People who try mindful eating usually report that food is more enjoyable. However, if the reinforcement gradient were this simple we'd expect everyone to already be doing it from the time they are children. What's going on?
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i think this assumes that the state of mind of eating is independent from other states of mind.
that is: the rest of life trains us to be not-very-aware/mindful/present, so even if mindfulness is rewarded in certain contexts, it doesn't stick.
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put another way, awareness of one's immediate experience is not something that a typical person can easily toggle on and off based on when it is superficially rewarding to have around.
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(there might also be an element here of parents using dinner as a time for conversation, where they demanded that i be ready at attention to communicate with them, and thus i was punished for/dissuaded from keeping awareness on what i was actually doing)
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oh yeah, and as a kid, breakfast had to be eaten as quickly as possible (to get to school on time) and lunch was in an unsafe environment 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
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