Comfort. Food.

Why do you eat?

You'll all say, "because I'm hungry," or "because I have to to live." I'd be willing to bet that anyone over age--maybe 10--has already started eating for a dozen other reasons in addition to hunger. These reasons will include but are not limited to:
boredom
sadness
the food's in front of me
celebration: there's special food being prepared
eating=being social
it's mealtime
food addiction (sugar is as addictive as cocaine)
distraction
huge portions at restaurants (and we probably all eat out too much)
sedative effect of certain foods (milk, alcohol, sugar) this is probably subconscious

Do you ever notice how a little kid will go from crying out of hunger to eating to leaving a half-full plate to go off somewhere else like it's yesterday's breakfast? And we freak out and say, eat! eat!

Well, it might be a shocking concept but: maybe the little kid isn't hungry anymore. He or she has instantly lost interest in their food because they have had enough. This is what it looks like to just stop when you're full.

Are we really all coincidentally perfectly full at exactly the time the plate is empty? I doubt it.

I read an article about the Slow Food Movement which basically is just about chewing your food thoroughly, stopping when you're full, paying attention to your body, not distracting yourself when eating, and being aware of and grateful for your food.

This also, incidentally, allows satiety signals to reach the brain which tell us to stop eating. If you wolf down a cheeseburger and fries in 7 minutes, you have no idea if you ate too much. You didn't give your body enough time to tell you.

Today at lunch, I made a sandwich and small side salad. While I made these, I also snacked on a handful of chips and hummus. After the snack and salad, I realized I was full (I was trying to pay attention to my stomach while I ate which I normally don't do!). I was amazed that so little had filled me. If I hadn't just read the article, I would not have noticed! I would have ate the sandwich anyway. I left it for later. I am now at a coffee shop, drinking the soy chai I would also have had even if I'd over-eaten at lunch, and I am still not hungry. (I even skipped my cookie today! I'm being so good!!) If I'm hungry in a couple of hours, I'll eat the sandwich. But if not, I guess I'll be having it for dinner.

The author of the article, after simply paying complete attention to hunger and fullness (and even through some family celebrations where she admittedly over-ate) still lost 5 pounds in a matter of weeks. She was already thin and not in major need of losing weight...but it was still that easy. I was amazed by that.

I also just read a very interesting book, Women Food and God by Geneen Roth. The author conducts retreats for people who are overweight and puts them through grueling exercises: making them all wait until every single person has been served before eating, for instance. She says they stare at her with daggers coming out of their eyes. These may be people with serious eating disorders, but how many of us feel the same anxiety when we sit down if we make ourselves wait long enough to, for instance, say grace? It's pretty startling to read these embarrassing facts and realize you are really not much different, just to a lesser degree.

The women at these retreats generally all had the same problem which was excessive eating to push down various emotional pains. I don't have any serious emotional pains I'm aware of, but I definitely have boredom or a desire to distract myself from things I should do but put off instead. That turns into going out, getting a snack somewhere, or sometimes drinking a couple glasses of wine. None of them life-threatening, but still--what's the point? Why burden my body because I'm feeling "off" today?

Is pain so painful? Mark Twain said (I paraphrase from memory), "In my long life, I've seen many hardships, some of which actually happened." We put ourselves through so much more misery than even comes close to what we technically go through.

I read a fascinating account of a woman who gave birth without painkillers. She explained how she coped with the pain, and what she said was to imagine you are in the ocean and there are waves coming at you. Rather than keep your head up and let each one smack you, what you want to do is put your head a little lower and immerse yourself in the water where it will push you but not knock you over.

When you feel pain, go into it. Immerse yourself in the feeling, dive into it. Energetically, what happens when you do this is that you actually put fresh, healthy energy and light into that area which will have manifested as congested, blocked, grayish energy in your aura. You can visualize this process too, if you want. When that happens, the gray energy dissipates and is released. The pain is gone. This is self-healing. It's that simple. If you resist negative feelings, you push them into yourself, and they stay. You will have to keep pushing them down to avoid them. This is very unhealthy and will manifest as disease eventually.

Pay attention to your body. The size of your stomach is not a mistake. Let it tell you when it's had enough. Don't exhaust your precious energy by giving your body a stuffed belly to cope with. You will love the feeling of lightness you have when you are never full to the brim with food. I've noticed I feel "thin" when I don't over eat, regardless of the size of my body, and I feel "fat" when I over eat, regardless of the size of my body. Do what feels good!