14_Mindful Eating 3-5

The raisin exercise dispels all previous concepts we may be harboring about [mindfulness]. It immediately places it in the realm of the ordinary, the everyday, the world you already know but are now going to know differently. Eating one raisin very, very slowly allows you to drop right into the knowing in ways that are effortless, totally natural, and entirely beyond words and thinking. Such an exercise delivers wakefulness immediately. There is in this moment only tasting. —Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindful Eating At Home Resources Level: Upper Elementary (3-5) Concepts: • Attention • Mindfulness • Healthy EatingBig Ideas For This LessonWe eat every day in order to survive, yet we rarely give our full attention to the act. Mindful eating isabout developing a healthy relationship to eating through awareness, non-judgement, and responsiblechoices.It encourages healthy eating habits by asking people to slow down, notice their food, and take timeeating. To practice mindful eating, you might even reflect on the farmer who harvested your food or theperson who prepared it. Use awareness of all five senses to experience your food in a mindful way. Essential VocabularyMindful Eating: the practice of cultivating an open-minded awareness of how the food we choose to eat affects one’sbody, feelings, mind, and all that is around us.Five Senses: The faculties of sight, smell, taste, hear, taste and touch.© 2017 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 1 of 2 All rights reserved.

MINDFUL EATING | GRADES 3-5 PracticeWorking with your student, pick an item of food from your kitchen and practice tracing its origin. For example,if you choose a fruit or vegetable, can you find out what farm it came from? What state? Does your food have alist of ingredients on it? Where did each ingredient come from? How was it made? Begin to give your full atten-tion to your food as you mindfully trace how it got to your plate. Student Resources• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Grades 3 – 6)• Farmer Will Allan and the Growing Table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Grades 2 – 5)• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Grades 4 – 6)• The Candymakers by Wendy Mass (Grades 4 – 7)• Andrew Zimmern’s Field Guide to Exceptionally Weird, Wild, and Wonderful Foods: An Intrepid Eater’s Digest by Andrew Zimmern. This will be a favorite informational text for your students. As students explore funny, bizarre, and weird foods they will learn fun facts about culture, geography, art, and history.• Cooking Class: 57 Recipes Kids Will Love to Make (and Eat!) by Deanna F. Cook• It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History by James Solheim. Fascinating book about food creations from all over the world. Appeals to the gross-out side of kids.• National Geographic Kids Cookbook: A Year-Round Fun Food Adventure by Barton Seaver Adult Resources• Better Eating Through Mindfulness (Article) Jill Suttie• ChopChop: The Kid’s Guide to Cooking Real Food With Your Family (Cookbook) by Sally Sampson• Four Tips for Mindful Eating (Article) by Jill Suttie• Our School Garden (Book) by Rick Swan• It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden (Book) by George Ancona© 2017 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 2 of 2 All rights reserved.