I previously read newspapers, magazines, books or even mail while I ate. Then I realized reading was distracting me from my stomach cues of 'not hungry or satisfied or even pleasantly full. I also missed the psychological enjoyment of tastes and textures of the food. So I stopped reading altogether for 1-2 meals several days a week. Then I forgot my intention to focus on the meal and started to read at a later meal. After a few moments I felt cheated. I preferred to enjoy the meal. I knew I could read later.
However, this morning before breakfast, I had laid the newspaper within reach (and view), although I didn't intend to read during breakfast. As I ate and began to feel satisfied, I started feeling 'bored with eating' no matter how tasty the food was when I started. I suspect that boredom occurs because my tastebuds are not as keen when I'm no longer hungry. So tasty food stops tasting as great.
When I reached that 'boring (maybe I'm satisfied?)' point this morning, I glanced at the paper. I didn't want to eat while reading. So I just put my spoon down, pushed my bowl of cereal aside and read the front page for a few minutes. Then I decided to return to my bowl of cereal to see if I really wanted more. My favorite cereal didn't taste as good. So I started picking out the cereal coated fruit (pear). After about 3 bites I didn't want more.
That experience showed me that stopping eating to read during a meal CAN provide a useful stopping point or pause to consider how satisfied I feel. I prefer to stop eating at pleasantly full (very slight but comfortable stomach distention), rather than 'not hungry anymore'. So stopping eating long enough to read or pray or converse with someone else for a few minutes, when I start to feel 'bored', can help me acknowledge that I'm satisfied and choose whether I want to quit eating or slowly eat a couple more bites. That pause also lets my body 'catch up' or digest the food enough for my blood sugar to rise and tell me I'm satisfied. I'm now considering saying 'grace' somewhere in the middle of my meal, to insert a prayerful pause that enables me to assess my satisfaction/fullness level.
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2 comments:
Hi Sue,
I can relate to feeling "bored" with sitting down to eat a meal. I think it's wonderful how you didn't just force yourself to eat without allowing yourself to read anything, but instead kept the newspaper in sight so when you felt like you wanted to pause to read you did just that. You stopped eating to let your mind enjoy the reading, instead of multitasking. I recall you used to watch television while standing and eating at the same time.
I really like the idea of pausing one task to focus on another. I'm going to try that, because I often occupy myself with something else while eating (like sketching nervous drawing on a paper napkin, or reviewing a calender, or worrying about something).
I also notice that I tend to overeat when I'm not alone, especially with family. I think talking and/or listening makes me nervous, and since I'm expected to be eating I permit myself to eat but often feel I cannot stop because I don't feel satisfied even when I'm uncomfortably full.
But, like you said before, that's most likely because I'm not eating the foods that are high in protein so eating "safe" foods keeps me hungry even if I eat a high amount.
I really like the way you allow yourself to pause during the meal, to focus on how you're responding and processing both physically and mentally :)
Olia
Olia: I DON'T feel bored when I sit down to eat a meal. Then I'm hungry and fascinated with all the tastes and textures of the food, which I thoroughly enjoy. I DON'T like to read or watch tv or do anything EXCEPT focus on enjoying the food when I first sit down to eat.
AFTER I begin to feel satisfied and my taste buds aren't as sensitive BECAUSE I'm no longer hungry, THEN I begin to feel bored. My point in this post was that 'boredom' is a sign that I'm getting satisfied, no longer hungry, and almost full.
Taking a pause to read or talk to someone or just think, when I feel 'bored', lets me stop eating long enough to assess whether I need to eat more and how much I need to eat.
When you eat with your family and feel nervous, you may overeat to comfort yourself, because you have so many unresolved emotional issues with your parents. Also you may 'match' their eating speed. When others eat quickly, we may eat quickly, IF we worry about what they think about us.
You also said that you're 'expected to be eating'. So maybe you don't really start eating when you are hungry, but because you want to please your parents or at least avoid their criticism about your not eating. When we start eating before we feel hungry, we have no physical sensation of satisfaction to tell us to stop eating, other than uncomfortable fullness.
If you want to eat with your parents, you need to 'save your hunger' for the dinner hour or whatever meal you share with them. Also consider your purpose for eating with your parents. Although I enjoy eating by myself, because I can focus on what I eat, I also like to eat with my husband. However, those meals with him are more than a time to eat. We talk about our days and sometimes watch a netflix movie together. So I have to switch my focus from food to conversation and then back to food.
After I learned to eat without distractions by myself, I could more easily sense 'satisfaction' when I eat with other people. People who eat 'normally' do that all the time. So I can also eat with others and listen to my body as I eat.
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