Did you even notice that!

17^th November 2011

Nothing is easy to the unwilling. Thomas Fuller

This time tomorrow, I’ll be on my way to the airport so yes I’m now at super excited stage, although actually think I’m a little calmer than yesterday probably because it’s almost here!

I was rushing around yesterday, had to go to the dentist for a filling – not nice, I really do not like needles nor the numbness it leaves you with for hours afterwards but at least I have my choppers in tact for my trip.

As I was rushing around like a lunatic, I was also grabbing food in a quick way too, and I noticed something, when I grab food (and I think others do this too) whether it actually is fast food or junk food or just something you can eat quickly, i.e. in the car or walking or at your desk then I eat it quickly too, I don’t focus on it at all and I don’t even taste it because it’s gone that quickly.  Now I’m not sure if I eat it quickly because I’m in a rush so it’s just automatic or because I feel guilty that I’m eating fast food and know it’s not good for me!  I’m still not sure and it’s something for me to ponder on, so if you do the same, try and slow down with the eating, I’m going too.

Mindfulness that’s what it’s called, how many times have you got somewhere and not remembered getting there?  Or done something and for the life of you don’t remember?  We are so preoccupied these days it’s frightening!  And that contributes to our weight gain, I know many members who join and that first week they’ll come back and tell me how someone offered them a chocolate and they’d said yes and eaten it before they’d remember they were on a diet!   You know how it goes, you've been working hard all day and it's time for at treat. You've been holding off, waiting for the delicious taste of … what is it that floats your boat?  Maybe a bar of chocolate or a packet of crisps.  You take the first bite - delicious! You take the second bite. Still good, maybe a little less yummy than the first bite, but never mind. You glance at the tv or the computer and something catches your eye. Something happens in I’m a celeb, or someone posts a video on Facebook. You click on it, watch, and continue eating.  Suddenly you look down. Where did that treat go? Your fingers are sticky and there's still a trace of flavour in your mouth, so it must have disappeared down the hatch while you weren't looking . . . or smelling, or tasting, or enjoying. Disappointment and dissatisfaction set in. "That one just disappeared! I'd better have another one." Next the internal critic voice pipes up "What are you thinking? One treat is enough. You know you're trying to lose weight."

And so begins the struggle over the simple, natural, pleasurable act of eating.  I find it really sad that food and eating have become such a common source of unhappiness? And one of the basic reasons for our imbalance with food and eating is that we've forgotten how to be present as we eat. We eat mindlessly.

The food industry decided that the problem must be in the food, so they’ve used chemical technology to take the calories out, the fat out, and to substitute chemical sweeteners and artificial fats. Food is food. It is neither good nor bad. Then it was decided the problem was our fat cells, so people liposuctioned them out.  Then it was decided that the digestive system was the problem, so let’s staple the stomach or surgically by-pass the small intestine. The digestive system is just trying to do its job, breaking down food, absorbing nutrients and excreting what's not needed. (There's no question that bariatric surgery can be an emergency life-saving measure for some people. It works by forcing people to eat mindfully, causing pain and vomiting if they don't. It is very expensive, has lots of side effects, and is not a long-term solution for the majority of people or for children with out-of-balance eating.

We could consider that maybe the problem is not in the food, the fat cells or the stomach and intestines. The problem lies in the mind. It lies in our lack of awareness of the messages coming in from our body, from our very cells and from our heart. Mindful eating helps us learn to hear what our body is telling us about hunger and satisfaction. It helps us become aware of who in the body/heart/mind complex is hungry, and how and what is best to nourish it. Mindful eating is natural, interesting, fun, and cheap.

Mindfulness is simply the moment-by-moment awareness of life. But it’s not always so simple. We so easily get caught up in our own thoughts and self-talk that we are scarcely aware of life as it passes us by. As we know this is certainly true of our eating. We eat meal after meal, snack after snack, barely aware of what we’re eating and how much we’re consuming.  So just for today (and then you can reassess tomorrow) decide to eat mindfully, start paying attention to your life.

Why not try taking the first four sips of a cup of hot tea or coffee with full attention?   Or if you are reading and eating, try alternating these activities, not doing both at once? Read a page, then put the book down and eat a few bites, savouring the tastes, then read another page, and so on.  Next time you’re sitting down to a meal, you might eat in silence for the first five minutes.  Try eating one meal a week mindfully, alone and in silence. Be creative. For example, could you eat lunch behind a closed office door, or even alone in your car?

It’s not easy, I’ve tried it, we get so easily distracted – good luck!