Mindless Eating

 A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. 

Douglas Pagels

Another week passed.  How quickly they fly by when you get older!  Had a wonderful time with friends yesterday.  Actually, this was a first for me.  Imagine that.  71 years old and this was my first luncheon with friends.  Oh, I have had luncheons with co-workers, but even though I thought of them as friends at the time, they were just co-workers.  We never did anything together outside of work. I had no idea what it was like to just have fun with 'just' friends.  (I look kind of chubby in this photo, but the blouse I was wearing was a wee bit too big and made me look heavier than I am).  Settled on an egg and spinach omelet.  Eggs and spinach are 0 points, and after the enormous cheeseburger I ate yesterday, I needed something a little tamer.  Now the home fries are another story, but who could resists?  Certainly not I.

Speaking of WW, good thing I don't have to weigh in more than once a month now that I am 'Lifetime'.  I've been doing a lot of 'stress' eating lately.  Having a pretty hard time dealing with this rodent problem.  Thought I was rid of them and felt at peace for a day or two only to discover that they are still here. Spoke to my neighbor, and she said she is having a rodent issue as well.  That's 5 people I know in my building.  Time for us all to get together and demand a professional rodent exterminator. 

My emotions pretty much rule over how much I eat and what kind of food I eat.  Sadness and hurt kills my appetite.  Stress makes me eat even if I am not really hungry.  Eating emotionally comforting foods.   Eating even after I am full because I want to 'finish my plate'.  How many of us were raised to think that way? Mindless eating.

WW will be hosting its first book club meeting early May.   Our first book to discuss is "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wanasink.  The book is great and should be an interesting discussion.  

Often our decision to eat is not a conscious decision, even when it seems like it is. Instead, we are driven by habits and behaviors. In short, Wanasink's book examines our tendencies with respect to eating: what makes us eat, what makes us enjoy food, what causes our eating habits. Wanasink demonstrates that almost all of our decisions about food and eating are psychological and even if we believe we control them, we don't. He presents many cases and analyzes many different scenarios, all of which are very interesting.  Opened my eyes up for sure.  Now to put it into practice.

Hope you all have a wonderful, fun-filled weekend.