Eating Awareness 101
After our 22 year old son took care of our dogs for the weekend, we had some left over bananas that I could not bring myself to throw away. So like any responsible person would do, I made banana bread. I followed (somewhat) the healthy quick bread directions, using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, maple syrup instead of sugar, coconut oil instead of butter and was feeling quite virtuous. I even waited to eat it until my planned fast was completed. I was so looking forward to enjoying this bread with my coffee, eating it on the porch in the sun; it was gong to be perfect.
Weirdly though, I didn’t feel very satisfied after 2 generous slices. I still felt hungry and a little annoyed as I knew 2 pieces was probably enough, and I just needed to wait until my stomach caught up with my brain. (We play these games with ourselves about what we should and shouldn’t do properly. Am I right?) So, I waited. I drank water. I did some laundry. I swept the floor. And I was still hungry. So, like any awareness-seeking person would do, I chose to eat some protein and fat in the form of mixed nuts. They were great, but also a slippery slope for my hunger-driven stomach. As I finished, I knew I could easily eat more, but I was trying hard to “be good with my food”, so I started reading.
I’m reading a lot lately, mostly about chemistry and biology and psychology ~ all the thrillers. 😊 And what I read helped me stay the course of learning. And this is the point of this silly story: every single experience with food and habits and fullness and hunger can teach us something so we can improve. And since we’re adults and able to make choices beyond cravings or food commercials, we can use each time we eat (or don’t eat) as a lesson in learning. Here’s what I learned from my unimpressive banana bread meal (which I have formally adored):
Healthy
homemade, high fiber, low sugar & nutritious.
Higher carbohydrate “meals” leave us wanting more, even when there’s fiber and low sugar involved. Bread in general, and alone, does not satisfy, it creates more desire for more bread.
I’m not anti-carb or anti-bread (my mother would disown me if I ever uttered those words in her presence). But I am against eating unawares. And since we’re training ourselves to be more intuitive eaters (and fasters), the recognition that this banana bread, while delicious, can’t be a meal in itself, seems like personal growth, however small.
Meal satisfaction (practically always) comes from proteins, fats AND carbohydrates. Eating avocado toast with eggs (which I do very frequently) DOES satisfy and nourish me for hours. Eating banana bread and coffee didn’t not satisfy me at all. That’s not to say banana bread is “bad”, I just am not satisfied when I eat it alone. I will continue to eat bread, banana or otherwise, just coupled with more protein and fats.
This is all so very elementary that perhaps you’re wondering why I would consider writing a blog about this minute experience. And you’re right on one level. It is very simple and probably obvious to most of you, but it is this type of evaluation and awareness that helps us change our habits. In my experiences and education with coaching, it is precisely this simple stuff that keeps us stuck or helps us grow.
Eggs
may be one of the world’s most perfect foods. Dense nutrition, convenient, fast and versitile.
Just because something is simple, does not mean it’s easy to change. For example, how many of us floss our teeth everyday? Make our beds everyday? Put away our laundry everyday? Go to bed so we’ll be rested for tomorrow everyday? Drink all the water everyday? Exercise everyday? Don’t overeat any day? Obviously, no one does everything right everyday. But when we value the simple reality that we really can take care of small things and they will create big change, then we will change. Until then, we’ll probably keep eating the rest of the banana bread and just hope we’ll fill up.
