way to not only lose weight and
get healthier, but to change your life to one of simplicity,
moderation, and joy.
Abandon fast food, and all the values it brings: mass consumption,
mass production, the exploitation of workers, the destruction of the
environment, the destruction of small local businesses, the
corporatization of our culture.
Instead, embrace Slow Food. Here’s how.
- Stop rushing to eat. Set aside more time for
eating, for shopping and preparation, for enjoying life. Stop rushing
to fast food places because it’s convenient — because it’s not so
convenient to be hospitalized. Instead, make time, and take things a
bit slower.
- Eat real food, not processed. Buy fresh
ingredients such as fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, beans, and the
like. Use ingredients you can recognize, not things filled with
chemicals. Don’t use prepared food if you can avoid it — microwaveable
or boxed foods are not the best. Avoid processed food at all costs.
- Eat slowly and mindfully. Too many people stuff
food down their gullets these days. It’s not healthy, and you’ve just
consumed food without enjoying it. Instead, take the time to chew your
food, to taste it, to be present as you eat.
- Enjoy the food. Fully savor each bite. Appreciate the miracle of the food you’re eating, and be grateful you have that bite at all.
- Take time to breathe, and smile. Before you begin
to eat, smile, and take a deep breath, reminding yourself to be present
and enjoy the food. Between bites, instead of rushing to the next bite,
breath, relax, enjoy. Savor the moment.
- When drinking tea, just drink tea. When eating,
just eat. Be fully present. Don’t read a book or surf the net or drive
or work or anything else but eat and drink.
- Good conversation. OK, the exception to the above
rule: eating with friends and family. Fast food has destroyed the good
meal and conversation, because we’re rushing as we eat and don’t have
time for a good talk. Bring it back.
- When you do eat at a restaurant, make it a good one.
Avoid the fast food places, but also the chain restaurants (Chilis, TGI
Fridays, Lone Star, Olive Garden, etc). Go to locally owned restaurants
where they use real ingredients and really make good food. These may be
more expensive, but you’re not supporting a corporation and your food
will be better, and even if it means eating out less that’s OK —
quality is more important than quantity.
“There are some people who eat an orange but don’t really eat it. They eat their sorrow, fear, anger, past, and future.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
“When you eat with awareness, you find that there is
more space, more beauty. You begin to watch yourself, to see yourself,
and you notice how clumsy you are or how accurate you are. … So when
you make an effort to eat mindfully…, you find that life is worth much
more than you had expected.” - Chogyam Trungpa
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