I met with my counselor today and asked her to print out the 10 Principles of IE for me so that I could go through them and see where I am in making progress. A few I am totally "there" - like respecting hunger and fullness, and even, heaven help me, exercise! The one I am still hung up on is #1: Letting Go of the Diet Mentality.
Yesterday I spoke of "bolting" but that was bolting out of healthy eating into crazy awful eating. Today I still want to talk about bolting but, bolting out of IE back into dieting. This morning on the way to work I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some apples to bring to work and while I was there I saw that Wasa crackers are on sale. Every morning I have two Wasa crackers with lite Laughing Cow cheese topped with either fresh tomatoes or fresh cucumbers. That breakfast never fails to hold me until lunch, and when I have something else for breakfast the day just never seems to fall into place. So... I always buy the sourdough crackers - which are 35 calories a piece. Since there was such a big sale I thought I would also buy other types and picked up the multigrain. Mon dieu - 60 calories a piece. I put it down immediately.
So I talked about this in today's session, using it as an example of how it is still so hard for me to let go of anything to do with diet mentality. How absurd is it, really, that I would let those 25 calories stop me from trying a new food. Why can I not pick up something only to immediately calculate Points or calories before allowing myself to have it? Well - since I have been dieting for 5 decades, I can see why... but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous! So one of my assignments this week is to go back to the store today and buy that multigrain Wasa and do a taste test of the two. Really pay attention to the flavor, texture, crunch and any other quality. Then write my impressions of the two different (or three - there is another "flavor" that I also want to try) crackers. Allow myself to eat it - and savor it (well, as much as a Wasa cracker can be savored! LOL). Try them with my Laughing Cow cheese that I have in the mornings. Try them with the different vegetables on top. Try them with other toppings and do a side-by-side comparison test.
What would be some lessons? That, if I didn't like the new flavor it might open the possibility that there might be other things that I wouldn't like anyway, but want them because they are forbidden? That I like the other flavor and a whole new world would be open to me at the price of only 25 calories? That I can eat something that is higher in calories and not feel wicked or naughty or bad? That I find I can eat something I like and stop at the usual serving that I have anyway? That I don't care for the new flavor(s) and then make a decision not to have them - instead of the decision being made for me based on calorie count? The lessons from my Wasa cracker taste test are endless!
The other assignment is to try to detach myself from diet thinking. Not in a way that I force myself not to think about dieting, but in a way that I am just an observer, not a participant. My counselor said another client gave her this metaphor: Pretend that you are lying on the bottom of the ocean looking up. Above you, you see the waves, the fish, people swimming, boats in the water, etc. But you are just laying there, looking up - not involved in the action, just observing it. That's what she wants me to do every time I have a diet thought this week.
For instance, if I have an urge to count Points in my head - just observe the thought, but don't actively participate in it. Or, with the Wasa crackers, I could have picked up the other flavor, read the calorie count - but the reading of that calorie count should have the same effect on me as if I was seeing a blue label instead of a green one - it shouldn't carry any impact on my decision - it is just something I am observing, not something I am participating in by way of deciding whether I should have 25 more calories a slice.
I can't resist a second image right here, that sums it all up, when talking about letting go of the diet mentality:
Miriam, I wonder if you replaced the "diet mentality" concept with the words "healthy eating" which I have to assume is also part of IE. - would that give it a more positive connotation? I actually stopped using the word "diet" many moons ago . I look at my eating style as replacing non-healthy foods with healthy foods - the points and calorie-counting are not at all my focus. I've done well in cutting most fried foods, fast foods, etc out of my food repertoire, and do not miss any of it. That's not to say that I don't struggle with temptations such as ice cream but I do try to limit the amount when I splurge! Isn't IE mainly eating and choosing food mindfully? It sounds like it's being mindful of not only what one eats but also how one feels (hungry or not), and being aware of NOT over-eating, etc. Can you e-mail me a link to the ten principles of IE? I'm trying to understand it, but I'm not sure that I do.
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