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Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food--includes CD
The art of mindfulness can transform our struggles with food—and renew our sense of pleasure, appreciation, and satisfaction with eating. Drawing on recent research and integrating her experiences as a physician and meditation teacher, Dr. Jan Bays offers a wonderfully clear presentation of what mindfulness is and how it can help with food issues.
Mindful eating is an appr...more
Mindful eating is an appr...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
February 3rd 2009
by Shambhala
(first published January 1st 2009)
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I feel like I should like this book more because the author is a local and loved Zen teacher. I think the method of mindful eating is well-presented and a useful tool, but enlightened though she may be, Chozen Bays reveals her lack of need to confront fat karma.
In his foreword to the book, Jon Kabat-Zinn refers to "our disordered relationship to food and eating." I thought, wow, that's just what I've been saying. I think we have a societal eating disorder, and it just seems to be getting worse....more
In his foreword to the book, Jon Kabat-Zinn refers to "our disordered relationship to food and eating." I thought, wow, that's just what I've been saying. I think we have a societal eating disorder, and it just seems to be getting worse....more
This book has a very good heart. I have no doubt that Bays' intention was to give us a guide to eating mindfully that would be very useful. In some ways she succeeded, but in others she was not nearly so successful.
I suppose it is useful to note that I consider myself overweight. I also think of myself as a devoted practitioner of mindfulness. I know that mindfulness can be helpful in finding my way to a healthier relationship to food. None of this is in doubt for me. Since I require no convinci...more
I suppose it is useful to note that I consider myself overweight. I also think of myself as a devoted practitioner of mindfulness. I know that mindfulness can be helpful in finding my way to a healthier relationship to food. None of this is in doubt for me. Since I require no convinci...more
This is one of those books that I checked out from the library and then liked so much I bought it (well, it's waiting for me at Barnes & Noble). In my life-long battle of the bulge, I've come to recognize myself as a mindless eater--one of my self-mocking mantras is "Why did I eat it? Because it was THERE." This book offered a Buddhism-centric viewpoint on all the different hungers we are feeding with our eating from time to time--eye hunger, nose hunger, mouth hunger, stomach hunger, cellul...more
Coming from a belief system that values mindfulness as the key to acceptance and change, I found the concept of mindful eating attractive. Instead of focusing on the qualities of healthy or non-healthy foods, the author encourages becoming in tune with what the body needs and wants. The problem is not the food per say but our relationship to it. The goal is become mindful so as to approach food with a thinking mind and a feeling heart
he book engages mindfulness by appreciating and valuing the se...more
he book engages mindfulness by appreciating and valuing the se...more
I've read other authors on this subject, and they make many of the same points and recommendations, but somehow Dr. Bays' style and choice of emphases work best for me. She is less "woo-woo" than some others who approach the topic; she is an MD and nicely blends the scientific with the psychological and spiritual. I read the book straight through before implementing any of the recommendations; I haven't yet listened to the accompanying CD. After a couple of days of making my best effort at mindf...more
I had so many aha-moments reading this book. Plus the exercises throughout and on the CD were very useful. Of the various books out there on mindful eating, I think this is the best one. It is helpful that the author has a medical background (pediatrician). I think this book would be useful to anyone, whether they are a parent concerned for their children, an individual who just wants to reconnect with healthy eating, or someone with an eating disorder. I recommend reading it in smaller chunks i...more
In my opinion the book gives interesting insights about how and why the eating habits have changed in the past century; it definetely makes one aware of unhealthy eating behaviours brought about by stress, emotional needs, unfocused actions to react on the outside, rather than acting from the inside out. Surely everyone knows already of how healthier our grandparents ate,how much more physical work they did. But the book brings everything into a more logic perspective and helps one to become awa...more
I read this book in conjunction with a Healthy living class I took this spring. There are some interesting insights into the dynamics of individual relationships with food and eating. There are some exercises and activities that accompany the book as well as a CD that the author reads to help with the exercises. I can't say that I totally agree with every aspect of what's presented - but there are definitely some things worth considering and I found parts of it helpful in altering my association...more
Really good, really helpful book. She brings to awareness, or mindfulness how we eat--too fast and too mindlessly, often eating out of habit not because we want or need to. It's made me reevaluate each time I decid to go get something out of the fridge--"Do I really want this?" I'm surprised at how many times I answer, "No, not really." And b/c I have thought about it I can then do something else. (If the answer is "YES!" then I go ahead and get it.)
I read this because Teresa suggested I pick it up. If nothing else, it has made me more aware of my eating habits.
"Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention, being fully aware of what is happening both inside yourself - in your body, heart, and mind - and outside yourself, in your environment. Mindfulness is awareness without judgment or criticism." - page 2.
Concepts I enjoyed:
The 7 types of hunger: eyes, nose, mouth, stomach, mind, heart, and cell hunger.
Inner voices: perfectionist, pusher,...more
"Mindfulness is deliberately paying attention, being fully aware of what is happening both inside yourself - in your body, heart, and mind - and outside yourself, in your environment. Mindfulness is awareness without judgment or criticism." - page 2.
Concepts I enjoyed:
The 7 types of hunger: eyes, nose, mouth, stomach, mind, heart, and cell hunger.
Inner voices: perfectionist, pusher,...more
I have mixed feelings about this book because on the one hand, it was boring and slow. I had to force myself to finish the book. On the other hand, the information was very helpful and make me take a serious look at what I eat, how fast I eat, types of hunger, and being healthy. So, I would only recommend this book if you are a serious health nut (like me).
Though well-meaning and balanced between good information and the strategies to apply it, this book wasn't useful for me. My sense is that this book would be ideal for someone who is beginning to explore mindfulness training as a strategy to address disordered eating.
I highly recommend this for any one who struggles with their relationship with food. There is no judgment, lectures, or preaching, just practical tools to work with your own issues. Really worthwhile.
Feb 09, 2012
Brett
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone (seriously)
Recommended to Brett by:
Mom
Shelves:
non-fiction
This book is nothing short of paradigm shifting for me. The lessons taught within are so much more than just tips on eating better. These are life lessons being told through food. The writing is clean and clear, economical and easily switches from humor to a benevolent, matronly sincerity that is hard to deny. Absolutely incredible.
The information is good, but the presentation is pretty boring. I've been reading a handful of books lately on Mindful Eating and this wasn't one of my favorites.
Coming from a belief system that values the human body, I found the concept of mindful eating attractive. Instead of focusing on "good" and "bad" foods, the author encourages becoming in tune with the body and what it needs and wants. Bays advocates eating slowly and purposefully, stopping when you're satisfied instead of bursting at the seams. While some of the theories proposed in this book are a little too new age for me, I like the idea of evaluating the different types of hunger we feel and...more
An absolutely wonderful book that changed my conscious relationship with food. Easy to understand and follow even without having had any prior mindfulness training.
Not interested in Zen, but thought I'd give it a half a chance by reading this book. Sorry, not my thing. Not the author's fault.
As someone who wolfs down food without a thought, this was a well-deserved kick in the pants. Following the guidelines established in its pages when I can (still sometimes hard to remember), eating takes on an amazingly sensual experience, in the sense that all of your senses come alive and help you enjoy your food. Definitely one of those books you read and carry parts with you long after you finish.
Amazing book and a practice meditation CD . . . I need a lot more practice.
Jul 04, 2009
Comaskeyk001
is currently reading it
have to stop munching while reading.....
Interesting, and filled with helpful exercises! Not for everyone (some may find the concept a little kumbaya, or chewy, if you will), but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
stellar!
9
Pretty much spot on and brilliant regarding determining whether you are eye hungry, nose hungry, mouth hungry, stomach hungry, cellular hungry, brain hungry, or heart hungry.
Excellent...unpretentious!
This book combines research based knowledge with meditation exercises based on Zen Buddism to help the reader become more mindful about eating and food. The author strives to give the reader insight into their relationship with food and ways to to then change the way they eat. An interesting, well written, easy to read book that sat on my nightstand for too long...
This is a good book with good information as you can imagine by the title. It just seems to be so simple - mindfulness as applied to eating - with nothing really new. So good to read if you want to focus on and consider the topic but not if you are looking for new information yet already get the idea of mindfulness.
this book has helped transform my life and my relationship with food.
Mindful eating is a more meditative way to look at eating and food. However, in this book, the focus seems to be on losing weight, not on finding a balance with food that many people with eating disorders need.
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Feb 28, 2013 08:17am