Huffington Magazine Issue 73 | Page 97

Exit Mindful eating, the notion of being more “present” during mealtime, is one strategy to reconnect with the food we put in our bodies. It sounds like my kind of diet — one in which you can concentrate on taste rather than having to give up gluten, dairy, sugar or whatever food group du jour is terrible for you. Nauman, the restaurant’s event planner and managing chef, was inspired to host these bi-monthly dinners after having silent meals at an Indian monastery. My foray into spiritual evolution through eating didn’t start out well. We were late and the last people seated. I was not relaxed. In fact, I was pretty annoyed — the restaurant was hot, I was frustrated about being late, and just generally grumpy due to the cloudy weather. Nauman greeted the 24-person crowd and instructed everyone to turn off their cell phones before the meal began. My boyfriend and I smiled at our dining companions seated with us at the communal table — two chemists from Harlem and two women from the neighborhood — and said nothing. I was ready to be enlightened. THE THIRD METRIC HUFFINGTON 11.03.13 Would I eat less and/or slower since I was more focused on the food and not the people? Would I experience a heightened sense of taste? When the salad course arrived, I was extremely self-conscious. Perhaps I was chewing too loudly and disturbing other patrons. And my nose was running a bit — was my sniffling ruining the mood? The salad greens were really hard to cut; I’d like to consider myself a mindful eater, but in reality, I probably err more on the side of a mindless eater.” I was convinced everyone must have thought I was a savage as I gave up using my knife and shoveled large pieces of greens into my mouth. I wasn’t experiencing any sort of taste nirvana; I was just trying to finish the course without anyone noticing I was a sniffling mess who may have chewed with my mouth open a couple of times. While the salad was tasty enough, it wasn’t anything special. But I was finally able to relax