MINDFULNESS TRACKER: SHARE A MINDFUL - WAKE UP!
JOIN THE ONLY ONLINE NONSTOP MINDFUL EATING MINDSTREAM - 24/7/365 - EACH TIME YOU SHARE A MINDFUL EATING MOMENT, YOU'RE LEADING THE NEXT MIND (THAT'S READING ABOUT IT) BACK TO ITSELF - SOMEONE'S ALWAYS EATING... JOIN THE MINDFUL EATING CIRCLE ... BREAK THE BREAD OF MINDFULNESS TOGETHER... POST... READ... FOLLOW... LEAD...NOW:
No signup or registration: just type in the message, keep it short and sweet (twitter-length), decide on whether you want to identify yourself or not, and hit post. Abusive and commercial posts will be removed. Thank you for sharing this mind-space with kindness and tact. Tip: don't worry about spelling or being eloquent, just share a peace of mind about a piece of cake you had... Oops, I think I misspelled something. By the way, here's a dose of self-acceptance in case you feel you mindlessly overate. Final clarification: I'm not online all the time (gotta pay bills,you know), but I will be definately joining this mindstream when I can to offer strategies, to pose questions. So, the thread is self-moderated. Feel free to exchange your mindful eating know-how!
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My mindfulness strategy for today - try to do something entirely different that what I might normally do. When I want to snack I'll reach for fresh vegetables and fruit. Same for when I am craving something sweet. Might develop into a good habit over time and combined with mindfulness eating! Unbeatable!
Most of the day did well with mindful eating. I was not very mindful this evening. Had a beer, cheese, crackers - fun food - threw mindfulness out the window. Breakfast and lunch were good though - careful, thoughtful, mindful.
One time I really was successfully turned off a food was when I turned 12: my mother bought me 12 of my favorite candy bars in a brilliant reverse psychology move. I demolished them within 72 hours-and have only eaten 2 of those candy bars in the almost 3 decades since.
When I look around in my kitchen (and family room...and office...), I really think that a lot of those cookbooks have GOT to go (I mean..it is just food porn, really...something to whet the appetite and keep us in a constant state of fantasy and anticipation. I mean-seriously-how many of us actually make even 1/10 of the recipes in even our favorite cookbooks?? And if we got rid of any modern cookbook, all the recipes would be easily google-able anyway).
I am secretly scared of passing on bad food habits to my son and put a lot of effort into modelling constructive food behaviors in his presence. When he said "I had a bad time at that event, so I am just going to have this brownie here." I was proud of the deliberate nonchalance with which I said 'Nahh, that's not how we handle stress. Let's think of another way you can feel better."
His father and I once exchanged favorite travel stories with 2 good friends. Literally every story came back to food-it was how all of us had remembered the towns and cities: bad pasta in the Andes, unbelievable latkes in Cologne....and so on. All well and good...but I can't help thinking that there is something wrong with this picture. I am determined to try my friend Sue's Peanut Butter Sandwich challenge (where you visit any place you like, but just eat the peanut butter sandwiches, give or take some fruit). She swears it changes her whole perspective on the places she goes to-having to create non-food centered impressions.
I'll say it again, Marion, you have the most delightful way of writing. It informs, it entertains, it makes me laugh, it encourages - please keep doing it!
I think I sometimes have a food devil on my left shoulder, always yelling "FTS! You DESERVE it!" when I think about moderating an amount of food I am about to eat, or holding off on some gastronomic whim when I am not really hungry. I like this guy-his commentary is hilarious at times-but I am getting better and better at taking his input as one of a series of options open to me.
Angel on my right shoulder encourages me to use the pomegranate molasses more, and juice and can farm grown vegetables in the spirit of my peasant ancestors.
Somewhere between the two is the life I live. I think the trick indeed is to keep up momentum and not let the more humdrum days stand in the way of progress-the great leap forward may well be around the next bend! (My own road-painfully straight this week-but why not hope??:)
what's your mindful eating know-how du jour?
Though hopefully it is uphill from here on in until we bite the dust for us humans on this mindfulness path! So I lift my glass in a toast to you all as we shield our eyes against the sun and go on....
But then- it seemed kinda ungrateful. So instead I say-a heartfelt THANK YOU Pavel, for the wisdom and support.
And last but not least-for the reminder that there is in fact no finish line, however annoying that may be at times...:)
Never fear-I do not have a number goal on the scale in mind. Technically, I know there is a 30lb weight range (rather than a single number, which would be well-nigh impossible to attain and maintain) within which I will be comfortable in my own skin and where my face will look like my face again. Meanwhile I still walk tall and am OK with myself: I have always felt that for me, the one thing worse than being fat would be being self conscious and fat. I think all people should walk with their heads held high, regardless of personal insecurities and issues.
When I look in the mirror, I can't help but see the vestiges of stressful times when I did not take good care of myself, and substituted food for other, deeper needs that were unmet. That reminder is what makes me cringe, more than the physical aesthetics.
Now that so many parts of my life have bloomed, and I have made real progress with mindfulness, esp with regards to eating, I am looking forward to the day when I have shed my "old skin", with it's scars from issues and wounds long gone, and grown a new skin that better reflects my current condition-of mindfulness, and self nurturing and balance-when I look the way I feel.
And if I am truly mindful with food, then by definition I will (mostly) be eating the right amount at the right time-in a way that reflects my individual needs, and not societal standards/habits, as Susan has pointed out.
The other important point for me is continued progress. Though I am still struggling with some other aspects of mindfulness, I can do one mindful and one mouthful per meal easily. I want to continue to challenge myself, rather than "treading water", so to speak. So I am working on continued mindfulness practice at a level that makes me work more. It is also important for me to be constantly aware of the feelings and needs I have at any given time that can get misdirected at cravings/unhealthy food behaviors, so that I can substitute appropriate (non-food) satisfiers.
I guess I find it hard to believe that if I was true to my self and my needs that I would continue to be overweight: I would find it really discouraging if my weight did not change as all these other things improved. (Happily, right now, I am losing weight, at a slow but so far steady pace.) The weight loss is not my focus-we all know plenty of skinny people who are miserable-it is just one barometer of success. (If forced to choose, I would take fat and mindful.)