Here is an accessible and encouraging exploration of how and why to apply the Zen art of mindfulness to transform our 'issues' with food. Whether we are overweight or suffer from an eating disorder, learning to eat mindfully can liberate us from the suffering we experience with food. Practiced for centuries in the Zen tradition, mindful eating is an approach that involves bringing one's full attention to the process of eating - becoming fully present to the tastes, smells, thoughts, and feelings that arise during a meal. Preliminary research funded by the American National Institutes of Health indicates that mindfulness is effective in treating eating disorders.Dr. Bays, a physician and Zen teacher, offers a wonderfully clear presentation of what mindfulness is and how it can help us create a healthier relationship with food. In "Mindful Eating" she shows us how to rediscover the simple act of eating, thereby gaining control of our eating problems from the inside out. Along the way, she reviews the relevant research, offers medical information, and presents numerous practical exercises drawn from her workshops. Through mindful eating, we not only overcome our issues with food, but we can reawaken our sense of pleasure and satisfaction. This book shows us how.

Reviews

"Jan Chozen Bays should be recruited by the slow food movement. My favorite mindfulness book from the past year."--Barry Boyce in "Shambhala Sun "


"If you give yourself over wholeheartedly to the practices described here, you will be thanking yourself and Dr. Bays for recovering your life and for enjoying the blessings of food in ways that feel liberated and delightful."--from the foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn