Book Review: "Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life"

Complementing grounded Buddhist philosophies of mindfulness with nutritional science of eating healthy, Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, provides a healthy outlook on eating, moving, and living.  Thich Nhat Hanh, a very well respected Vietnamese Zen Buddhist philosopher, and Dr. Lilian Cheung, an innovative Harvard School of Public Health nutritionist, unite their wisdom and knowledge of the body and mind into a simple and holistic lifestyle plan to eating and living well.  Rather than counting calories through careful dieting and exercise regimes, Hahn and Cheung recommend thinking about your food and listening to your body.  By doing so, mindful eating enhances our body and mind’s relationship with food and, as a result, mindful eaters experience weight loss, energy gain, and an increasingly healthier lifestyle.

Through experiencing every moment to the fullest, raising awareness within each daily activity, attuning the mind and body, and practicing mindfulness, we can foster a more positive, healthy, and energized life.  In their book, Hanh and Cheung take the reader through three sections.  The first section, “A Buddhist Perspective on Weight Control,” examines personal weight struggles, calling for both reflection and action.  Following this, the reader has the opportunity to realize the simplicity within practicing mindfulness by meditating on an apple, and thereby coming to terms with their mind-body connection while attuning to the present moment. 

Part two explores the “Mindful Action Plans” of eating, moving, and living.  Mindful eating involves understanding the nutrients our body needs, what healthy foods are and how we can incorporate them into our diet, and how to integrate mindfulness into our eating patterns.  By honoring the food, engaging the senses, eating in modest portions, savoring small bites and thorough chewing, eating slowly, not skipping meals, and eating a plant-based diet, Hanh and Cheung reveal their seven practices of mindful eating.  They explain that:

“Living as we all are in a society that spends so much time and money to promote unhealthy foods and mindless eating, and to limit access to healthy foods, it takes a dedicated, mindful effort to be able to focus on and choose the foods that are best for our bodies and best for our planet” (145).

Likewise, mindful moving discusses the importance of exercise, movement, and activity to ensuring healthy living and a strong body.  Hanh and Cheung go through typical daily activities and illuminate the simple, convenient ways to incorporate mindful exercise.  Finally, the mindful living plan explains the easy ways we can use mindfulness in our daily activities and movements such as cooking, walking, and traffic-jam meditation.

Part three discusses the “Individual and Collective Effort” of living in a mindful world.  This section brings the reader to realize the interdependence between the self and other, the individual and collective, and the inside and outside, while complementing such philosophy with real-life examples of actors of positive change.

“Transforming the world starts with oneself.  It is through attending to our own well-being and staying in touch with what is happening in our own personal lives that we can have a greater capacity to understand and address the world’s suffering.  We are then on a sturdier foundation to contribute to improving our world” (224).

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life is an innovative, comprehensive, and incredibly relevant book to addressing today's eating habits and lifestyle practices.  By presenting an approach and lifestyle that anyone can adapt to and practice, this book has the potential to promote positive eating habits throughout our fast-paced society, and thus mindful eating has the ability to change how our society views food, eats food, and lives.