Mindful Eating

I've struggled for a long time with mindful eating.  Well I've struggled for a long time, only I wasn't aware of what it really meant until the last year or so. 

Yesterday I had my second call from the insurance company to check in about my progress for the bariatric surgery.  While part of me thinks that the calls are a joke and a stalling technique to see if people will 'give up', the other half of me thinks that they provide some good information.

My trigger for bad eating seems to come at 2 times.  The first is days off work when I'm at home and don't necessarily eat 3 well spaced meals, but rather 2 bigger meals.  I'm trying to be more aware of that and change my ways.  My other trigger is afternoon snacking at work or snacking at work in general.  I've noticed that when I'm at my desk in my office I want to snack all day long.  Yet when I'm forced to be in our front office for the 2 weeks every 90 days I never feel like I need to snack.  I think the snacking is part habit and part environmental (see I really do need to convince my department to let me telework!).

The solution:  For the next 2 weeks my goal is to write down what I eat at work, when exactly I eat it and how I feel before I eat it.  Is there a pattern to how I feel before I eat?  Am I eating from stress?  Boredom?  Actual hunger?  I started this yesterday afternoon.  When I wasn't hungry I decided that I'd get up from my desk, take a mental break, drink at least 4 ounces of water and wait for 15 minutes.  If I was still craving the food I could give in.  Most often the break and the water did the trick.  But I did indulge once.  The goal isn't to stop the eating all the time, but see the pattern of eating.

KALE CHIPS
My goal in the last few years has been to try new things.  I learned that I like turnips, parsnips, rutabaga and other veggies.  I've been reading a lot about people making kale chips.  Last weekend I tried it.  I took a bunch of kale that was washed and dried.  Cut it into pieces about 1.5x1.5 and placed it out on a cookie sheet.  Then I spritzed sparingly with olive oil, a small amount of salt and lots of pepper.  I baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until they were slightly dark and crisp. 

YUM!  It's like a spicy light chip.  I put them in a large gladware container because they are to delicate for baggies.  I've eaten about 2 loosely packed cups each day in the afternoons.  For about 1 cup fresh kale there is 33 calories, 7 grams of carbs  and 1 gram of fiber.  It's got 200% DV for VitaminA, 134% DV for Vitamin C plus calcium and iron. 

I can't wait to do more.