(Oh, there’s a table!) With my lunch plate on the food tray, slowly I walked towards that empty table at the restaurant. After I sat down, I took a quick glance around those people that occupy the tables near me.
There was a tall guy who is quite good-looking sat in front of me, at two o’clock direction from my table. A foreign youngster. He was having his curry rice set; with ear pods in his ears. His eyes were only looking at his lunch plate. Not even shifting his gaze on anything else.
(Such concentration… Huh? Good. One should pay attention and enjoy their meals instead of doing something else, like watching TV shows, playing games and so on. That affects one to have over-eating and/or digestion issues.)
(But wait, I saw this somewhere. This eating posture…) Suddenly, his eating posture caught my attention more than his look. (Yes, this eating posture, was exactly like my mum’s style.) This young guy placed both his lower arms at the edge of the table, using only his wrist to scoop the food with spoon, and then feed into his mouth. The issue, to my opinion, was – both of his lower arms were kind of ‘locked’ to the table. He didn’t even lift his arm that holding the spoon with food, not an inch. He lowered his head instead!
Can you imagine his eating posture? You sit on the chair, put your lower arm at the edge of the table, without lifting them; they would be the ‘support’ to your body weight. Next, you utilize your neck muscles to lower your head, just so you can eat the food from the spoon that was holding by the ‘locked’ lower arm. He was doing the neck muscle work, up and down, for the whole session. He almost hunched his back; as the spoon was just too low for his mouth to reach it.
During my last trip home, while having dinner with my family members, I observed this eating posture on my mum. My mum has thick upper body (a polite way of describing ‘FAT’); quite heavy so to say. Why her eating posture attracted my attention? She was shaking! Her neck muscles were shaking, to be précised. When human aged, our muscles might not be as flexible as when we were young.
I looked at her, quietly from where I seated. Same thing, she ‘locked’ both her lower arms on the edge of the dining table. As if performing sit-up exercise; the only difference was – she wasn’t facing up. She tried so hard to control her neck muscles to lower her thick shoulder and head, to the level where her mouth can reach the spoon. Her mouth hardly reached the spoon, just the tip of the spoon…
Her neck and shoulder were shaking. I know this kind of ‘shaking’. It happens to me whenever I tried to do body plank, for one minute. My strength was running out, and muscle was cramping, shook like falling leaves, tried to hold on to that ‘one minute that suddenly seemed so long’. I guess any beginners that start yoga exercise would easily find themselves in the ‘body shaking’ situation.
(Is it common that many people eat in such a posture besides this young guy?) That young guy didn’t noticed my observation gaze on him just now. He didn’t shift his gaze; 120% focus was all on his curry rice. (Must be yummy meal.) I continued having my lunch while observing other dine-in crowd, at the restaurant. (Oh, there are a few more! That uncle at table on the far right; the lady on the second table to the left.)
I have my preferred eating posture which I used to recommend to my mum but… she refused to change, even though it was a much easy way to eat the food. Just sit straight, place both lower arms lightly onto the edge of the table, not to support the body but just placing them on the table. Actually, this is still a polite table manner among Asian Chinese. We don’t put our hand on our laps or beneath the table, unlike most westerners that often place their hands on their lap. Then, I scoop my food using the spoon and folk with both hands, lightly lift my right arm up, I lean forward a little, and ‘Arrmm!’ eat the food with mouth wide open. I don’t even need to bend my neck so dramatically like what they did. Isn’t this way much easier? No stress at all! No neck muscle shaking. I only put some strength to lift up one of my arms that was holding the spoon; that’s it.
I peeked on the young guy once more, with sympathy, this time. (Poor thing… When he gets old, he might struggle with the difficulty in lowering down his head; just like my mum’s case. Why don’t you just lift your arm? Only need to sit straight and closer to the table, so that the food won’t drop onto your clothes. Your spine doesn’t need to suffer the stress and be hunch-backed.)
This is a habit that not many people noticing. Subconscious habit, I would say.
Later day, I browsed through internet to see if any ‘correct eating posture’ guides ever mention about lifting the arm instead of bending the neck. (What? No results found? No one mention about this important step?)
‘Allows for better hand-to-mouth co-ordination’ was what they wrote on the ‘Top 10 Reason Why Eating Posture Is Important’ articles.
I shared what I saw during my lunch with my brothers. I just wish that my brothers would help to check and guide their loved ones and younger generation (i.e. their children) to practice this easy yet relaxing way in eating. I don’t pin much hope for our mum to change her habit. No, she won’t; we have convinced her a few times. She is ‘willing’ to let her stubbornness to continue torturing her body. Every time I get to dine in with her, I have the chance to watch the show she presents to us, over and over. The pain that we felt when seeing her shaking shoulders is not feeling good at all. But nothing that we could do. That’s her choice.
Her eating posture and reluctant to change, act as a real-life mirror in front of me, alert me and trigger me to think for better improvement, while I still can. I feel lucky that I didn’t follow her eating habit and my willingness to change for better, in life. Guess, my ageing life would be free from dining time’s ‘body shaking’. I like the song ‘Body Shaking’ from 911 boys’ band, but I don’t have to get my ‘body shaking’ when enjoying my meal, just like what those people do. Cheers!
Left:
Both elbows ‘locked’,
Bend the neck,
Hunch back,
Bring mouth to spoon?
Right:
Sit straight but relax,
Lightly lift the arm,
Bring spoon to mouth?
Why the photo so blur? Well, I snapped it in a hurry.
No offence to the people in the photo. Just intend to use it as educational or illustration purposes.
If it is offensive, I would remove it from the post.
WARNING
The section below contains extreme graphic content and inappropriate / strong language that some viewers might find upsetting.
If you’re not ready for it, you’re advisable to just stop right here. That’s alright.
Thank you for your reading thus far.
Days after I posted this blog, an image flashed in my mind, one afternoon.
Speechless on what I’ve just seen in my mind… (Holly shxt… I would never ever share this illustration image to my mum. No way! I’d definitely be ‘exiled’ from home.)
“You don’t ever come back to this home! Get out!!” This is what she would yell at me (as far as I have known her ‘pattern’).
So, I just put the image here… (Sshhh… Keep it to yourself!)
A rather ‘visual-impact’ or ‘mind-blowing’ illustration on the message I would like to deliver from this blog I presented above, could be simplified as follow.
I was told to be more ‘gentle’ with my words, as not many people can handle the UGLY truth.
So, I try… (I won’t say it out with my sharp tongue; you please read it at your OWN PACE.) No offence.
versus
