What are you noticing as you bring awareness to your eating patterns?

Recently, I was reminded of the classic “journalistic” questions: who?  what? where? when? how? and thought that they make an interesting structure for noticing characteristics of your relationship with food.

Who? How does who you are eating with impact your eating behavior?  Do you choose different foods or amounts when you are eating with others?  Do you  collude with friends around eating certain foods?  Or not eating certain foods?  No judgments here.  Just notice.

What? How do you characterize different food choices: good, bad, healthy, unhealthy, decadent, virtuous.  And what is your feeling response when you eat those different foods.  No judgments here.  Just notice.

Where? How does your location impact your choices, your awareness?  Do you choose certain foods when you are eating out?  Different foods at home?  In the car? No judgments here.  Just notice.

When? When do you eat?  What are the cues?  Do you have ritual foods for certain times of day?  The same breakfast?  Snacks?  Are there particular times of the day when you tend to crave certain things?  No judgments here.  Just notice.

How? How fast, how slow?  In front of the computer, in front of the television, with a good book?  With gusto?  With guilt?  No judgments here.  Just notice.

A familiar story  the impulse is there, the intention is there, the desire is there… so what happens? 

This time, it wasn’t so much about slipping back into habitual eating patterns – I was eating and enjoying meals mostly consciously, and I wasn’t blogging about it.  I thought about blogging about it. Out on my walks, out driving around, I composed little bits of blog posts.  And they never quite made it into print.

Instead of hanging out in self-judgement, or maybe worse, trying to figure out the why of it all, I simply begin again.

I eat and enjoy each bite consciously.

Today, on a holiday.  Now, in the middle of the day.  I simply begin again.

I’ve written before about the Diets Don’t Work practices that I’ve used to lose over fifty pounds and keep it off for eight years.  They form the core of the Conscious Eating Discover journey.

A primary tool for the journey is the food journal.  I know, I know.  It brings back all the memories of tracking and counting and calories and fat grams  and points that we want to leave behind. 

This will be different.  Think of it as a travel journal to jot down what you’re noticing, what you’re learning, what you’re discovering.  If you have a regular journaling practice, you can incorporate it there.  If not, you can use any notebook or scrap of paper you have handy.

We start this first week with the third practice:

I eat and enjoy each bite consciously.

What comes to mind when you read those words?  Say them aloud.  What feelings or sensations do you notice?  Say it aloud in front of a mirror?  How is that different?

Last year I wrote about the inaugural Holy Body Day.   This year, there’s a facebook page.  I considered joining my friend and colleague, Susan Freeman, in her QiCoach Spring Detox… but it wasn’t feeling more like a “good idea” than inspired action.

I love the comment left by Kathy Loh, of Full Moon Path, on last year’s post, referencing Joseph Cambell’s idea that the mind is all about doing, while the body is about experiencing.  The Presence of Body tag line, Lusty Lives Whatever the Size, is all about experiencing all the juiciness there is to experience in this lifetime.

I’ve been playing/exploring/ discovering in the realm of conscious eating since I read The Psychologist’s Eat-Anything Diet  by Leonard and Lillian Pearson (now out-of-print) in 1974, shortly after several weeks on the original Atkins program which I ended with a fruit binge in the height of summer.  Who could resist?

As part of my Countdown to 60! project, I’ve been feeling a hunger for deepening my experience of conscious eating, to see where the boundaries of the familiar territory are, and to explore beyond them.  I invite you to join me.  We start tomorrow.

A year ago I took a Blog Triage class to spif up my blog.  One of the assignments was to set up some Google Alerts on relevant key words/phrases.  I completed the assignment and set up my mail tool so they would go directly to their own folder and not clog up my inbox.  And promptly forgot all about them until some of them came up in a mail search yesterday.  Wow!  There’s some interesting stuff out there!   I could go to a place of what I might have missed; instead I remember one of my current mantras, a quote from The Matrix: 

“Hello, Neo.  You’re right on time.”

Gather.com has some posts about the Lane Bryant Ad that FOX and ABC have refused to air because it is deemed too racy.  I especially like the comments that there is more cleavage weekly on “Dancing With The Stars”.

Cleavage seems to be a popular topic this week.  In response to a quote from a n Iranian prayer leader that the increasing incidence of earthquakes is caused by women dressing immodestly, Jen McCreight suggested Boobquake.  The idea is for women to wear their most cleavage-revealing  outfit on April 26th to disprove the assertion.   The original suggestion may have been a little tongue-in-cheek, but the Facebook event has almost 162,000 attending and another 51,000 as  “maybe”s.  I think I’ll probably dress in my usual Boulder casual, but it made me think.

Finally, in perhaps the most disturbing story, Us Magazine resports that Jillian Michaels, one of the trainers on the Biggest Loser,  wants to adopt a child because “I can’t handle doing that [pregnancy] to my body”.   Ironically, this story appears under a “Healthy Lifestyle” heading.   Hmmmm….

A favorite place to stop and ponder on my favorite trail in Boulder

I was walking on this path a few days ago enjoying a beautiful spring day (unlike today which has dawned gray and snowy.  alas!) – feeling the burst of spring energy in a happy-go-lucky mood.  Feeling the surge of “I want more of this!”  More of this happy-to-be-alive-and-walking-this-path feeling.

It led to the question of what inspires me to action?  What would inspire me to get outside and on one of the numerous open space paths on a more regular basis, not because I should, but because I find joy in the breathing of the fresh air, the movement of my body, the magnificent sights and sounds of nature.

A Big Hairy Audacious Goal! And that’s when the Countdown to 60! Half-Marathon program was hatched.   Completing a half-marathon to celebrate my 60th birthday.  A destination half-marthon, probably somewhere in California, and  inviting friends from all over to come play with me, walk or run or dance with me, whether it’s a shorter distance or the half-marathon distance, whether we are geographically co-located, or you do it in your own hometown.

So that a year from now, I am proclaiming, “This is what 60 feels like!  Vibrant, gutsy, bubbly, strong!”

Who’s in?

It’s that time of year… coming up on a birthday … that has me reflecting on what the past year has brought, and what it is I want to create in the next year.

It’s a “9″ year, packing an extra punch. Looking ahead not just to what I want to create in the next year, but to who I am becoming… and how do I want to arrive at 60.

I’m haunted – maybe too dark a word – by a conversation I had with a friend a few months ago.  Facing a divorce not of his choosing, his comment was, “if I’d known a year and a half ago that the problems we were having would be fatal to the marriage, I might have made some different choices.” 

 Not so profound, perhaps.  And yet, I am haunted the impact of it.  And the question about where in my life is  the becoming wanting more intention, less unconsciousness?   The gremlins jump in!  ever-ready to take advantage of the vulnerability.  “Fix this!  Fix that!  They bring out the tried-and-true weapons of the “problems”  I have “struggled” with for years.

The Beckoning of my Becoming is smarter than to fall for their old tricks.  This is not the time for the masculine, strategic, make-it-happen energy.  Action, yes.  Commitment, yes.  Inspired action that arises out of the commitment to the continuous unfolding, the  beauty of my becoming.

On the Front Range of the Rockies, March does it’s lion-and-lamb thing all month long.  On Wednesday, I was shoveling 8 inches of wet spring snow off the sidewalk; today it’s sunny and mild.

I was inspired to take a walk along one of my favorite open space paths, the South Boulder Creek trail.  Lots of people walking with dogs, or with kids, or running. Lots of smiles, everyone feeling sunny on this gorgeous day.

A recent email asked ‘what inspires you?”   This.  This walk on a sunny day in spring inspires me.  So full of promise – not just the promise of warmer, longer days.    As I walk and reflect and dream, I’m inspired to all kinds of possibilities.

My 59th birthday is in 10 days, and has had me reflecting on what I want to create in my 60th year.  On the walk this morning, I was inspired to create a Countdown-to-60 challenge for myself and any friends and followers who want to join in.  Stay tuned for details!

Several years ago, I baked  a couple non-traditional pies as my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.  And as these things go, my non-traditional pies became a tradition among our Thanksgiving tribe.  

So, in honor of International Pi Day, here is the recipe for one of those pies.

Turtle Pie
(originally published by Borden)

1 (9 in) baked pie shell
12 carmels,unwrapped
1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated)
2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate
¼ cup margarine or butter
2 eggs
2 tab water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash salt
½ cup chopped pecans (I usually use more)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In small heavy sauce pan, over low heat, melt carmels with 1/3 cup sweetened condensed  milk.  Spread evenly on bottom of prepared pie crust.

In medium sauce pan, over low heat, melt chocolate with the butter or margarine.

In large mixer bowl, beat eggs with remaining sweetened condensed milk, water, vanilla, and salt.

Add chocolate mixture; mix well. Pour into pie shell. Top with pecans.

Bake 35 min, or until center is set. Cool. Refrigerate leftovers (if there are any).