"I am not a glutton. I am an explorer of food." – Erma Bombeck
I am a very spiritual person so my "comfort" during traumatic times in my life have mostly been spiritual in nature - spiritual readings, meditation, listening to spiritual music, etc. Other times, I've kept a personal journal. When I need time to myself, the first thing I do is turn to is reading or writing.
My relationship with food is simply that I truly ENJOY eating. I love going out to restaurants and trying out different foods - my favorites are seafood and international cuisine. However, I've not delved much into gourmet cooking. I did learn Turkish cuisine when I was a young woman living in Turkey - and it is a time-consuming type of cooking as everything is made from scratch. I enjoyed cooking during those years as I often cooked with other women - usually my former mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. They taught me the right way to prepare Turkish cuisine. I also enjoy cooking with my husband. Now that I'm retired, I would like to spend more time experimenting with recipes - perhaps even revive some of the Turkish recipes I used to prepare.
I do plan to continue the "two bite exercise" in the days to come, especially since I'll be taking a road trip which means we will be eating out. I can limit what I put on my plate at home but when I eat out, I need to use will power to decide when I've had enough as often portions served in restaurants are large. I will continue recording what I eat and practice mindful eating whether or not I have time to blog.
What did I today to demonstrate total commitment?
I swam laps for 45 minutes today.
I was able to keep at my points. My menu today consisted of: Breakfast - Fiber One cereal with unsweetened Almond Milk and a banana; Lunch - beef and barley soup and mixed fruit; Dinner - one slice of home-made ham, cheese and mushroom quiche and a spinach salad w/tomatoes, cucumbers, celery and olives with ff dressing. Snacks: fruit and almonds; one piece of dark chocolate
Excellent post! Although I DO turn to food in times of stress, I am not sure that I am going to do this exercise today, as there is no need to if right at this moment I'm not turning to food (wow, does that mean that right now I'm not stressed? can't be!). However, I'm tucking it away so that IF I can catch myself in the act, I will try to sit quietly with the exercise. Good job on the laps!
ReplyDeleteMiriam
I think that there is always a reason when I eat without thinking. I just don't take the time to analyze it. Part of it is just habit, or because I CAN eat what I want when I want. I do find that I react to different emotions by heading for the kitchen though.
ReplyDeleteIt's true...I have seen plenty of people who think they just like food, start sticking it in their mouth even during a stressful conversation with out knowing it. I noticed that when I noticed how many bowls of chocolate hover at teacher meetings. lol I am one of them, there is something about chocolate that just comforts ya. Food was created to nourish us and without it we would die, but the very existence of a blog like this with so much time related to food means there is a problem and I believe it can be and is spiritual in nature. An excessive focus on food. We crave the things of this world to create happiness in us at that very moment when that is what we are looking for. A drug addict too could say " I don't do drugs because I am stressed out, I do drugs because I love to do them " If this body is created in Gods image and we desire to serve Him and glorify him, we cannot do it from a state that is unhealthy and unable to because of the state we have created in it by overindulging in food for our own enjoyment. That's it right there. When we do that we choose it over a path that God wants us to walk. If we call it what scripture calls it, it gets uncomfortable real quick .Scripture calls it, greed, excessive lust, gluttony, excessive focus upon food. We eat a bunch of it because we just "love" it, and some people have none and perish..It's a huge battle and we have to see the seriousness of it and really call on God to help us every moment for healing and a healthy, spiritually strong outlook on it. Help me God! I just want to desire you and then be content with what you give me which is all that I need! Keep focused mom!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...you have all given me "food for thought" --- no pun intended : ). Maybe I just don't realize that when I eat mindlessly that I'm eating for other reasons other than just because I enjoy food! It's a complicated topic...maybe the most complicated one to date on this Challenge and it may well take me weeks to figure this out. I think many of our habits - whether healthy or un-healthy - are habits we picked up in our childhood. The focus on healthy eating that we have today in our society wasn't much an issue in the '50's and '60's when I was growing up. I also don't think enjoying good food necessarily equates to greed or gluttony! Whew! That's a bit extreme! Oh, and the quote I started this entry with was tongue-in-cheek! : )
ReplyDeleteDeniz, while this week is all about food/eating habits, the entire blog is not just about food - it's about getting physically healthy/strong and that includes more than just eating right. You may not have read my entire blog - from Day 1 - because if you did that, then you would see the entire picture. We'll discuss this more when I get down to San Antonio this week! : )