Food & Happiness

For the first month of my "Happiness Project", I am focusing on food.  Why food as the first thing?  Well, two reasons.  First off, I had already begun focusing on my food intake - when and why I eat, and what stories I am telling myself about food.  Secondly, food for many is a source of both happiness and unhappiness - I use food to try and make myself feel better physically and emotionally, and food can make me feel bad - both physically and emotionally (bloated, overweight, guilty).

The first experiment that I have been working on is improving my mindfulness regarding food.  Some of the questions that I have been asking myself are:
- Am I truly hungry?
- If not, what am I?
- Is there another way to deal with what I'm feeling?
- Can I tolerate hunger without eating?
- Am I fully paying attention to what I eat? (I find that this is one of the hardest things to do!)
- Can I stop eating when my food is gone?
- Can I recognized that fullness sets in 20 minutes after a meal?

I have made tremendous strides in being mindful - particularly on days when I'm at work and therefore have the ability and attention to focus on food and hunger.  In fact, it has been working so well that I've lost 8 pounds since I started really paying attention.

I find that giving myself credit for all of the little things that I do right really helps as well - for example, today someone brought doughnuts into the office.  I knew that I didn't need any, and in fact, I was able to resist them almost all day (go me!).  When I did finally give in, there was just a small sliver of a maple bar - one type that I just don't like.  Sometimes in the past I would have eaten it anyways, but not today.  I also planned to go buy dinner before yoga tonight - I really wanted Thai food, but the place always gives large portions.  So instead of eating it all, I told myself that I could get it IF I put away half of the food for lunch tomorrow.  Which I successfully did.

So now NOT eating food is also giving me happiness!  Who knew?