Reinventing the Meal: How Mindfulness Can Help You Slow Down, Savor the Moment, and Reconnect with the Ritual of Eating

by Pavel G Somov, Donald Altman

Overview

There’s nothing quite like a hot, soothing bowl of soup. It’s a leisurely meal—a purposeful one that offers pause for reflection between every savory spoonful. What if you approached every meal as if it were that delicious bowl of soup?

In Reinventing the Meal, you’ll learn how to reconnect with your body, mind, and world with a three-course approach to mindful eating. Inside, you’ll find mindfulness exercises to help you slow down and enjoy your food, pattern-interruption meditations to infuse presence into your eating life, and unique stress management tips to prevent emotional overeating. In addition, you’ll discover a wealth of philosophical perspectives that will inspire you to focus on the quality of your eating experience, rather than on the quantity of what you eat. Designed to help you embrace the ritual of eating (and discover the power of mindful meditation in the process), this book will ultimately change the way you view your meals—as not only sustenance for the body, but for the soul as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608821037
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	09/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	216
File size:	307 KB

About the Author

Pavel G. Somov, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of Eating the Moment, Present Perfect, The Smoke-Free Smoke Break, and The Lotus Effect. Visit his online Mindful Eating Tracker at www.eatingthemoment.com/mindfulness-tracker.

Foreword writer Donald Altman, MA, LPC, is vice president of The Center for Mindful Eating and author of One-Minute Mindfulness and Meal by Meal.

Pavel G. Somov, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of Eating the Moment, Present Perfect, The Smoke-Free Smoke Break, and The Lotus Effect.

 

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Introduction 1

1 When the Meal-Wheel Rolled In 9

2 First Course: Reconnecting with Your Body 23

3 Second Course: Reconnecting with Your Mind 49

4 Third Course: Reconnecting with Your World 65

5 Reclaiming the Calorie 81

6 Reinventing the Oryoki Meal 87

7 Reinventing the Dessert 97

8 Reinventing Fasting 109

9 Reconsidering the Ahimsa Meal 123

10 Reconciling Social Eating and Mindful Eating 139

11 Rethinking .Obesity 151

12 Reinventing the Iconography of Eating 163

13 Reinventing the Species 173

Conclusion

References 197

Editorial Reviews

Just as food breaks down to give us a savory experience and fuel us, Reinventing the Meal breaks down the art and science of mindful eating to teach us how to enjoy and get what we need from food. It’s a guide to using positive life precepts to enrich each and every dining experience from first whiff to final swallow.”

—Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, MEd, is the author of four books on eating, including The Food and Feelings Workbook

“For years when I’ve talked to friends about my mindfulness practice, I’ve paraphrased a line of Thich Nhat Hanh’s: ‘You can eat the tangerine like this, says the Buddhist monk nonchalantly. Or, he suggests, enunciating with care, you can eat the tangerine like this.’ How satisfying to find a whole book that shows me the sublime depth of eating. Reinventing the Meal is a mindful pleasure—a dessert from start to finish, and a delicious reminder of the power of awareness.”

—Stefanie Marlis, author of rife, fine, cloudlife, and other poetry collections

“Pavel Somov brings together mindfulness practices and wisdom from Eastern traditions with scientific insights to thoughtfully challenge and inspire the reader to higher consciousness, all within the arena of the most basic of human activities—eating. He delivers a bounty of food for thought that compellingly assists us in re-imagining ourselves, as well as the meal. In an era of fast-food and fast-paced living, Reinventing the Meal offers a well-needed path toward health, serenity, and a meaningful connection to life.”

—Jeffrey Weise, PhD, psychologist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders with a private practice in Pittsburgh, PA

From the Publisher