The Mindful Doughnut

Doughnuts are wonderful. It's a shame to eat any delicious food so fast that you don't enjoy it thoroughly. This exercise will teach you to slow down and really enjoy all aspects of your doughnut. If you actually do this exercise, you'll find that you'll discover doughnuts all over again and how mindfulness teaches you to fully appreciate your food.

*Bite #*	*Here's what you can do during this bite*
1.	Simply enjoy the flavor of the bite.
2.	Notice the aromas you can detect.
3.	Notice the textures of the doughnut.
4.	Pay attention to how flavor of the dough changes as you chew.
5.	Listen to the sound of chewing the doughnut.
6.	Become aware of the speed of your chewing.
7.	Let you mind travel to the source of the wheat, the sugar and the yeast.
8.	Notice the position and movement of your tongue throughout the bite.
9.	Follow the sweetness of the doughnut and how it lessens during the bite.
10.	Consider the energy of all the people that helped make this doughnut possible.
11.	Follow the number of chews needed.
12.	Sense deeply and taste the resources there in the doughnut: sunlight, water, soil, and nutrients.
13.	Concentrate on the movement of your jaws as you chew.
14.	Consider the sacrifice of the wheat plant and its seeds.
15.	Consider the sacrifice of animals that died during the harvest of the wheat for your doughnut.
16.	Eat this bite in honor of the doughnut and to feel overall gratitude.

Here's what you need:

A delicious doughnut. It can be of any type; the most important thing is that it's one of your favorites. If you're not a doughnut fan, you can substitute any favorite pastry here.

A plate

A knife

A fork

Here's what you do:

1. Put the doughnut on the plate.

2. Cut the doughnut up into 16 pieces. Yes, 16 pieces. Start by cutting the doughnut in half. Then cut each half into fourths, each fourth into eighths and each eighth into sixteenths. You'll notice that the pieces aren't very big, and that's the idea. And remember: you can also decide to make the very act of cutting up your doughnut a mindful activity by devoting your full attention to it.

3. Eat each piece slowly and carefully. Use the Basic Mindful Bite technique, but add to that some aspect to consider with before, during or after bite. The table below shows you what you can do, bite by bite. Try to make each bite last about 20 seconds (including a mindful pause at the end of each bite)---this will make your doughnut last at least five minutes. A sip of water between bites will substantially enhance your enjoyment of the doughnut.

When you are finished, you will have spent several minutes or more eating your doughnut. It is unlikely that you've ever eaten a doughnut exactly like that before.

Mindful eating helps us to enjoy food more, and often we don't feel that we need more of the food. You may find that you have no desire for more doughnut right now. This is one of the wonderful outcomes of paying attention to food as you eat it.