Thought for Food

Many of us are foodies. Many live to eat, rather than eat to live, but would not want to admit it. Food is essential for life. It’s the fuel that keeps our engine (body) running. But when we think about what our body consumes as ‘food’ it’s far more than meets the eye. A simple quiz. Identify the no. of food items in the statements below:

• Prahalad was very hungry as he entered the restaurant and ordered pav-bhaji and a bottle of Thums Up.
• As they all came out of the mall, they heard a loud BANG noise.
• As far as their eyes could see, there was only lush greenery all around them.
• As Hemanya entered the house, Daisy, their pet jumped into her arms and she tightly hugged her.
• At the four kilometre mark, Meera was totally out of her breath and was wanting to stop, but it was her strong will power which helped her complete her first 5K run.
• The day her first blog was published on osdotme, Komal went to the nearby Hare Krishna temple to offer her prayers. Her wish had finally got fulfilled.
• Fifteen minutes after sitting down in the lotus pose  under the peepul tree, Amarendra was into deep meditation, only conscious oh his breath.
• Tempted by the smell of pure ghee, Ravi, Niren and Akshay walked into the restaurant and ordered some samosas and sweets.

Just hold on to your answer for now, as you will discover the right answer later in the post.

It has often been observed, that our health and fitness resolutions don’t work out, despite we following the rules to the dot.:

• We want to lose weight and get our body in shape, but despite following the diet to the tee, we do not achieve our target weight. Even if we do, we do not feel happy about the overall body shape.
• You are confident that the os.me writer who is half mad (or is he completely mad?) about running, is right and two months into running, but your ugly looking paunch has not reduced even an inch.
• You are following a diet and a fitness plan, but your sleep routine, thanks to demanding work, are totally out of place. And you are not able to figure out what you did wrong.
• You are following a diet plan religiously, you have not missed a single work out session for two months now, you are strict about your 10 to 5 sleep routine but you are in a caustic relationship at home, which keeps your mind disturbed. 

Now the secret here is simple, the food we eat is not all the food we eat, there are other kind of nutrients that the body is absorbing. For a healthy and peaceful life, being aware of all the four nutrients is very important:

1. The Edible food and the drinks we consume.
2. Our five senses – touch, smell, sight, hear and taste- these sensory organs are also consuming sound, sight, noise, etc on a constant basis and it’s also impacting our mind and thought process.
3. The Volition– our Will or Desire is the third nutrient that we consume. What we are aiming for, what we are expecting, what we are hoping, these all are contributing to our consumption as well, constantly.
4. Consciousness: Last, but definitely not the least, the most important nutrient is our consciousness, we being aware of ourselves and our surroundings.

As the tenet of mindful living says, one needs to be fully immersed in just one activity at a time. The more mindful we are in each of our act in isolation, we as a whole will feel far more better, be a lot more energetic, will be able to execute for more tasks and most importantly, our cheerful self will spread the energy and positively motivate everyone around us. 

When you are eating food, take smaller bites. Enjoy the texture and the feel of the food in your mouth before you let it go down the food pipe. Avoid any kind of digital device or any sound around you when you are eating. Similarly, when you are watching something, even if it is on the TV, then be completely immersed in what you are watching, do not spend time talking to others or munching popcorn. Yeah, I am not asking you to do it when you are with your friends or family for a movie night, but when you are watching all by yourself: try and be mindful. This will boost your morale and confidence. Needless to say, when you are on the move, either on foot or on vehicle, be completely mindful of the road ahead and no distraction is important.

Our Thinking skills, ability to have good thoughts is totally influenced by what we consume and how we consume it. The moment we are able to put a check on what we are consuming, our thoughts will all be better aligned, which will in-turn, help us make better choice on what we consume, and here, I am referring to all the four type of nutrients. 

Finally for the quiz, did you all get the right answer, Yes, that’s the right answer. now pat yourself on the back and smile 🙂