A Week of Mindful Eating: Monday

BYU Women's Services has been hosting a few activities that I feel are a great idea. This year they have started a Recapturing Beauty campaign. Last semester they did a 10-day Body Image Challenge and this semester is specifically geared towards A Week of Mindful Eating. (They don't have this calendar on their website yet; if you would like a copy I can forward it to you.)

I'm going to try to post about my feelings/goals about this whole project. I feel like my interest in the negative effects of the media have a lot to do with body image and eating habits (aside from violence). I think this campaign has some great ideas and goals, but I also think improvements can be made. I plan on addressing those as I move along.

Day 1: Eating Attitudes Quiz & "What Kind of Eater Are You?"

The eating attitudes quiz said I have healthy eating behaviors and attitudes (really high score). However, I don't feel the quiz really captures the importance of healthy eating. It is specifically looking at eating disorders for thinness and your perspective of food. It doesn't actually address healthy eating habits. I may not have an eating disorder, but I know that I don't eat healthy whatsoever. I may have high competence in my beliefs about healthy eating, but I am not motivated to eat healthy.

Here is my daily eating itinerary:
I rarely eat breakfast (maybe once a week). I feel that sleep and looking "decent" is more important than food. I would rather wake up later and get ready without breakfast that wake up early. Food takes time.

For lunch there are three options. (1) I snack on whatever I might have grabbed going out the door in the morning (which is usually junk food) or something someone brings to work. (2) I splurge and get a bagel or fast food from school.  (3) I feel guilty about spending money so I don't eat anything. It really depends on my mood for the day and how much my stomach is reminding me to feed the dark empty pit. Food takes time and money.

I've tried to plan dinner on a weekly basis, but it usually turns out as a bust. We have activities or work that conflicts with who prepares dinner and when it is prepared. We try to have a "real" meal every night, but it often lacks variety and rarely has a veggie. There are also other problems associated with making dinner such as cleaning up before and after the meal, eating late at night, leftovers, not sticking to the plan because other things come up, ingredients going bad before we cook them, not wanting to go to the grocery store if we are missing something, etc. We have one or two consistent meals, but we are tired of eating those foods. (Most of these complaints are mine. Kendall has a really good outlook on cooking and eating. However, it is very difficult to cope when we both have a long day.)

The only good thing about dinner is that I usually eat something (finally). Usually it is fast which normally means unhealthy. From the "what kind of eater are you" list I chose the Chaotic Unconscious Eater and the Emotional Unconscious Eater. I think I "honor hunger, respect fullness, and enjoy the pleasure of eating" however, sometimes I feel that eating is a chore. Food takes time, money, and energy.

Again, although I don't have the most common eating disorders, I still feel like I battle with eating habits on a daily basis. The only think I feel like I am good at is planning an eating schedule for dinner (when I actually follow through). I want to keep doing that because it saves time and money when deciding what to eat every night. I need to be more committed to my plan. Maybe that means scheduling time to cook dinner and trying to desire to do better at it. I also feel that one of my strengths is to not worry about my weight even though I am not "healthy" by nutrition standards.

Ultimate Goal: Learn to love cooking and food for its purpose in my life. Learn to appreciate what it can do for my body and how it can help my family function better. This week specifically I would like to develop a plan for eating (which really could mean anything). I want to find new recipes and start making a recipe book that I feel comfortable using in the kitchen with recipes I know I can make and will like to eat.

I know this is semi not interesting to most of you. However, this was actually therapeutic. To address my poor eating habits in public is a big burden off my back.