An Experiment in Mindful Eating at Vega’s “Thrive Industry Night”

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending VEGA’s Thrive Industry Night at their home office in Vancouver, BC. The night consisted of schmoozing with about fifty people from all different areas of the health and wellness industry, a short talk on redefining the plate and making the transition to a vegan diet by RHN Emma Cutfield, a short talk and demonstration on mindful eating with RHN Andrew Raines, and a cooking demo, followed by a delicious meal, by Ned Bell (the executive chef for the Four Seasons and YEW Restaurant.

I went alone and, as I’ll admit to being a little bit awkward in social situations, the night started a little bit rocky with someone handing me some sort of cucumber and watermelon drink with a gentle “it looks like you need this.” Why do I always look like I’m lost? It tasted like there was a little bit of alcohol in it, but perhaps that was just my imagination. Regardless it helped and I walked up to a group of strangers and introduced myself. The night and ebbed and flowed as it went along.

For me the highlight was definitely the delightful cooking demonstration by Ned Bell — it really moved me to watch someone who is clearly so passionate, knowledgable and enthusiastic about what they do. I also really enjoyed the short talk on mindful eating. Perhaps I liked this part of the night because it ended with a challenge.

As Andrew spoke about the many reasons we eat (because we’re hungry, bored, sad, celebrating, etc) a small piece of apple and banana was placed in front of each guest. Andrew told us that we were going to do a little experiment, and we were given the following instructions:

1. Pick up the fruit (we first did this with the banana and then repeated the instructions with the apple) and experience its texture and smell.
2.  Take two big inhales and exhales to return yourself to a state of relaxation (When you’re stressed, you are in a state of fight-or-flight, so all of the blood is in your muscles. This is not a prime state for digestion).
3. Put the piece of fruit in your mouth, but do not chew. Experience the texture of the fruit against your tongue and the initial taste.
4. Chew the piece of fruit 3 times. Experience the result.
5. Chew the piece of fruit 3 more times. Experience the result again.
6. Then chew your piece of fruit 20 more times. Then swallow when the food has achieved the consistency of a sort of paste.

Andrew told us that this was the consistency that our food should always be in whenever we swallow. He explained that the more work you do during the chewing portion of eating (he recommended that you chew everything you eat at least 25 times), the less energy your body has to spend during digestion later. Here’s the piece of information that stuck with me: the less energy your body needs to use for digestion, the more energy you’ll have for other things.

We were challenged to try to mindfully eat all of our meals for an entire week. I’m all in for more energy, so I am currently on day two of the challenge.

Because I generally wait until I’m starving before eating, forcing myself to eat slowly and chew every bite 25 times has been extremely difficult. Also, because there aren’t whole pieces of food floating around in my gut, even though I’ve eaten just as much as I’d normally eat in a day, I’ve continued to experience faint hunger pangs even after finishing my meals. On the other hand, I don’t feel bloated (like I normally feel) so I must be doing something right.

It’s going to be an interesting experiment, and I challenge you to try it with me if you think you can handle it.

Oh, and I almost forgot the actual best part of the night: Free stuff! Everyone walked away with a copy of Brendan Brazier‘s (the man behind Vega) book “Whole Foods to Thrive: Nutrient dense, plant-based recipes for peak health,” a big bottle of Vega’s antioxidant oil blend, and a single serving of their protein smoothie powder. I had the last this morning and it was delicious.

Overall it was an excellent evening in an increasingly excellent life. I am so grateful.