While driving home from a family weekend in New Jersey, Emmy posted this meme she found interesting online to the Simply Health Facebook group page.  After she read it to me I realized I had to write a blog post about it. It is about when we mindlessly eat food. If this describes you then keep reading after the meme…

Do you eat while:

I don’t know where she found it but it struck a chord with me in my personal quest to find a mindful way of approaching my feeding window as I end my fast. Part A is a simple fix to not eat in the car, I can do that, but parts B, C, and D are much more difficult.

I find myself standing in front of the refrigerator daily. I find myself wondering if I’m going to have the internal strength to say no to mindless eating, to binging on sugary snacks. I need a simple mantra to overcome these urges to mindless consume. I think I found it after reading Emmy’s meme.

Eat in a Seat

Period.

It’s so simple I can’t believe that I haven’t hit on this idea before. Sometimes the most simple of solutions are the more elusive to uncover. Going forward I’m promising myself to only eat when I’m sitting down in a chair, preferable at the dinning table.

After Emmy posted the meme some other group members posted some goals that align well with this mantra and concept. They are:

I will not break a fast/eat while ‘on the road’. 

I love this goal because it challenges us to think about feeding as a special occasion. Something to be mindful about and enjoyed. Are you enjoying and being present with your meal while you are driving? Of course not. You are focusing on the road and not getting into an accident. If you really want to savor and enjoy the meal you are breaking your fast with, then sit in a seat and be present with it. Enjoy the flavor.

I will not eat while at work.

I like this goal because it also refocuses our attention to the task at hand. Work can be stressful and is a prime opportunity for mindless eating to invade our thoughts. Personally I’m not opposed to eating at work but if you make the choice to eat, then just sit in a seat first before you do. I know too many people who have walked by a snack bowl of chips or pretzels and grabbed a handful without thinking. If you really think about it, how many handfuls have you grabbed in the course of a shift? If you can’t count how many on one hand then you might want to think about setting a goal like this one to help you pay attention to how you eat while on the job.

I will not eating while in front of a computer and/or TV.

Arghghgg…. the bane of my existence. Emmy and I do not have cable TV but we do enjoy watching Netflix (Marvel’s Defenders just dropped this week!), AmazonPrime, or Hulu. It’s nice to lounge on the couch with a bowl of popcorn or ice cream while a movie is on. The problem is that you might have one bowl in mind but two or three bowls later…. oops! I’m trying to be mindful of the seat that I’m sitting in when I eat. Mindful of whether that seat will lead to crumbs on my shirt or not (like a couch). My couch subconsciously encourages mindless eating.

My computer is also where I often mindless eat crackers, cheese, pretzels, sugar snap peas, bacon, cheese, ice cream, et al… This one will be very hard for me because most of the work I do these days revolves around writing and podcasting. I often spend hours in front of the screen editing audio and blog posts for the three different bogs I write for. Even though my desk chair is technically a seat, it’s not kind of seat where I can be mindful about each bite of food I place in my mouth. There is no savoring of the taste. I know there have been days where I would crush an entire box of crackers or bag of popcorn before I noticed I was even eating. Has this happened to you?

Eating in a seat (at a table) with nothing but the food in front of you helps you be mindful of the choice to eat a healthy meal. The choice of breaking your fast. The choice of being intentional about a healthy life.