The other day my mother-in-law was in town running errands, so in the evening after I came home from work we all went out for dinner.
I was fairly hungry at dinner and ate way more than I should have. I’ve been working on mindfully eating so I was aware of my indulgence and embraced it.
The next morning when I woke up, I was not hungry but started my normal routine of making coffee and toast. Luckily my brain was awake enough to realize what was happening.
Brain: Why are you making toast? You’re so NOT hungry! Why don’t you wait until you’re actually hungry to eat
Me: Well, I just usually make toast when I wake up. It’s a habit.
Brain: But you’re NOT hungry right now.
Me: You’re right. I’ll take some peanut butter crackers to work and I’ll eat them when I am hungry. And I’ll take my left overs from dinner for lunch.
Yes, there were leftovers even after eating an enormous amounts of food. American portion sizes are ridiculous.
Anyway… I caught myself in an eating pattern out of habit rather than out of hunger. It’s a small victory although I did mindfully mindless eat a whole small (4″) chocolate cream pie while watching Avengers: Age of Ultron. Today I have a geocaching group meet up at one of my favorite restaurants. I’m not hungry right now and I don’t expect to be hungry at the restaurant. Being aware right now is a huge accomplishment.
Doing daily yoga has helped with being aware and connected in the moment but I’ll save that for another post.
Namaste.
