1
Kanoe Morihara
Exploring Religions
Fall 2016
Essay #4
Practicing Religion While Being Mindful
This section on food as it relates to religious practices and significance was my favorite
in this class because food is easily relatable to and who doesn’t like food? The four resources
used in this section; Food, Encyclopedia of Religion, Savor, and Babette’s Feast have been used
to portray the relationship between food and religion. Throughout much of this section, the
concepts and practices associated with “mindful eating” have been focused on. This book
addresses the reality of struggling with your weight and how to end your struggle. The book
Savor proposed the simple answer to one of the biggest issues in the world today. Although our
world’s struggle with weight does not seem to relate to religion, it does. This is because food
plays a large role in religion during religious practices, specifically in the ways it is prepared and
the different taboos each religion has for specific food. In addition, the idea of mindful eating
from Savor relates to spiritual practices in Buddhism as well. In this paper, I will address the
relationship between mindful eating and religion.
Growing up in a generation where the health industry is a huge industry, it is easy to
become very preoccupied with our health and lifestyle. There are advertisements for healthy
eating, physical fitness activities, and weight loss tips everywhere you look. It is clear that this
industry has really taken off. With more than a billion people worldwide being overweight, and
scientist calling it an epidemic, I understand why this industry is so important (Hanh, 1). I
personally find myself getting wrapped into the new fitness regiments, food diets, and health tips
that may or may not be credible. Since weight management is currently a huge problem, it is
2
easy to become wrapped into this frenzy surrounding it. There needs to be a more effective plan
to change this tread since the obesity rate amongst Americans continue to increase. Hanh states
that, “it is also a worldwide crisis largely brought on by social trends that distract and prevent us
from doing the things that keep us in balance, healthy, and connected with our inner selves and
our place in the world” (Hanh, 2). In Savor, Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung deliver the
simple answer to end our struggle with weight that is the opposite of getting consumed by this
frenzy. They promote the idea of mindful eating as the answer to our weight problems.
“Learning to eat and live mindfully is the key to experience health and peace” (Hanh, 1).
What is mindful eating one may ask? To be mindful is to be completely present of what
is going on around you at that very moment. This is easier said than done because it is human
nature to let one’s minds wander and to get lost in the hectic pace of one’s life. This way of
