Tranquility Workshops Blog

Well, I’m six days into my Mindful (vegan) Eating Adventure., and  so far, I’ve lost a total of 3.2 pounds.  As I eat most of my meals alone on the week days, I prefer to keep it simple, and  don’t do a whole lot of cooking.  I’ve been enjoying hommus (with olives) on Thomas’ Whole Wheat Bagel Thins, veggie burgers,  brown rice and veggies, salads with nuts and beans, veggie soups. Nature's Path waffles, whole wheat cereals,  and my favorite thing of all……..smoothies, made with almond milk, bananas and (frozen) strawberries.  I continue to notice that by eating this way and drinking (almost) all of the water, that I have lost almost all desire to snack in-between meals.  If I do, it's usually fruit. 

My friend, Joy, told me about 2 websites that offer good information and recipes:  vegweb.com and goveg.com.  I’ll be looking them over to come up with some good recipes to try during the weekend. I love trying new things, and this is actually a lot of fun for me.    I’m also on the verge of making some vegan cranberry scones, to enjoy in the morning with my cup of coffee. 

My walking routine has been put on hold for the moment, because I’ve been having some moderately severe knee pain from an inflamed tendon.  I experienced a fall last week, while playing soccer with my grandson, and it’s been hurting ever since.  The doctor assures me that rest and an anti-inflammatory med should take care of the problem.  I’m noticing improvement day by day, and can’t wait to get back to my regular routine.

I’ve been reading the book, Savor…Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, and I find it to be a helpful guidebook to keep with me along my journey.  The authors (Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung) advise us to take a good look (beyond the packaging) at what we choose to eat, noticing if those foods are promoting health and weight loss, vs. being a detriment to our physical well-beings, soothing our emotions instead.  I know a lot of the foods I was eating , were in no way doing anything to enhance my health.  Potato chips, doughnuts, ice cream, fried foods, diet soda, and other foods high in fat and sodium did nothing positive for me, except to soothe  a craving.  After eating those things, if I was truly mindful, I would notice that I felt nothing positive……only guilt, regret and disgust about the choices that I made.  I often felt powerless about making better choices, because my “habit energy” was so strong.  If I wanted it, I ate it……no thinking involved.  And that, my friends, is mindless eating……..which leads to ill health and weight gain. 

Let’s face it…. every food-related decision we make is an important one, however if your switch is set on auto-pilot mode, you won’t even be aware that there is a decision to make.  You just grab and go, with no consideration of the importance of that moment.  Pretty common to let our emotions do the deciding!