Sensory Awareness

Activities in this unit will teach us how to train our brain to pay more attention to the things that matter.

Mindful Tasting

What is Mindful Tasting?

A mindful taster slows down to savor or really think about his / her food and notice it's flavor, texture, and temperature.

Mindful Tasters:

- can identify small, hidden tastes

- can describe tastes clearly

- understand the importance of healthy eating and make good food choices

- have good digestion as they chew slowly and with thought

- accept and try new foods with an open mind

Day 1 - Linking to Brain Research

Relaxed and Alert: The Role of Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters: chemicals that allow signals to pass between neurons

They influence a wide range of feelings and behaviors.

Stress causes changes in their levels

Dopamine: helps the brain create positive feelings, influences paying attention, planning and moving

Serotonin: helps regulates appetite, sleep, aggression, mood , and pain

Norepinephrine: effects attentiveness, emotions, sleeping, dreaming, and learning

Mindful tasting allows you to be relaxed and aware of what is happening.

It also helps train the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to pay attention, remember details and think clearly.

Day 2 - Warm-Up

Mindful Tasting Practice

• We have practiced mindful listening, mindful seeing and mindful smelling. Let's practice using all these senses. Now close your eyes. Imagine that someone is cooking a big, juicy hamburger. Let your hippocampus bringup memories.

• What do you hear? What sounds does the meat make as it cooks?

• What do you see? What is the cook putting on the hamburger?

• What do you smell? What scents are rising from the hamburger?

• Now imagine taking a bite of the hamburger.

• What do you taste? Besides the meat, what is on the hamburger?

• Share what you heard, saw, smelled and tasted.

What memory did you think of? How did your body change as you used your senses? Are you hungry now? What would happen if I put a plate of food in front of you? Would you eat it very fast? Or would you eat each bite slowly?

Day 3 - Engage, Explore, Reflect

Set-up:

1 bag of marshmallows

Discuss:

After air and water, food is the third most important thing our bodies need.

Like breathing and drinking, we often eat without really paying attention to how our food feels and tastes.

This activity will help us train our brain to be mindfully aware of how we eat.

Remember to take slow, deep breaths to calm your amygdala when you get ready to be a mindful taster

Mindful Tasting Describing Words

sweet spicy salty bland crispy sticky chewy crunchy slimy sooth bitter sour chalky juicy dry acidic tender tough nutty creamy soft hard tart

Describing Words for Download

When you get your marshmallow

FIRST....

- look at the shape, color, size, and any markings it has

- close your eyes and smell the marshmallow, what words describe it

- does it remind you of anything

NEXT...

- carefully take a SMALL bite of the marshmallow - DON'T chew

- think as hard as you can how it FEELS in your mouth- can you taste anything (without chewing)

THEN...

- use your tongue to move the marshmallow around in your mouth

FINALLY...

- very SLOWLY, bite down and notice the taste and feel

- chew it very slowly and swallow

Discuss:

• How is eating this way different from how you usually eat?

• Did you know that it take your stomach 10 - 15 minutes to tell your brain that it is full?

• What could happen if we're always in a rush to eat our food?

• How can UNmindful eating be unhealthy?

• When might you use mindful eating and SLOW down to enjoy your food?

Day 4 - Career Connection

Taste Tester

Food scientists who whip up all sorts of food mixtures.

From snack foods to beverages to condiments like ketchup.

They conduct tests to check for taste, texture, moisture, color.

They check the foods nutrients as well as salt, fat and sugar content.

Starbucks Coffee Taste Test Team - YouTube 2:13

What are some other careers that depend on mindful tasting?

Careers that require someone to taste things very closely.

Try:

- mindful tasting your lunch

- take at least 10 minutes to really taste your food.

Day 5 - Journal Writing

Mindful Meals

• Think about a snack, breakfast, lunch, and dinner you have had recently.

• On this journal sheet, list each thing you had for that meal and rate how "mindful" you were of eating it.

• 1 - very UNmindful (didn't pay any attention to it) to 10 - VERY mindful (thought a LOT about what you were eating)

Day 7 - Meet Your Taste Buds

• Where do you think your taste buds are located?

• Stick out your tongue so your neighbor can look at it closely.

• Look at the small bumps on the surface. This is where most of our 10,000 taste buds are.

• Taste buds help us taste foods that are salty, sweet, sour, or bitter.

• As you practice mindful tasting pay attention to what your taste buds are telling you.

Science for Kids - tastebuds and the tongue: Youtube 7:30

Day 9 - Journal Writing

The Perfect Meal

• Use this sheet to design the perfect meal.

• It can be a breakfast, lunch or dinner.

• Draw a picture of what the food would look like.

• Include a description of what each food would taste like and even why you included it in your meal.

• Remember to include a drink and even a dessert or side dish if you like.

• When you share your perfect meal, make our mouths "water!"

Day 10 - Literature Link