Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What I'm Munching On

Lately, I've been reading a book on intuitive eating by E. Tribole and E. Resch. While I'm still skeptical about their overall program, there have been a few points in the book when I felt as though they could have been writing about me.

Tribole and Resch describe a whole slew of different "eating styles," each with their own unique eating patterns and difficulties. I recognized myself in the "refuse-not unconscious eater." As they describe, a lot of the times I'm not fully aware about what I am eating, how much I am eating, or my hunger level. I often eat when I'm not hungry and lots of times I eat absentmindedly. If there is food, I eat it. And I will eat it until its gone.

According to Tribole and Resch, this is problematic (and I agree!). Instead, they advocate being mindful of hunger levels, food cravings, what it feels like to eat, and hunger level throughout the meal.

They advocate something so simple--eat when you are hungry and don't eat when you are not hungry. Unfortunately, this is incredibly difficult for me. But, I can see how being more mindful of my eating and hunger would make it easier. 

In fact, since I've been reading this book I am astonished to see just how often I eat while paying attention to something else. I eat breakfast while blogging. I eat lunch while working or while I'm in class and snacks might be in front of the tv or while I'm working/in class as well.  Lastly, at least a few nights a week I eat dinner in front of the tv or while working. In fact, just last night I realized I was eating dessert while completely engrossed in a novel. By the time I noticed what was going on I was more than half way through and I hadn't even been paying attention enough to enjoy it. 

So, instead of just absentmindedly eating all day (which often happens when I am working from home like yesterday), I challenged myself to take a picture of everything I ate. I hoped that this would not only serve as documentation of what I'm eating, but also help me be more mindful about what I eat.
So, without further adieu here is my food intake for Tuesday May 17th.

 coffee with almond milk at 7 AM

A mixture of  cheerios and some other kind of cereal at 8. Don't make fun of me, but I eat my cereal with water. I know it sounds weird, but I love it. 

I ate lunch around 12:30. I started getting hungry by 11:40 probably, but I was so engrossed with my work that I didn't want to stop. When I did eat, I had some leftover strawberry, banana, almond milk smoothie, four veggie corndogs by morning star (yummy), and about a cup of leftover cashew chicken.


Handful of cereal to much on around 3 in the afternoon. 


An apple at 4 PM

I ate dinner around 6:30. Neill had band practice so I ate alone. I made a salad with shrimp and tomatoes. I sprinkled some non-fat mozz cheese on there too. On the side, you can see my Annie's Goddess Dressing (so good).  I like to dip my fork in the dressing and then pick up my salad instead of mixing it all together. 



After dinner I wasn't really satisfied. I was full, but still felt like eating something. So, I had a yogurt that satisfied my sweet tooth. 


Late night snack around 10 PM. Nothing beats toast and butter :)

I hate one of these right after my toast. 


Taking pictures of everything I ate was certainly an interesting experience! Instead of just eating something right away, I actually found myself questioning whether or not I really wanted it and I think it kept me from eating out of boredom. For example, if I wasn't taking pictures I think I would have had a few more of those pieces of bread with butter. Not because I was hungry, but just because.

So what do you think? Do you ever eat absentmindedly? What does a normal day of eating look like for you? What do you think of my day? What has your experience with trying to change eating habits been like? 

xoxoxox

alisha

15 comments:

  1. I eat absentmindedly all the time. This is a great way to minitor your food intake! If you hold yourself accountable that's when you start really noticing what's going in your mouth. It's the being mindful--all day long--that's the hardest for sure!

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  2. I'm an at work absentminded eater. If I have a bag of candy, crackers, cookies, or anything, I will eat the entire thing without realizing. So I don't keep snacks in the office anymore for that reason.

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  3. I'm definitely an absentminded eater!

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  4. I absolutely do! And then I start wondering what I ate all day...great idea!!

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  5. I'm a boredom eater. If I'm busy, I usually only eat when I'm hungry. But, I think that this may help me slow down and start thinking about what I'm eating again. Good idea!

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  6. I know exactly what you mean about being absent minded when you eat! I can eat a bag of chips in no time and not bat an eye.

    It looks like you did great with taking photos of what you ate. :D

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  7. I am a constant snacker. yes, I know this isn't good.

    eww. cereal with water?! Crazy :) I like to eat my cereal dry.

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  8. whenever I worked on something serious (school-related, work-related), I had to "bribe" myself by constantly eating.

    Sooner or later, I realized that I didn't actually care about eating, I just wanted to taste something in my mouth. So I switched to gum/unsweetened tea and it does the trick perfectly!

    I think this photo project is really cool! I also eat cereal with water... milk & me don't get along too well.

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  9. I snack constantly throughout the day. And, when I'm at work, it's so hard to find healthy things to eat like fruits and veggies so I always go for the chips!

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  10. In February I did Hypnosis for Weight Loss in February and the game changed a bit for me. Now, I am very aware of what I am eating. And with the dietitian I am working with, I am also hyper-aware of when I am eating.

    That said, there are times when I am aware I shouldn't, and I eat it instead. So my willpower isn't all it cracked up to be, I guess.

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  11. I know a really big thing was that I needed to stop eating things at work. So I bring my lunch and my snacks and with the exception of the rare treat, that's it, you know? Because usually I have a lovely dinner planned out that I want to enjoy, guilt-free.

    Since I think this book sounds fascinating and now I want to source it as well, I figure I should swap a recommendation for a recommendation...I highly recommend reading The Skinny by Melissa Clark and Robin Aronson. It's like my healthy living bible.

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  12. This is such a great idea! I always try to document my eating habits by typing them in to my cell phone, but I always forget, or start eating things that I don't even notice I'm eating! Abscentminded eating, I am so guilty of that. Great + informative post!!

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  13. I find that when I am craving lots of sugary stuff it's really because my diet is missing some fat.

    Yesterday I ate:

    2 cranberry scones for lunch
    1 apple
    1 yo-yo cookie
    and an indian tofu curry (clearly not authentic) with rice.

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  14. I definitely need to be better with mindful eating. I tend to eat just because, most of the time. Not hungry, just bored or lonely or sad or, whatever. Also, not weird at all that you eat cereal with water. I HATE milk and did the same when I was little.

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  15. I am working on not eating absentmindedly as well...avoiding snacking at my desk in the mid-morning or early afternoon seems to be the hardest part. Since I'm usually the one in the office who buys snacks, I try to buy things that I'm not very interested in but I know others will eat :)

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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Every comment brings a smile to my face!