Days 4, 5, & 6: The Intuitive Eating Adventure (A Weekend On-The-Go)
Intuitive Eating Bathroom Charge
This will be a quick round-up, because I didn't have a whole lot of time to journal this weekend.
Day 4:
I had to drive from Los Angeles to San Diego to attend a (really lovely) funeral, so eating around a travel schedule was a new challenge. In the morning it was a quick coffee and an orange—and, honestly, I'm surprised to admit it held me over until our very late lunch. It may have been the adrenaline of fighting traffic, though. When I did get a chance to eat, I had a salad the size of my head. Three hours of traffic from SD to LA later, I settled in at home and got take out from a mediterranean place nearby. The day's routine was as follows: 8am: coffee, orange 3pm: huge Chinese chicken salad (ate. every. bite) and a chickpea lettuce wrap (and a fortune cookie, let's be honest) 9pm: falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, over a salad
Takeaways:
Though I went for long chunks without eating, I didn't experience any "hanger" — it may sound crazy, but I feel like this is because my body knew I wasn't going to leave it in the lurch. We seem to have developed a pretty solid "I'll take care of you—whatever you're needing" rapport.
It was far easier than I'd anticipated to work intuitive eating into a travel schedule. I knew my body was going to let me know when it absolutely needed food, and if it had gotten that bad, I could have pulled over and gotten a granola bar on-the-go. I like the level of trust I'm gaining in my body's ability to work with my schedule.
I am still surprised that I'm not craving sugar as intensely as I'd anticipated. I actually seem to crave nourishing foods like veggies and salads — I swear it's not just me trying to "be healthy"—it's what my body seems to crave when I'm looking over a menu.
Day 5:
Another sort of strange day in that it was my first Saturday (a general free-for-all kind of day) on this intuitive eating path. Would I cave to mindless cravings over mindful ones (hint: kind of). Our fridge wasn't fully stocked—another curveball I'd have to work around. I woke up, brewed some coffee, and asked my body if it needed anything. I ended up toasting my leftover 'toasted chickpeas' and had about 1/2 cup roasted plantain chips. Not the healthiest choices, but better than nothing? Mid-day, before running to the grocery store to re-stock, I did some standard Saturday cleaning. I was feeling a little hungry, but not for anything I could see in the fridge. When my eyes hit the single GF beer sitting on a shelf, I had a momentary "would this make cleaning feel more exciting?" moment and went with it. The beer was an interesting choice. Not a typical one, and yet, not at all an intuitive ask from my body. This was sort of a classic old pattern rearing its head: consuming something that would offer a feeling, rather than consuming something for nourishment. I didn't fully realize that until later in the day, and I don't totally regret the choice (it's not like I housed multiple beers mindlessly), but I do think it was important to make the distinction for the sake of self-awareness. By 4pm I'd finished cleaning and gotten home from the grocery store. I picked up some shrimp wraps from TJs, because I knew I'd want something ASAP when getting home. We were headed to a Wayne's World screening at the Hollywood Cemetery in the evening, and I knew there would be snacks, so I felt pretty comfortable calling it after those wraps. The screening was another challenge: a social scenario where your dinner is essentially a snack-fest. I did my best to avoid snacking mindlessly, but I can't say I wasn't totally hungry by the time the snacks appeared, so I may have been eating less mindfully than I'd have wanted. That said, I think I was pretty good about finishing when I felt truly full. 10am: coffee, toasted chickpeas, plantain chips 1pm: a beer (arguably not what I was "needing") 4pm: two shrimp wraps 7pm: a combination of popcorn, GF pretzels, hummus, a little cheese, and some wine. and a cookie.
Takeaways:
Old habits are hard to break, and one of mine finally surfaced: the desire to eat something because it will bring out a feeling rather than for nourishment.
Having a stocked fridge is helpful.
Wayne's World is so much funnier than I'd remembered.
Day 6:
Ah, Sunday. A day of leisure. With no plans, this would surely be an easy day for intuitive eating. Not really, though. I realize that I have a "weekend mindset" that's really hard to break. Like, as though weekends are for shamelessly treating yourself without thinking about it. (But aren't they??) I'm practically in vacation-mode every 5 days. That said, I kept it fairly real. Coffee and an orange for breakfast (didn't even get through the coffee, which I found kind of interesting). We went out for a late brunch, and I ordered a Hawaiian scramble (basically eggs and various veggies over rice). I didn't eat most of the rice. I actually felt like I did a decent job checking in with myself as I ate to ensure I was eating as much as I needed without mindlessly moving to a point of excessive fullness. Also! I didn't order a coffee, which shocked me. But maybe my bod is cool with like half a cup a day, who knows? Because it was so substantial, lunch held me over to dinner. We went out with some friends to catch the basketball playoffs and I had a couple beers (my intuition and my brain battled it out on whether or not to drink alcohol and my "but I want to be social!" brain won 🤷🏼♀️). I had some non-fried chicken wings and very-fried cauliflower for dinner. You gotta work around the menu sometimes, you know? 11am: coffee, orange 2pm: scramble, about 1/2 cup rice, broccoli, onions, sprouts, etc. 6pm: wings, cauliflower bites, a couple of brewskies
Takeaway:
I've got to work on this whole "weekend mindset" thing. Just because it's a weekend doesn't mean it's better to disconnect from the self. I was really enjoying the connection that I felt with my body on the weekdays—there's no reason to jump ship from that effort just because your schedule changes or becomes more social.
That said, I do think I was slightly better at checking in with myself during social events than I would have been a week earlier. It wasn't a perfectly "mindful" experience, but it was better than a totally mindless one.
I've only been doing this a week, so I think it's okay to have a couple instances of "oops, maybe that wasn't totally on-point." It's all about moving forward, right?
I'm going to do my best to stick with this, because it's actually bringing me a lot of peace, feeling like I can actually trust my body to make choices that actually do nourish me.
PS. My water count on all three days was pretty stellar. That's the one part I seem to be getting down pretty well. Thanks for staying thirsty, bod!