Mindless Eating
Have you ever found yourself halfway through a box of cereal or a bag of almonds, and you don’t really know how you got there? You can’t even recall thinking, “I’m hungry, I’d like to get something to eat”. Does this type of mindless eating happen to you more often than you’d care to admit?
Often an episode like this can lead us to feel shame or frustration with ourselves, but this is the perfect time to “Notice” and “Name” your situation (I just now have realized I’m eating and I’m not even hungry). Now you have the opportunity to give yourself grace and get curious about what is going on here!
Ask yourself These Questions to build awareness About the Situation:
What was I thinking about as I was eating?
What was I feeling emotionally as I was eating?
What was I feeling physically as I was eating?
What food item(s) was I actually eating?
Where was I eating?
Was I with someone else or alone?
Ask yourself this list of questions each time you find yourself in a mindless eating situation, and bonus points for writing down your answers. The goal is to be able to look back and think through these different situations and look for patterns.
Am I am more prone to mindless eating right when I come home from work? Or perhaps I find myself in this situation most often at night after watching TV for awhile. Once you begin to recognize feelings of stress, loneliness or fatigue, you can begin to develop new habits to truly deal with the uncomfortable feelings instead of using food as your only source of soothing. These patterns most likely developed over many years of your life, so once again, give yourself grace and time as you begin to work through these questions.
