Concentrate on your tongue

1.  The tongue conveys taste, but it is the mind that decides the taste. When the mind is distracted, it cannot sense the taste in food, so you taste nothing and you will not be satisfied.

Today, man is surrounded by TV’s., CD players, magazines and newspapers, etc. But he is so busy working that he hardly finds time to watch them. So he tries to save time by watching them while eating. Then the tongue does its work like a lifeless machine. For some, the only chance they get to see their families is during mealtimes. So they all talk and laugh while eating.

You wish to eat tasty food, but you don’t concentrate on the taste. Isn’t it funny? How can you pay attention to what the tongue tastes if your mind is elsewhere? One may argue that we eat without knowing the real taste of food? The food you eat with your mind on something else doesn’t give you more than 50% of the potential pleasure it could provide. You can accept this only if you test it with 100% concentration.

Let me give you an example. I once served a sweet made out of honey to four people. They were talking to me while eating the sweet dish. After they were halfway through, I asked them how it tasted. They unanimously answered it was good, it was sweet, and it didn’t look different though it was made out of honey. Now I asked them to chew the second half of it silently without talking. Then they were able to realize the salty taste more than the sweet. They could make out the presence of honey, and they thought it was much better than sugar. So, their first opinion was a biased opinion. They took for granted that it would be sweet, and so could experience no other taste. If you concentrate, you may even discern the taste of milk and coconut in it.

The same is true with all fruits and vegetables. If you concentrate while eating, you can taste salt in them and find pleasure in it. If you eat dates and papayas this way, you will at once realize they are saltier than other vegetables or fruits. When you eat salt-free food, pay close attention and you will have the real flavor and pleasure of it.

The mind is the sole cause of everything. If you realize this and concentrate on what you eat, you can eat more with satisfaction. Then you will be benefited more through natural food and your health will improve.