The Center for Mindful Eating

About the issue

This issue of Food for Thought examines the intersection of food justice and mindful eating. Limited access to adequate food, power dynamics within food production and distribution systems, and food industry practices that harm workers and the environment all impact a mindful eating practice. Bringing mindfulness to these inequitable and damaging systems is the first step in rectifying them.

In “Mindful Eating for the Beloved Community,” Alex Askew discusses the causes and health impacts of food insecurity for people of color. He describes and offers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s vision of the Beloved Community as a healing remedy.

“Integrating Food Justice into Your Mindful Eating Practice,” by Caroline Baerten extends the practice of mindful eating to embrace compassionate awareness of the origins of our food, including equity and environmental issues in its production, distribution, and relative access.

In the Educational Handout, “Self-Reflections on Food Security,” Linn Thorstensson advises mindful eating clinicians to consider how their clients’ experiences with food insecurity impacts their relationship with food and eating. Linn also encourages clinicians to consider their own experiences of food insecurity and how they influence their work with clients.

Caroline Baerten offers five contemplations from Thich Nhat Hanh in this issue’s Dharma teaching, “Contemplations for Food Justice.” These contemplations deepen our awareness of the interconnection of food systems and the environment and strengthen our compassion for all the human and nonhuman beings within them.

Food justice is an urgent, complex, and multifaceted issue. These nine pages can only begin the long conversation necessary to heal our planet and all of its inhabitants. We conclude this issue of Food for Thought with a bibliography of resources and an intention to continue our own learning. Questions and comments about this issue can be sent to [email protected]

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