1:05 p.m. Feb. 11:

I’m in a Facebook group right now that discusses mindful eating. Basically, pay attention to how you eat, how your body processes it, how you feel when you’re eating, WHY are you eating, etc.

Today’s challenge was to just sit down with a meal – do just that. Eat the meal, no multi-tasking, no reading, no working, no standing over a sink, no eating behind the wheel.

After a unusually cranky morning, I scrapped my plans to go running but decided a brisk walk would do me good, before the rain came this afternoon. Bonus – found a nice forested walking trail by my office, so that will be utilized often as the days get nicer. Even did a little trail jogging.

Then, I came back to my “Garbage Can Salad” – tossed whatever I had in the fridge this morning. Some kale/broccoli greens/cabbage/hardy greens, feta cheese, cubed and baked yam, shredded chicken, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and some homemade honey mustard dressing.

Instead of normally reaching for the newspapers that arrive daily in my office or checking Facebook, I decided I should try this mindful eating challenge. Kinda like a meditation on eating.

It was actually kind of hard.

Here’s how it went via the thought process:

I’ll take in this view from my office (I have practically floor to ceiling windows that look out on to a greenbelt and other office buildings)

I’m gonna prop my dirty trail shoes up on this desk and take it all in for the next 10 minutes.

Man, these greens REALLY need to be massaged with some oil and salt. They are just too rough for my liking. Maybe some lemon juice would do (which was sitting on a shelf behind me but I never reached for it).

Oh, this is a super dry salad – the dry greens and the store bought shredded chicken is really dry. Good thing I have feta and yam in here. But it could use some more dressing.

I should write something up about this in the group. No, I’ll do a 15 minutes blog! It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those.

The gold in the dead grass over there is actually quite pretty.

I think I see some mist.

Man, this salad IS really dry. Screw it. I’m going to go over the allotment and add a little more. (Goes to fridge, sprinkles some on, comes back).

*Pierces a huge chunk of salad with fork and shoves in mouth* OH that’s MUCH better.

 

Huh. This is kind of like meditating, I think. Focusing on one task at hand and doing nothing else. This is kind of hard. My brain is so flakey and wants to do this and this and that and this ….

————

But, I stuck it out and found myself thinking more and more about my salad and what was in it and briefly thinking about the “fullness” scale.

And then I took the last bite, thought to myself, “that was pretty damn good” and tossed it aside.

And that is 15 minutes.