• Reflect on  Isaiah 58:1-8 and fast:  partially, mindfully, prayerfully
• Use the Mealtime Meditation (below)
• Chew each bite 50 times (http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/an-overachieving-underchewer)
• Become a vegetarian for a week (http://www.goveg.com/vegetarian101.asp)
• Learn what it means to be a locavore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locavores) and to eat sustainably (http://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/) and in season (http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/eatseasonal/)
• Commit to purchasing from a farmer’s market this growing season (http://www.localharvest.org/)     
• Commit to growing some portion of your own food, using heritage, organic seeds, even if all you have room for is a pot of herbs on your windowsill…. (http://seedsavers.org/)
• Plant an oak tree, or a tree more suitable to your area (http://www.arborday.org/)
• Take action on behalf of plants (http://organicconsumers.org/action.cfm)
• Take action on behalf of farmers (http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.4952885/k.8FF3/Take_Action.htm)

Mealtime Meditation
By Shirin McArthur

Very often we eat without any awareness of the process of eating.  When we eat and participate in other activities at the same time, such as watching TV, we are often unaware of what we are eating, or of how our bodies are responding to the food.  We often cannot tell when we are full, when our bodies have had enough. 

Today you are invited to participate in an intentional, sensory experience of food and of eating.  When your food is on the plate, do not immediately begin to eat.  Rather,

Look at the food on your plate.  Admire the colors, shapes, sizes.  See beauty in the curves, the textures, the light’s reflection.  Are there shapes and colors that are more appealing to you than others?

Touch the food on your plate.  For once, you are being invited not to use utensils—at least not yet!  What are the textures your fingers encounter?  What hard or soft surfaces?  Does this touching leave any residue on your fingers?  What does that feel like?  What is your inclination—to wipe off your fingers, or lick them clean?

Smell the food on your plate.  If you cannot sense a smell, pick up the food and put it right up to your nose.  Discover how many different smells you can find in this one plate of food.  Which smell do you like the best, and which smell do you like least?

Choose from the food on your plate.  Deliberately, slowly, choose one item to begin eating.  Pay attention to how you transport it from the plate to your mouth, and the parts of your body that are involved in that journey from plate to mouth.  Think about how often you believe you have no choice about what you eat—and about the choices you make without being aware of them.

Taste the food from your plate.  Try to define the taste without using the name of the food.  Are there any unexpected tastes?  Decide which taste you like the best, and which taste you like least.

Listen to the food in your mouth.  What can you hear when you chew?  How many different sounds can you make in the process of eating (without disturbing any fellow diners!): crunching, chewing, swallowing, lip-smacking, finger-licking…? 

Feel the food on its journey from your mouth, down your throat to your stomach.  Sense your stomach as it receives and digests the food.  Can you feel what is happening in your belly? 

Give thanks for the gift of food.  Thank the seeds that sprouted, the sun that sustained the young plants, the water that filled each cell, and the minerals which the plant’s roots absorbed in order to grow.  Thank the people who cared for the plants, pulled the weeds and harvested the crops.  Thank those who packed and transported the foods, those who work in the markets, those who cook for others and for their own families. Give thanks for your body and its ability to consume this nourishment and convert it into energy.  And give thanks to God the Creator, who made possible every step in this process.

As you finish your meal, be aware of any ways in which your body feels different than it did when you sat down to eat.  You may have lingering tastes in your mouth, or a sense of a full stomach, or the desire to curl up for a quick nap.  Contemplate how your body responds to everything it receives, from food, to words, to touch….  Ask yourself whether, and what, you are open to receiving now, and in the days ahead.