This is a collaborative post.
Food is a gift. For those of us who are fortunate enough to eat regularly and access a wide range of food, there’s nothing quite like tucking into our favourite meal, whether it be a traditional home-cooked meal or a dish from another cuisine. For some of us, food can be a challenge. Unless we ration ourselves so to speak, we can gain weight, while some of us have dietary conditions that mean we have to avoid certain foods. Furthermore, food is not an easy topic when you don’t have the money to buy it and the use of food banks has soared in the last year, indicating that food poverty is still very much a thing.
However, if you’re ready to start seeing food as the nutritious, delicious option it can be, you can make it an pleasurable part of your life rather than something you’re constantly battling with. Your attitude toward food should be one of positivity and health and the best thing that you can do is to learn how to better savour your meals and eat mindfully, enabling you to truly appreciate the food you eat.
If you’ve ever travelled internationally to get your international fix from the comfort of your own home, you’ll know what it’s like to experience the flavours of other cultures. Once you get a taste for new spices, herbs and flavour combinations, you’ll find yourself craving them. Exploring food from other cultures is a great way to treat our tastebuds to something new and expand our culinary preferences.
Eating is a complete experience and you should aim to make it as satisfying as possible. With this in mind, how best can we learn to savour our food? What should we be eating? Let’s dive right in to discover how we can better savour our food.
- Keep it simple. Instead of battling over what you should be eating, focus on the things that you enjoy eating. If you don’t like seafood or a particular veg, don’t force them down. Sit down and meal plan every week so you know what you’ll be eating in advance. If you like, you could also spend a day batch-cooking your favourite meals to fill your freezer. Try to make your meals simpler by using five wholefood ingredients or less, and then add as much spices and herbs as you like. Make the meal simple, and you make cooking a pleasure.
- Strike a balance. If you’re spending time cooking the meals you love, you should aim to strike a balance between both the sweet and savoury things you enjoy. From cakes to pies, consider enjoying a meal that includes the things that you like to eat that go beyond those wholefoods. If you’re sitting down to a dish of roast beef and all the trimmings, following it up with a slowly eaten bowl of cake and custard is going to make all the difference to the way that you feel about your food. It’s natural to want food that tastes good, so allow yourself to have it now and then.
- Eat slowly. It’s all well and good to eat convenient foods, but there’s nothing fun about a burnt mouth and a rushed meal if you’re eating too quickly. You should sit at the table (or wherever you like to eat) and use a knife and fork when eating. Taste every single bite and chew slowly, trying to ignore your phone, laptop or any other distractions while eating. Let your brain recognise the tastes and identify the flavours spreading over your tongue. It will make a huge difference to your eating experience if you know you’re enjoying every last bit of your meal.
- Make it mindful. Lastly, make every single meal you eat a mindful one. Cooking and eating are immersive experiences and if you ensure you’re involved in the whole process without distraction, you can watch the meals you love come to life and enjoy every single taste you get. Tune yourself into the appearance and aromas of the food, how it feels inside your mouth and how it tastes on your tongue. Your stomach will thank you for it!
This is a collaborative post.