Unconscious eating - Wake Up!

Yesterday I had a glimpse into an aspect of my eating that I hadn't recognized before. My work day starts at 8:30, so usually I eat breakfast, or at least part of it, very early at home - by 6:30am. I then go to a 7am daily AA meeting I've attended for years, and from there straight to work. Yesterday was a morning when I had eaten 1 egg and 2 egg whites scrambled before the meeting, so intended to have the rest of my breakfast once I got to my office. The rest is the same Monday-Friday - some kind of fruit, and a cup of Trader Joe's Greek style plain yogurt with 2 packets of Splenda.

Immediately upon getting to work, I fired up the computer and did what every dedicated employee does first thing...read comments on my own blog and read several other blogs. I then went to eat my yogurt (having already had my fruit while reading), but the container was no where to be found. Until I glanced into the trash, and there was the EMPTY container. I had already eaten the yogurt, and didn't even realize it! Talk about unconscious eating! I recalled that I'd taken the fruit and yogurt out at the same time, but what with being mesmerized by the contents on the monitor, I just sailed through the yogurt without noticing. Later, I did the same thing with the bag of cut up carrots and celery I bring daily to munch throughout the morning. I thought I had some left from my late morning munching which occurred while I was on the phone with a friend (more dedicated employee behavior), and realized I'd scarfed the whole bag already.

I can assure you that these weren't senior moments...they were classic examples of unconscious eating. I never thought I did that. I've read about how when you eat a meal or snack, you should really focus on it - notice the texture and flavor of the food. Chew each bite thoroughly and feel it in your mouth and as you swallow. Wait a few seconds (at least) before shoveling in the next bite, etc. I thought those were good suggestions, but not for me because I never did that mindless eating. I wish I could know how often I've done that with chips, cookies, candy, helpings of food at meals and esp. holidays. Every day, particularly in a binge, I likely eat much more than I even realize because I'm not paying attention.

This served as a great wake up call for me. And not just about eating - I do so many other things unconsciously, like walks on beautiful days. Sure, I notice the blue sky, the changing leaves, the sounds of a the creek along the trail - at first. But then the mind goes into hyperthink, and the walk becomes another item to check off my list, rather than a visceral, pleasurable, peaceful experience with nature and myself. The Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, has a book called Peace Is Every Step, about walking meditatively and finding new depth of experience and awakening. In googling to check the spelling of his name, I ran across a YouTube video of him talking about this topic - the link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQhspVJKxY

I've read some of the book, but to hear him discuss anything is truly a spiritual experience. Haven't yet listened to it, but will do so after work (I'm not a total slacker). Anyway, I want to live in each moment more fully, more consciously. Apparently I have a lot of work to do in this arena, if I'm not even noticing when I finish off a bag of carrots and some yogurt! I'm pretty sure this life is only able to be experienced in the moment. And if I want to live as deeply and fully as possible, I need to notice where I am and what I'm doing as much as I can. I expect this will help my eating issues as well.