evocative provocative quote:
Let your head be more than a funnel to your stomach.
~German Proverb.
does this elicit any emotions, thoughts, memories, current struggles, or “aha” moments for you?
for me this quote resonates like, whoa– so often the few inches between my ears are entirely dedicated and consumed by food…especially when i am not nourishing myself properly. i feel that my life will always be somewhat food-centric; i can accept this to a certain degree. but sometimes it gets out of hand and the experience is very shameful.
except my mind is more like this:
seriously!
the quote concisely sums up what it is like to have food&co be the constant muzak of your mind, and how wasteful and wrong that is.
another reason i emote to this quote (rhyme!) is in regards to mindless eating. i think we all know about that, huh? even though i am no longer prone to the complete numb-blank-time warp horror of a binge, for example, there are CERTAINLY times i look down and i’m like…"wait..what?"
this is me, oh….nine times out of ten nine when i eat popcorn.
for the past year or so i have been studying the physiological benefits of eating with awareness using several techniques– such as macrobiotic-like chewing, BREATHING (<– that’s huge for me), and staying present on my physical sensations during a meal (which is scary at first sometimes still).
i notice my digestion improves, as does my entire well-being (emotional, mental, physical…etc). my body is more ready to receive and incorporate the nourishment from the food when i practice eating in an "enlightened" manner. (no, i haven’t been able to turn off the TV. i’m not superwoman..)
but maybe if i master the art of mindful eating i’ll fart stars?
the more i eat with a mindful, relaxed and ready spirit, the more i get really uncomfortable after realizing i’ve eaten without awareness. it really sucks.
where is her bowl? what is going on?
i aim for at least one meal a day when i choose to consciously practice healthy eating (or try to). i don’t want to obsess, and also it’s hard! but just the occasional choice to practice has had a residual effect on the rest of my meals.
i hope to write more about my forays into this practice – but please note if you are a recovered or current eating-disordered individual and excruciating meal rituals and prolonging meal times (taking two hours to eat and stuff)…this isn’t something to worry about right now.
(i am under the weather big time and just re-posting something i wrote in one of the Facebook Groups i belong to…hence the all-lowercase font which i have succumbed to in emails, comments and whatnot. i’m trying not to let it invade my blog, though. we’ll see.)
PS- true factoid—i really don’t use the word fart, i call it fluffing. i was raised that way.
Hi Missy,
I hope you are feeling better REALLY fast!!
I am loving the food filled brain/head pics you posted!! Can I get a brain #2 transplanted in place of (my) brain #1? ;o)
In my situation, I feel that the more I eat of #1 brain’s contents, the more it re-enforces my mind/body to continue to eat that way. I think of it as malnourishing my mind, which leads to the body to be malnourished also, then it’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to stop.
Mindful eating is such a great idea, I really need to not only EAT mindfully, but plan mindfully too. I told my husband I need to have good well balances meals, of foods that I like to eat, but not the ones I am addicted to. Having them ready and in the house is a must!! Then I can tinker with how many meals/snacks a day to find a good solid ‘plan’ I can depend on.
I am so TIRED of making food the focus in my life. I want a good plan in place that I can glance at, act on, and then go about my day. The constant “what am I doing to myself, when is this going to stop” is distressing to put it mildly.
Farting stars sounds extremely painful, how about farting smiley faces? And my Aunt called farts “fluffies”. ;o) I remember that still from 35 years ago, when I was 7!! Knowing her, she probably still calls them that!
Take care,
HeatherInTX :O) ~~~~~
yes, yes, yes! your body absolutely craves what it is given and in my research/reading and experience sugar, flour, and in a lesser extent salt and fat all have addictive qualities.
some people who have extreme food addictions cannot even handle artificial sweetener. the thing is, you don’t ever know how much better you will fell until you do it.
and in that lies the rub, as you mentioned. the doing. argghhh.
heather, i know from experience in the past that committing to a meal plan will most certainly change your attitude and take so much of the food pre-occupation away (and this is what my “do” problem involves—getting back on one.)
i would imagine that it may be more difficult with you going straight into a meal plan whilst surrounded by potential trigger foods that your husband might enjoy so I encourage you to find a meeting in your area for suport.
farting smiley faces? AND your from TX?
i knew i liked you but now? you have one my heart.
best place to start with the practice is just being cognizant of your breath. You’ll be amazed.
and the first start to filling your mind with a healthy balance (because #1 brain and me are NOT) would be to fill your fridge with that kind of stuff. Get hubbie on board!
We say toot. And I think spending two hours eating a meal is cray cray.
It is – and I used to be one of those people who could spend two hours. It’s very common in people with eating disorders
so you, my friend, don’t even think about this stuff .. but the breathing does help calm in cases where the food may cause anxiety.
It does help with anxiety – and it helps me to be aware too, of what I’m eating – taste it, instead of let the anxiety make it into tasteless numbers on a plate! I’ll get there.
So will you 
me too! i never had that “crumb by crumb, specific number of bites type of thing in my disease.
I did. I would literally shred bread up into minute crmbs, and I would eat one grain of rice or one pea at a time. It was really sad.
oh, that IS sad….so glad those days are in the past. don’t worry about eating practices at all for you!
Like, “Woah!”
You know my nickname. I’ve been named that for reasons mentioned in this post, so in some way I feel like you are calling me out.
The proverb and everything you have as insight pertaining to it is a great deal of goodness for me. Especially given where I find my own self.
And I owned the Super Woman underwear set as a little thang. Tell me I wasn’t alone in that. Someone? Anyone?
Thanks for the share.
umm…girl? i actually have no clue what you are talking about…lol…about your nickname? what does that have to do with…ah…well…we shall discuss.
the underwears i recall had smurfs and the days of the week.
not gonna lie…i still but underwears in the kiddo dept. they have Paul frank and Hello Kitty at Target.
Lassen Sie Ihren Kopf mehr als ein Trichter zu Ihrem Magen sein
I think I’ve heard that one before.
The interesting thing about this post is, while reading it, I realized that I nearly ALWAYS try to distract myself while eating. I either eat with other people and get wrapped up in conversation or I watch TV while eating. In fact, I don’t think I CAN eat without distractions. I’m thinking I’ll need to do an experiment and try paying attention to eating once in a while like you do.
xoxo
i’m not sure it is necessary to eat sans distraction — like most intuitive eating and mindful eating books suggest. sure, it helps and it’s healthy — but nice healthy conversation (no fighting!) is great to for your metabolism/digestion.
i think that is what helps me embrace this the most…its more about chewing, breathing, relaxing and staying present….just being aware that, for example, “i am sitting here and eating this meal and watching tv” rather than going completely zoney. you can still pay attention, promise! have a go at it.
I like these practices on trying to stay mindful. I’ll have to try them! Thanks for being thought provoking and encouraging. And making me giggle.
Good post!
Fluffing, nice one…made me laugh
Hope you feel better missy!
I hope you feel better soon, MIssy!
I’m cracking up, i hope i could really fart stars if I mastered mindful eating. Aside from that, this is a really good post – mindfulness has been one of THE most helpful things for me, however for me it’s been more ‘in general’ in the rest of my life – helping me with anxiety and PTSD related stuff.
I want to use it for eating – but i’m too anxious to have gotten anywhere with that yet! My mind is just like your food-brain pictures – constantly.. and all the other things I obsess and stress about are wrapped up in that mess too. Time for me to put aside the excuses and have a really good go at it.
xoxox
My mental jury is still out on mindful eating. I first was introduced to it by my mom, who uses it with her clients in group therapy–but given that my mom has a number of disordered eating issues herself, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to put it in a really healthy context.
The way I see it, mindless eating can be disordered, but in people already dealing with EDs, overly mindful eating can be disordered, too. Hearing my mom talk about “spending more time chewing” when it already takes her 45 minutes to eat a 250-calorie lunch just seemed…suspect. I get the importance of thinking about eating in an active way, as opposed to just spazzing about food in an ED way, but I’m just not sure forcing myself to think about every bite even more than I already do would be especially helpful.
Just my thoughts.
So happy to see you back blogging! And in my house, we used the term “passed gas”, haha.
yeah, mindfull eating is not for everyone …it can go either way for those of us with food issues. for me, it is more “mindful eating lite” lol.
it’s basically building my respectful relationship with food/feeding/eating…enjoying and appreciating the experience more…like the Europeans.
I’m so glad you’re back, Missy! I read this post when you first put it up but for some reason haven’t responded till now.
I LOVE that quote. For me, what really hits home is the idea of divorcing what’s “between the ears” with my stomach. The goal for me, so often, is to make food about my stomach, not my brain. To feed my hunger, not my sadness, you see?
As far as mindful eating… I wish I could do it. But I can’t. I think it goes against the way I’ve eaten literally my entire life. In boarding school, I ate all three meals in a cafeteria, and it was social time more than eating time. I guess for me, then, the healthiest way I can eat is when I’m not actually actively THINKING about eating, but thinking about my friends and my day and things that make me happy. So. Who knows! To each his/her own.
Great post missy! I’m really sorry you’re under the weather I’m sending virtual and poodle kisses (but if he pushes me out of the bed one more time I may just send you the poodle)
And btw I don’t use the word fart ever we call it foosing
Hi Missy! New reader here! I found your blog this morning and I just blissfully wasted my entire (work, woops!) day reading from start to finish.
You are a beautiful, intelligent, wonderful person and I hope the very best for you! I look forward to reading more and getting to know you!
Keep up this fight, you are SO worth it!
hey sweatygirl!
i do the archive snoop all the time too, often during work (it gets slow).