Many of us have heard 'clean your plate, wasting food is a sin' or possibly some more secular variation thereof.
However, it's generally acknowledged that the habit of cleaning your plate is not a good habit. You can follow the data from Is Plate Clearing a Risk Factor for Obesity? A Cross-Sectional Study of Self-Reported Data in US Adults for example, which states succintly: The tendency to clear one’s plate when eating is associated with increased body weight and may constitute a risk factor for weight gain. Causality is not inferred, but I'm willing to run on that assumption for myself.
I don't like wasting food however, but I have come to see this as an "upstream" concern.
Once the food is on my plate, finishing all of it is not something to strive for. Instead, I should eat mindfully, enjoy my meal, and stop when I don't feel the need to keep eating. If I waste food at this point, so be it - it'll become compost soon enough.
The time to avoid waste is before putting food on my plate. When thinking about how much to cook and serve, that's when I can avoid waste. When buying groceries and planning meals, that's when I can avoid waste by avoiding buying things that will spoil before being consumed.
So, in a way, you can have your cake and eat it too. Ideally only if you're hungry or enjoying it in moderation. :)
Happy mindful eating!
Tags: meditation