Day 2

“Motivation is what gets you started.  Habit is what keeps you going.”

Yesterday it felt so good to put myself out there and move forward with making changes in my life. Motivated! That’s what I was. That’s what I am. Yet, after posting my first blog on living mindfully, I sat down at the table for my evening meal, and guess what was beside me? You guessed it – my phone! After spending all afternoon ‘talking’ about taking action, I was sitting at the table researching on my phone about blogging and being in the moment. LOL...the irony of it!  I quickly realized that, due to some bad habits, I have a long road ahead to accomplish my goals. 

I lost my mother unexpectedly to an accident last May. Her loss was very difficult for me. I coped by emotional eating. I’m talking about, stand at the counter and eat ice cream out of the carton type of eating.  (I can’t believe I just admitted that). While my eating habits have never been the best, currently they are worse than ever. I eat at my desk, in the car, watching TV, standing at the counter, etc. Thus, mindful eating is a new habit to pursue. It will be one of my main focuses throughout this journey. 

According to the website, The Center for Mindful Eating, “Mindful Eating is allowing yourself to become aware of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food selection and preparation by respecting your own inner wisdom. By using all your senses in choosing to eat food that is both satisfying to you and nourishing to your body, acknowledging your responses to food (likes, dislikes or neutral) without judgment, and becoming aware of physical hunger and satiety cues to guide your decisions to begin and end eating you can change your relationship to food.” This is a great website if you want to learn more about mindful eating! 

I learned first thing this morning that mindful eating is going to be tough. I was fixing breakfast and tasting the ham before I even realized what I was doing. After I finished fixing breakfast, I did sit at the table to eat. For lunch, I met a friend at a favorite Mexican restaurant. I knew it would be tough not to overeat on chips, so I decided before hand to eat only ten chips. Unfortunately, I was talking and lost count, so to be honest, I'm not sure how many I ate. I suspect more than 10. On a positive note, I ate my supper at the table "mindfully". I know it takes awhile to change old habits, so learning to eat mindfully will be ongoing for me. 

Do any of my readers struggle with eating mindfully?