Got Mindfulness?

by Nina

Yesterday I read an Op-Ed piece by Mark Bittman in the NY Times Got Milk? You Don't Need It and I was very surprised to read the following:

“This in a country where as many as 50 million people are lactose intolerant, including 90 percent of all Asian-Americans and 75 percent of all African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Jews.

Seventy five percent of all Jews are lactose intolerant? Wow! I’m Jewish and I never even heard this before! When I was a kid, I hated drinking milk. But my mother was so convinced that it was imperative for my health that I was not allowed to leave the table until I forced down my entire (totally yucky) serving. When I was old enough to stop drinking milk as a beverage, I did, although I continued to eat dairy products in their many tempting forms (cheese, butter, ice cream, yoghurt, in lattes and on cereal, etc.). Meanwhile, I always had a rather delicate digestive system, but I tended to blame it on other things (soy, garlic, etc.) Then several years ago my digestive problems got worse, and I finally consulted my doctor about it. She suggested that perhaps it was just the aging process and added there was little I could do about that (to her credit, she did ask me if I was lactose intolerant, but I said that I wasn’t).  Hope I’m not boring you with all this, but there’s a point, I promise.

Anyway, I had noticed that when I spent a week or two eating a vegan diet (because my two kids took turns being vegan during different periods) I felt great. But I still wasn’t connecting the dots. It wasn’t until a few years ago when my husband and I decided to experiment by giving up diary products entirely for other reasons (the environment, global warming, a new theory of inflammation, consideration of dairy cows) that I noticed, hey, my digestive problems are gone! And all the plant foods I thought I couldn’t digest well now made me happy and healthy. Because I felt so much better, it became easy for me to pass up the tempting treats I used to indulge in, even to give them up for life (though with the occasional splurge—hey, my daughter is a pastry chef).

Above the Fog Again by Brad Gibson

You see, last week’s interview with Dayna Macy Yoga for Healthy Eating about mindfulness and healthy eating really made me think, especially the following: 

"Most people don't just sit in Lotus, they work to open their hips and one day, maybe, they get there. It's the same with food. You are discovering who you are in your relationship with eating. You don't just wake up one day and say, "ah ha! This is the perfect way to eat! Now I will do this perfectly from now on!" Knowledge is earned and learned, one day at a time. The truth must resonate and live in your body to become real change."

I just realized this morning that I had been practicing exactly what she described, and that mindfulness about my eating led me to healthier eating habits for my particular body, even though I never heard that fact about Jews being lactose intolerant. My long-time yoga practice no doubt helped me tune into how my body was reacting to different foods, and that ultimately brought me to a decision about my diet that is not only going to have the short-term benefit of making me feel better on a daily basis but will also help my health in the long run.

Have any of you used mindfulness about your eating to move yourself toward a healthier diet? We’d love to hear from you.