My Simple Foods e-Book Has Arrived

My Simple Foods e-Book has arrived and is now available on Apple Books Store. It’s FREE, so go and download a copy and start eating healthy simple recipes.

Here is the link on Apple Books: Simple Foods

Or if you live outside Europe you can download it from in ePub format from here: Simple Foods

FOREWORD

There was a time when I stuffed my face with junk food on a daily basis. I was overweight and unhealthy, addicted to snacks and fried and fatty food, and would mindlessly overeat.

This wasn’t a healthy way of eating. What I ate (junk) was a big part of it, but just as big a part was how I ate — emotionally and mindlessly. These bad eating habits built up over time, after years of eating to socialize, to relieve stress, to make myself feel better, to satisfy cravings.

When I finally started changing my eating habits, I realized how bad things were. I realized how hard it was to change, simply because eating was filling so many needs, and because I ate mostly without thinking.

The biggest change I made: I learned to pay attention. I paid attention to what I ate, the textures and flavors, how it made me feel during and after eating. I paid attention to my eating urges, to the emotions that triggered the eating.

The changes came slowly, but paying attention turned out to be the key habit change. Once I made this change, other changes finally happened, after years of trying.

There are a variety of approaches to mindful eating, some rooted in Zen and other forms of Buddhism, others tied to yoga. I take a very simple approach, and that’s what we’ll be mainly talking about in this course.

Simply put, my approach to mindful eating is learning to pay attention. Instead of eating mindlessly, putting food into your mouth almost unconsciously, not really tasting the food you’re eating … you notice your thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

This is a skill, a form of meditation really, that you don’t just acquire overnight. It takes practice, and there will be times when you forget to eat mindfully, and there will be starts and stops. But with practice and attention, you can become very good at this.