Day 11, January 5

If children gave up when they fell for the first time, they would never learn to walk.

Why is mindful eating so hard? Learning to eat mindfully has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. So, I've been reading various internet articles on mindful eating and why it can be difficult. Below are a few things I have learned from my reading, and a few excuses I've used myself.

Mindful eating takes too long. It is difficult to slow down and focus on what  we are eating, let alone how are body is responding to it. However, it doesn't have to take a long time. Sure, a meal might take a little longer than a snack. But, if you decide to have that cookie or piece of  chocolate, why not take a break (most likely just a few minutes) and really enjoy the treat? One article suggested turning that break into a "mini-meditation" session.

Society makes mindful eating hard. Eating at your desk, grabbing a smoothy on the run, and checking Facebook while eating are all acceptable in today's society. I remember years ago my husband and I were doing some work for my grandparents. (Well,  he was doing most of the actual work.) When it was time for lunch, they  had us stop and my grandmother had us all sit at the table and have a small, yet well-balanced meal. They would never have considered just giving us a sandwich or something that we could grab bites of on and off while we continued working.

Mindful eating "feels silly". Some people think it's just silly and unnecessary to focus on just one thing at a time, especially eating. If you think about how a toddler eats, however, mindful eating is human nature. Toddlers play with their food, touch it, smell it and taste it. Eating is an experience (sometimes a pretty messy one).

We have developed poor eating habits. I've read that it takes as little as 21 days to as many as 60 days to form a new habit. I've been eating on the run and while multi-tasking for quite awhile now. I need to be patient in forming new habits.

Overall, I feel that I'm making pretty good progress with my mindful eating. Usually, it's old habits that get in my way, For example, yesterday I was cutting up an apple to eat, but I had half of it eaten before I had finished slicing it up. For my readers, which of the above (or other) reason makes mindful eating difficult for you?

Mindful eating is a new skill that we can all work on one bite at a time.