I’ve been thinking a lot about food lately.  Maybe it’s the shorter days and chillier weather triggering a primal instinct to fatten up for hibernation.  Or maybe it’s all the glistening Thanksgiving turkeys and pumpkin pies on the covers of the magazines arriving in the mail.  Either way, I find myself collecting recipes for hearty casseroles, stews, and soups featuring potatoes, squash, and root vegetables.

Most of the time, eating is routine—mechanical, even.  If you’re like me, you inhale breakfast before rushing out the door in the morning and grab a quick bite to sustain you through the afternoon.  By dinner, you’re famished, and you wolf down your food so quickly you barely taste it.   Hardly the mindful eating recommended both for weight control and optimal satisfaction.

Contrast the way most of us eat on a daily basis with a recent meal I experienced at a highly touted new restaurant.  Each dish contained a sensory rush of contrasting tastes and textures.  There were subtle sauces and foams that delivered a distilled essence of pure flavor before vanishing on the tongue.  I ate slowly and savored every mouthful.   By the last forkful of dessert, I was sated but not stuffed.

The dinner was one of my most memorable.  But I wouldn’t want to eat that kind of fare every day.  In fact, the next night, still out of town and looking for a good place to eat, I opted for pizza.  Crusty and smoky from the wood-fired oven, it was anything but evanescent, the antithesis of the previous night’s foamy confections.  Delicious.  It was exactly what I wanted and left me perfectly satisfied without having eaten too much.

Different foods for different moods.   That’s what truly mindful eating is all about.  And why rigid diets—which proscribe whole categories of nutrients such as carbs, or sugar, or fats—don’t work over the long haul.

You don’t have to indulge in rich sauces or exotic ingredients to enjoy eating mindfully without breaking the calorie bank.  Yes, it’s possible to take as much pleasure in crisp vegetables and nourishing whole grains as in a take-out burger and fries—more, even, if you think about the tastes and textures you’re craving.  Sweet or salty?  Crispy or creamy?  Hot or cold?

But sometimes only the burger and fries will do.  So go for it.  But be mindful, and you may find less is more.