Over the past few months, I’ve been working on changing my lifetime eating habit of 3 square meals a day to eating 5-6 small meals. There’s a lot of good scientific reasoning behind my change. Eating little and often keeps your blood sugar levels stable, it’s easier for your body to process smaller amounts of food, smaller amounts going into the system means more food goes into being used as energy and less gets stored as fat, and really, it just makes good sense. If you want your car to run, you’ve got to have fuel in the tank at all times, right? Your body is no different, except that perhaps your gas tank is smaller and it needs refuelling more often.
But, trying to break a habit that is 40+ years old is difficult. I still want to serve myself large portions, and then eat everything on my plate. I still view dinner as my main meal of the day (and therefore my biggest). I noticed recently as well that I still want to skimp on breakfast (and save the calories for dinner). And honestly, eating 6 meals a day takes some serious planning time, not to mention having to deal with my co-workers teasing about the amount of dishes I wash every day at the office.
However, I am beginning to notice some good things from eating little and often. I no longer have to deal with blood sugar crashes and the accompanying tired and cranky demon that I become (for which my family is grateful!). I have more variety of tastes in my diet (I’m not one to repeat the same meal twice in one day if I can avoid it). I’m also spending more time looking at recipes and doing actual meal planning, which, surprise, surprise, is actually a lot of fun and more importantly, a big stress relief. Knowing what I am going to cook each day, and having the recipe and ingredients on hand just makes my life easier, and it wasn’t something that I did when I was eating in my old pattern.
Lately I’ve become aware of something else. I really like to eat every couple of hours, starting at about 7 am and finishing by 6. I used to stress about getting through to my next meal (how long until I can eat again??) And if I eat well during the day, the evening is no longer occupied with thoughts of food. My body has been well fuelled throughout the active part of my day, and so the after-dinner hours get spent doing something more productive than searching the cupboards for that little something I think I want.
Interrupting old habits and patterns takes awareness and a commitment. It’s not always easy to stick to the small portion sizes, or even to remember that it is time to eat. But, I know in the end, my body is happier when I eat this way, and when my body is happy, life is good!
I read a great book recently called The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size by Julia Cameron. It was really good- it wasn't about focus on diet, rather what is going on with us that then makes us want to reach for food. I am still using one of her suggested tools which is to keep a journal and write down feelings, emotions, etc when there is the pull to eat to fix them. I love your blog post and look forward to hearing about your transformation and learning in this area!!
ReplyDeleteI find my diet consists of "what the kids didn't eat". I have grown accustomed to eating cold food. Actually I rather eat it that way. I wait for my tea to cool down before I drink it. And there are days when I "forget" to eat.
ReplyDeleteUsually I know I "forgot" to eat when I am crying and realize that my blood sugar has gotten too low and now I am leaking tears.
We bought a VitaMix. Actually half of it was our Christmas present and I do love having it. Sometimes no one feels like cooking but we can make a blender shake and that hits the spot.
I wonder how people eat. I notice that some people have particular ways that they eat. I am glad you are writing this blog. Maybe more people will share the hows and whys of eating in their lives.
Here comes Hot Stuff. You go girl!!!