Mindful Eating

by bigartisteswings @ deviantART

Day after day, I keep thinking about my diet. When I'm in school, I eat bars (oatmeal, nuts, fruit filling, etc.) in between classes, and then have an actual meal when I come home. I'm very grateful to my mom, because she makes me tasty dishes... pastas and soups and whatnot (mainly pasta, because I freaking love it and need the carbs). Although she did admit this quarter that the only reason she's making me food now is because she's on a diet that fills up the freezer with her frozen meals, leaving no space for me to have my own. But I don't care. I prefer her dishes over that frozen crap. 

I really want a better diet. The more I become aware of things, the more I realize just all the crap that I'm putting into or on my body. Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. Corn syrup. Preservatives. Harsh irritants. Et cetera.

The only problem is, I'm so used to this junk that it's hard to detach myself. Being in school makes it more challenging to incorporate the good things - not only because of a lack of time, but because of a lack of money, too. Buying produce from Wal-Mart isn't the same as buying produce from a farmer's market. 

What sucked about this quarter is that because I skipped lunch during my 4-day school week, I wouldn't get a lot of the nutrition I need. I would eat those bird/rabbit food bars for light snacks just to keep my stomach quiet and then would come home and eat a meal, plus whatever nutrients I craved that evening. Most of the time, it's protein and carbs. So I would eat things like imitation crab meat, noodles, eggs, or lunchable-style crackers. I wouldn't crave fruit and veggies. 

I really only crave fruit & veggies once every 1-2 weeks or so. Sometimes I can go a bit longer. But this is crap, because I know how important these two food groups are. It's hard to eat these things, however, when I'm not craving them. I haven't had any big problems lately, but I think I'd feel a lot better if I was eating Gaia's finest (or somewhat finest) over fake crab meat and high-sodium noodles. 

Which brings me to my main point: mindful eating. This is something that's been recently brought closer to my attention. I "learned" about it more than a year ago, but never really adopted the practice for whatever reason. I think, though, I'm going to start  utilizing it, because I think it could be beneficial, especially when eating fruit & veggies. I'm one of those people who eats in front of her computer... usually watching an episode of something. I also tend to eat quickly, for two main reasons: 1.) because I usually have something else to do, and 2.) because I don't want to waste food. Fortunately, my parents raised my brother and I to stop eating when we're comfortable. But these days, because I don't eat as much and therefore have a smaller stomach when I come home from school, I know that I won't be able to finish a dish if I eat slowly, and therefore "inhale" it so that I know I won't waste it. I'm sure someone's thinking: "why not save it for later?"

But see, I already have leftovers, and I'm not a fan of storing and reheating something that's already been stored and reheated. My mom tends to make enough servings for anywhere from 3 days to an entire week so that she doesn't have to worry about cooking too often. And once leftovers get to be a week old, I don't want to eat them. So I eat quickly to ensure I finish it all.

So I'm going to practice mindful eating. I want to enjoy my food, not inhale it. The only thing I'm kind of iffy about is practicing this with food that's not good for me, like processed stuff, because I feel like I'd be teaching my body to enjoy chemicals and preservatives, and I don't want that. Therefore, I'll only do this with foods that are good for me. 

Agh, 21st century... you and your poisonous foods. 

Evaah