June 2025 - Sweetpotato Speak

MINDFULLNESS MEDITATION and for your health

By Sarah Schlichter, MPH RDN Registered Dietitian for NCSC

As I thought about what to write for the summer issue of this newsletter, I kept coming back to the topic of mindfulness. Summer is often a time of long and hot days, busy travel, kids out of school and more. It can get very busy quickly. And while mindfulness is often hailed as a trendy buzz word and something we all “know we should do,” do we ever really do it? How do we cultivate mindfulness and calm, amongst our busy lives and responsibilities when planting, growing, harvesting, running the numbers, taking inventory, monitoring waste, etc? When do we really stop and think big picture, rather than the everyday minutia of the details? And is it really worth doing - can it impact our health in any way?

mindfulness meditation, or spiritual meditation in the previous 12 months tripled between 2012 and 2017, from 4.1 percent to 14.2 percent (Source).

So, as any good Registered Dietitian would do, I consulted the research.

I would venture to guess that it’s only increased since then.

What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness helps bring awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance to one's experience in the present moment. According to a 2017 U.S. survey, the percentage of adults who practiced some form of mantra-based meditation,

Can Mindfulness Improve Your Health? The research says yes.

Mindfulness is more than just the counting your breaths and a “woo woo” mantra. There is actually a plethora of research done on mindfulness and health - both physical and mental health.

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