When we last gathered (yes, I know it was a long time ago. See Exhibit A and Exhibit B.), I had gotten to Things One and Two on my Doing Things Differently in the New Year List. I am happy to report that Thing One: adding in more water, is going swimmingly (pun intended. Oh yeah.). Thing Two: look for a fulfilling and lucrative way to spend my time, is till brewing. Ideas are forming. We'll get back to that.
In the meatime, I've added Thing Three. Inspired by Ayurveda, and more specifically by Dr. John Douillard (who taught at my school) I've decided to stop snacking. Yep, it's true. No handfuls of almonds in the afternoon. No carrots at 11 a.m. No cookies, crackers or anything else unless it's mealtime. I eat three meals a day, with a larger lunch and a smaller dinner whenever possible. And guess what? It's working! My body is beginning to re-set itself. It's letting me know when it's hungry and when it's full. And the boredom and other extraneaous eating has stopped, because I'm paying attention.
Dr. Douillard explains that eating several smaller meals throughout the day, or grazing, will seem to work at first, but what is actually happening is that our bodies are burning whatever we take in, leaving the fat stores stored. When we put four of five hours in between meals, on the other hand, then our bodies have no choice but to burn the stored fuel, because nothing else is available. Makes sense to me. That's why I tried it. Here's what I've noticed so far:
- I'm more in tune with my body's needs. Since I'm not pre-empting its messages by keeping it constantly busy digesting, I have a cleaner, clearer line of communication.
- My digestive tract has been much happier. It needs a break, apparently. Who knew?
- Yes, my weight seems to be going down (I don't own a scale). Not dramatically, but I don't want it to happen dramatically. I don't want my body to think the famine has started. That's counter-productive.
- I just feel better in my body. There's less bloating and "full" feeling. I'm less sluggish.
- Now that it's been a couple of weeks, I'm actually less hungry in between meals.
I've also been concentrating on eating my greens. I suppose that is Thing Four, since we're keeping track, although I wouldn't say that I've changed my diet dramatically.
I read somewhere on the interwebs that a popular interview question these days (or was that unusual question? I skim. Anyway...) was "How would you move Mount Fuji?" My answer? One shovel-full at a time.
Shoveling on...
