Last week, I started reading a book called "Eating Mindfully" by Dr. Susan Albers. Here is a brief description from her book about what it means to eat mindlessly. I think it helps illustrate what the opposite is which is mindful eating:
"In our modern society, weight concerns, obesity rates, and obsession with appearance have changed the way we look at food—and not necessarily for the better. If you have ever snacked when you weren’t hungry, have used guilt as a guide for your eating habits, or have cut calories even when you felt hungry, you have experienced 'mindless' eating firsthand."
I'm not done the book yet but I'm diggin' it. I like that she gives you practical exercises to help you eat more mindfully. As I mentioned in previous posts, I feel like the first 4-6 months of my Weight Watchers journey (this time) was about eating, recipes, counting points and implementing exercise. With my goal less than 30 lbs away, I'm finding the work I need to do to move forward is more mental and emotional. And I know I need to learn how to eat mindfully. Here are a few things I learned this week.
Slow 'er down!
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| My Dining Room - I (heart) it so! |
One of the first things I did this week was really slow down at meals and unplug. For the most part, I've been doing this all along. I sit in my dining room, make meals an event and try to take my time. What I did differently this week, is I really tasted the food. I thought about the flavours, textures and even the memories associated with the tastes, smells and look of the food.
I think slowing down allows you to actually taste and enjoy the food but it also let's your body catch up. It was easier to tell when I was satisfied rather than shoving food down fast and realizing after it was too late that I was full.
Away With Labels
Now I'm not talking about nutritional labels, although that is kind of related to this too. This week, I would stop myself anytime I would associate food with either a negative or positive feeling. For example, if I grabbed a tomato to cut up for a salad and I'd here, "oh, a tomato. What a good choice," in my head, I tried to neutralize it. Same thing with negative connotations associated with a gingersnap, for example. A tomato isn't inherently good just like a cookie isn't inherently bad. One might be more nutritious than the other but it's the labels we attached to them that make them seem positive or negative to us.
So how did this work in a practical way? Here's an example. One night, I had fallen asleep on the bed with our little guy and my husband came up later after we had been asleep for a bit. When he moved my son, I woke up and immediately, my stomach was grumbling. I felt hungry! So much so I couldn't go back to sleep. So I went downstairs and looked in the fridge and tried to find something that I knew would satisfy me. I didn't look at the foods as being good or bad, I just tried to feel what would be the most satisfying in that moment.
We had a container of leftover egg noodles that were in the fridge from dinner. I knew that was exactly what would make my tummy feel settled. So I warmed up the small portion of noodles with a wee bit of butter and a bit of fresh parmesan and ate it. Old me would have felt guilty for eating noodles at 11pm but I ate what I needed to be satisfied and left it at that. There was no guilt attached to that moment or that food. I ate what I needed to in order to feel satiated. WHOA! Big deal people! Normally the guilt from that moment would have bothered me all day.
The Counting Conundrum
The tricky part now is, how do I make this work while counting points? Counting points has worked for me for 9 months. I haven't missed one day of writing down my food. Have I put every little thing in my journal or tracker? Um, no. Am I perfect at counting and measuring? Um definitely no. But I always try to keep track of my food day the best I can without being completely neurotic.
With mindful eating, the idea is to get away from obsessing over calories and counting points and labeling food as good or bad... Some of it goes against what we do at Weight Watchers. The idea with mindful eating is that if you just listen to your body's cues, and eat when you're hungry and only until you're satisfied, you shouldn't have to deal with weight problems. Eek! No counting?
So I kind of experimented this week. I really tried to only eat when I felt hungry and ate until I was satisfied. I still counted my points for most meals but, if I ate something that wasn't part of my normal day, like the noodles at 11pm, I didn't count them. I felt like if I counted them, I would be giving that food a negative label. Mostly guilt. But because I ate food in order to satisfy my hunger, I didn't want to feel bad about it. So I didn't track it. LOL... Does this even make sense? I don't know. Just experimenting.
I have decided, however, when we go to Disney World, I am not going to track points. WHAT?!?! Part of me cringes that I would actually stop my own streak (perfectionist) but I think it's an important test and a big step in learning how to trust myself with food. ERMAHGERD! I'm so scared and so exhilarated at the same time. Because I know I can trust myself.
Overall Thoughts...
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| Saturday's French Onion Soup |
A beautiful things has transpired since I started this mindful eating practice this week. I feel so much more at peace with food. I think for most of my life, food was either exhilarating or defeating. I either loved it for all it's gloriousness or resented it for making me fat and for being the catalyst to my binges. It was so polarizing and so painful.
This week I felt more relaxed with my food choices and I felt way more appreciative of food and found more self love. I'm learning that I've really grown in the last 9 months and I've learned that I can listen to my body and make good choices.
So those are my thoughts on this book so far. I'm anxious to see how my weigh in day goes on Tuesday. I'll be sure to keep you posted as I make more discoveries on this whacky road!
From the girl who is growing while shrinking!
Love ya,
Nat xoxo
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