I had a new shift in consciousness about food and nutrition this week and learned some interesting things about my body.\u00a0 In trying to identify how particular foods acted in my system, I’ve been having small 6-bite meals every 8 hours.\u00a0 So far, so good, no adverse reactions.\u00a0 Since I’ve been doing that, I’ve naturally dropped 6 pounds, since I’m not taking in many calories.\u00a0 Since my focus was on discovering how individual foods behaved in my digestive system, I didn’t think of it as depriving myself of food. I have sufficient body reserves, so even though I’ve dropped to maybe 300 calories and 5 grams of fat a day, it’s way ok for me to do this.\u00a0 It’s been several years since I fasted, so perhaps this is a prelude to a fast.<\/p>\n
What was my shift in consciousness?\u00a0 I learned that my mind and body can operate on far less fuel that I typically give it.\u00a0 I realize that most of my eating is emotional eating.\u00a0 Instead of addressing the underlying emotion (wanting to feel comforted and nourished by something outside myself) I simply changed the foods I ate. Instead of beef and pork 7 days a week, I now eat poultry or fish twice a week.\u00a0 Instead of fettuccine alfredo, I eat salads.\u00a0 Instead of sandwiches, I opt for soups and fruit plates. So, while I changed my eating habits for the better and made myself lose 50 pounds and get healthier, I wasn’t addressing the fact that I was still an emotional eater.\u00a0 On the road if I get tense, I’m at the produce stand buying romaine to wash and eat by the stalk in the car.\u00a0 It’s not a Hershey bar, but it’s still an emotional response.<\/p>\n
This past week while I’ve been focused on my experiment, I look back in my food journal to see what I’ve eaten and realize it is not very much and not very often.\u00a0 In the evenings I’ve been drawing, which has kept my hands occupied, and I’ve been going to bed early.\u00a0 It’s a combination of factors.\u00a0 I was surprised most by the fact that I was ingesting very little but felt fine.\u00a0 I had no appetite and didn’t even think of food until it was next on the schedule to eat: I.e., at 8:00am eat four bites of cottage cheese and one bite of mulberry jam.<\/em><\/p>\n Any time in the past when I’ve fasted, I at least thought about food, even if I was no longer craving it.\u00a0 But the past week it’s barely been on my mind.\u00a0 I do feel an aversion to the thought of fresh tomatoes right now, though, so have not included them in the experiment.<\/p>\n It’s interesting that even though I am eating very little, I saw evidence on Friday<\/em> of what I’d ingested Tuesday<\/em>.\u00a0 I have no idea how long it takes for particular food items to move through the human digestive system, but I thought it was a 24 hour process.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ll have to research that.\u00a0 Apparently this is a 3 day process for me.\u00a0 What I eat today will be moving through my system for the next 3 days.\u00a0 Interesting.<\/p>\n But the main thing I’ve learned this week, the big shift in consciousness is that the less I eat, the better I feel.\u00a0 That I can eat far less than I am used to, and have more energy because of it.\u00a0 That I don’t have to have entire meals at prescribed times.\u00a0 I can have a few bites here and there every few hours, and stop making meals and “eating” such a big production.\u00a0 Simplify it to basic fuel and add it as required to fuel my next activity.<\/p>\n I don’t have to diminish the pleasure of eating, but I am ready for some balance by detaching and seeing foods dispassionately for a change.\u00a0 And hey, I lost 6 pounds without trying!<\/p>\n Andrea<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0 16 Nutrition Newbie Tips<\/a>
\nChanging to a low fat diet <\/a>
\nBecoming more intuitive about what my body needs<\/a><\/p>\n