There is quite an industry around the art of eating mindfully.

There are books and websites and tapes.  They tout the benefits for health and wellness, weight loss, and spirit.  A Google search for “mindful eating” provides almost 700,000 hits.

In general, they give advice on how to:
Eat Slowly
Concentrate on each bite
Concentrate on taste
Eat silently
Shift out of autopilot eating
Pay attention to the sensations the food is providing you
although each book, site, or guru puts a slightly different spin on it.

But I have never seen the tip I am about to share with you for mindful eating.  It’s healthy, automatic, and has never failed to provide me with the benefits listed in bold above.

Tip: Add one or two diced habanero peppers to your dish.  

I have used this with great success in my lentil soup experiments.  Mindful eating guaranteed.

Did you ever read something that seemed like a riddle at first but seems obvious when looking back?

I had that experience the first time I read a cooking recipe by Jacob at ERE.  It was a recipe with no amounts, no times, and optional ingredients.  And it turned into my favorite dish.

Jacob wrote that to become familiar with a dish you have to make it your own.  Experiment with ingredients and flavors and spices.  Make it differently every day and keep changes you like and discard the ones you don’t.  And it’s best to make it every single day for a month or two so you can get really good at it (plus it will make any break in routine even more enjoyable than normal).

Today I looked back at his original recipe and realized that mine had evolved into something that had almost no relation to the original one. http://earlyretirementextreme.com/cooking-for-6-days-in-30-minutes-for-less-than-4.html  .  Mine has onions, garlic, water, and  brown (not red) lentils but shares no other ingredients with his.  I’ve ended up adding fresh tomato, red pepper, sea salt, a (large) amount of whole peppercorn, dried Thai chiles, and whatever hot peppers are fresh and in season.  Typically I eat two bowls – the first with fresh squeezed lemon, and the second with a large helping of Tumeric.

I probably dropped the first ten pounds of my accidental 40 pound weight loss while figuring out what was my optimal flavoring.   http://www.independentpenguin.com/how-i-accidentally-lost-40-pounds-hit-my-ideal-weight-by-practicing-conscious-consumption/  The dish I ended up with is designed for my tastes, and I can easily adjust it for whatever I have the taste for that day.

So if you want the most delicious dish in the world, I will issue a challenge.  Start with a lentil soup recipe (you can use Jacob’s if you want, but there are plenty of others on the web to start with).  Commit to making it every day for a month (perhaps 2) and making at least one or two changes every time.  Change the spices, add different veggies or other ingredients, optimize the cooking times for your style of local lentils.  Customize it for your taste through continuous experimentation.  If  the challenge is successful you will end up with the most delicious dish in the world (for you).  Ironically, your final recipe will be both cheap and priceless!

People think differently!

Maria Kang posted the picture above with the title “What’s your excuse?” on her facebook page.  She also has a blog and eponymous website : http://www.mariakang.com/  .

I found the picture inspiring.  Here was a new mom that was being her best.  She was taking care of her kids and herself too (great abs after having 3 kids).  I took the picture as a challenge to do your best in health and life.

But there was a (huge) segment of people who were offended and outraged.  They felt that they were being shamed for being fat.  Or lazy.  Or unhealthy.  Or ugly.  Or something else.  In return they began to attack Maria for spending time training.  Or being a bad mother for spending time away from her kids.  Or being too health conscious. Or being Asian.  Or something else.

The reason people got mad at  her is rooted one one fatal flaw in their thinking.  They were comparing themselves to her and finding they were not measuring up.  That offended them.  But Maria was not challenging them to measure up to HER.  She was challenging them to improve their OWN lives.

How can you improve your life?  Be bold and think big.

What’s your excuse?