Be Mindful!

I went to a FANTASTIC meeting for FWSW last night. Ann Reidenbach spoke to us about "Mindful Eating". A lot of what she had to say made sense to me. What does it mean to be "mindful"? What is a "mindful eater"? We of course were only able to touch the tip of the ice berg, but it was a great start!

According to Ann, a mindful eater is diligently aware of what is going on within their body as well as their surroundings when choosing to eat or not to eat, WITHOUT JUDGEMENT.

We spent a bit of time talking about what hunger feels like, what happens when we get too hungry, too full, etc. Anne had a great hunger/fullness scale to aid in the discussion. The gist of the conversation was that we should feel hungry before we eat. Not crazy over the top pshycho hungry, but reasonably strong signals of hunger. Then, we should enjoy our food, taking our time to eat it. We should stop eating when we feel comfortably full.

The tricks to that
*You have to be PREPARED to be able to eat when you reach that hungerness level.
*You need to not be doing anything while you eat so that you can actually enjoy the "experience".
*You have to learn where that line is for you between starting to feel full, being comfortably full, and very full.

I am enjoying a snack of light cheese and crackers while typing this. Snacks don't count, right?

Finally, we did a rather strange "tasting" exercise. It was strange, but it was GOOD! First, we were supposed to get in a sort of meditative place. Then we took a raisin and really focused on it with our senses. You know, how does it feel between your fingers, what does it look like/smell like. Then we put it in our mouth but didn't chew it. I know, it sounds goofy, but stick with me! We again focused on texture/feel/taste. Then we chewed it, continuing to be aware of the food. We chewed it a lot. Then swallowed. In all of it's goofiness it made COMPLETE SENSE! One person even said that they suddenly realized that they don't actually LIKE raisins! Another said that she had never really tasted a raisin before this! It was a great exercise in mindfulness. How often do we just sit down and start shovelling the food into our mouths? Do we really taste what we are eating?

Ann recommends doing this with one food every day and then eventually doing this with one meal a day. I don't know if my scatter-brain can handle a whole meal! BUT, I will say that today I made a point of making a nice lunch and sitting at the table, far away from the computer to enjoy my lunch. I couldn't help myself and ended up skimming the local paper for a few minutes, but I was definitely much more aware of the meal and how wonderful it was.

For a while now I have been eating on a schedule, whether I am hungry or not. But today I am trying to wait until I actually feel hungry. And, I am trying to pay attention to how my stomache feels to let me know when to stop. I though my lunch was kind of big today, but I ate it all and enjoyed it. And when I was done I was comfortably full. Three and a half hours later I started to feel hungry and had a snack.

And finally, Ann said something that made me stop and think. Know your greatest weekness and respect the food that triggers you. So cookies are definitely a trigger for me, especially my homemade ones. I need to respect the draw that those cookies have on me and keep them out until I am ready to overcome that weakness. I think. (I make really good cookies, man!)