A New Holiday Beginnings....

[Guest guest]

I wasn't able to live my dream thanksgiving, though this was a good

start. During Thanksgivings past, I and the rest of my family would

wait until the dishes were completed...usually around 2:00 p.m. and

spend the rest of the day eating mindlessly usually in front of the

tv...making room for a little bit more turkey here, a little bit

more dressing here...and oh I have to have some of those candied

yams...and oh some of that peach cobbler...and maybe a little bit

more of that macaroni and cheese...somehow maintaining the " stuffed "

feeling most of the day....and the the next day with leftovers...it

went on...then a few days later my body would feel like crap from

all of the heavy food that I had consumed. I only realized recently

that my body felt sluggish days after t-days because of all of the

rich food that I ate.

In this moment, I can see how my eating on thanksgivings has not

beem intuitive at all. I prepared and ate certain dishes because

that is what we've always eaten on thanksgiving. I never sensed into

what my body wanted on Thursday, November 2X...without the t-day

label. That's interesting and I want to think about this more. T-day

is one day I can go on auto-pilot...I don't have to think about what

to cook or what I'm going to eat...because the meal's been pre-

planned for years.

Flash forward to this week and I wanted to have a different

experience of eating on the Holidays. I did have a different

experience. I decided to go to a new friend's house for t-day and

took a rich macaroni and cheese dish. There would be no stuffing

myself the whole day and no leftovers to continue that compulsive

process. I wanted to see if I would have any feelings of

deprivation. None so far. We had some mini-conversations, more tv

than I would have liked and no table that we joined together around.

I ate what looked and smelled appetizing to me and it didn't take

much food to feel a sense of fullness.

I can now imagine going for a walk to become more mindful before my

thanksgiving meal. Maybe sitting down at a table that we had " set "

together and eating while sharing food with people that I care

about. Maybe sharing the intention of enjoying the foods that we

really love and being mindful of the subtle communication of our

bodies throughout the process. Maybe letting the main courses settle

before having a bite of dessert. Then maybe gathering around on some

comfortable couches without a televison and seeing what

conversations were sparked...One day I want to live this dream.

I also wanted to mention that mutiple times this week I had the urge

to eat more food for non-hunger reasons and I couldn't do it...my

sense of body satisfaction and fullness is so present with me now

that it acts as a sort of natural knowing that I respect.

Latoya:)

Practicing IE since Jan '08.

[Guest guest]

Bravo and inspiring too

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

>

> I wasn't able to live my dream thanksgiving, though this was a good

> start. During Thanksgivings past, I and the rest of my family would

> wait until the dishes were completed...usually around 2:00 p.m. and

> spend the rest of the day eating mindlessly usually in front of the

> tv...making room for a little bit more turkey here, a little bit

> more dressing here...and oh I have to have some of those candied

> yams...and oh some of that peach cobbler...and maybe a little bit

> more of that macaroni and cheese...somehow maintaining the " stuffed "

> feeling most of the day....and the the next day with leftovers...it

> went on...then a few days later my body would feel like crap from

> all of the heavy food that I had consumed. I only realized recently

> that my body felt sluggish days after t-days because of all of the

> rich food that I ate.

>

> In this moment, I can see how my eating on thanksgivings has not

> beem intuitive at all. I prepared and ate certain dishes because

> that is what we've always eaten on thanksgiving. I never sensed into

> what my body wanted on Thursday, November 2X...without the t-day

> label. That's interesting and I want to think about this more. T-day

> is one day I can go on auto-pilot...I don't have to think about what

> to cook or what I'm going to eat...because the meal's been pre-

> planned for years.

>

> Flash forward to this week and I wanted to have a different

> experience of eating on the Holidays. I did have a different

> experience. I decided to go to a new friend's house for t-day and

> took a rich macaroni and cheese dish. There would be no stuffing

> myself the whole day and no leftovers to continue that compulsive

> process. I wanted to see if I would have any feelings of

> deprivation. None so far. We had some mini-conversations, more tv

> than I would have liked and no table that we joined together around.

> I ate what looked and smelled appetizing to me and it didn't take

> much food to feel a sense of fullness.

>

> I can now imagine going for a walk to become more mindful before my

> thanksgiving meal. Maybe sitting down at a table that we had " set "

> together and eating while sharing food with people that I care

> about. Maybe sharing the intention of enjoying the foods that we

> really love and being mindful of the subtle communication of our

> bodies throughout the process. Maybe letting the main courses settle

> before having a bite of dessert. Then maybe gathering around on some

> comfortable couches without a televison and seeing what

> conversations were sparked...One day I want to live this dream.

>

> I also wanted to mention that mutiple times this week I had the urge

> to eat more food for non-hunger reasons and I couldn't do it...my

> sense of body satisfaction and fullness is so present with me now

> that it acts as a sort of natural knowing that I respect.

>

> Latoya:)

>

> Practicing IE since Jan '08.

>