munsch-ee end of The Nom Bom Experiment

Alright, as of the end of today the Nom Nom Experiment is over. Phew! It's harder on weekends!

Having tried this for a week I think I need to come up with some general rules. I don't intend to always not-eating-while-being-entertained, but I did learn some things.

WORK
- If I'm eating a controlled portion, like one sandwich brought from home, I'm probably safe to eat while working. But if I pull out my snacks, or I buy a bigger lunch nearby, then it's better to focus on what I'm eating so that I don't over-do it. In any case the continued problem will be resisting running off to buy a snack when I just don't need one. Maybe if I make a rule like "I have to eat that snack while standing on one foot" my laziness will prevent the snack!

BREAKFAST
- This all depends on getting the portion right when I'm standing in the kitchen. Cause once I'm back sitting in bed eating, I'll eat whatever I've got, and have often eaten too much just cause it's there. One bowl of cereal, or two toasts with milky-tea or chocolate milk is the right amount for me.

- The other problem is eating nutritiously at breakfast, because it's the moto-rev-up for the day. I try to do peanut butter on my toast, to get a protein boost. But Shreddies or Wheetabix aren't really doing me much good. I sometimes make homemade granola and it's very nutritious, but it's soooooooooooo good that Fernando and I eat it within a couple days (as constant snack.)


LUNCH/SUPPER
- When I get home from work I'm usually very hungry so I take a huge portion of whatever. So this would be a good meal to eat at the kitchen table.

- Unless it's vegetable based, in which case I don't think I mind stuffing myself. For example, a soup that's almost all pureed veggies. Or dipping crunchy vegetables into homemade hummus. I can probably do that while watching TV or reading. The veggies are so full of fibre and water that you really feel the fullness anyway.

- On the other hand, something vegetable based but heavy, and carried to the mouth on a tortilla chip, spells trouble. Yes guacamole, I mean you. Today I ate my guacamole at the kitchen table and stopped when I felt full. I think I should stick to this practice. I can't say the number of times I've gorged myself in front of the TV on guacamole, and just felt totally BLEH sick afterwards. That much oil just can't be consumed in one sitting.

SNACKS
- Here lies danger! I suspect I should always eat sweets without doing anything else. Because if the cookies disappear too quickly, without me being really conscious of them, then I'm much more likely to go back to the kitchen and get more. The cookies require Attention.

- Chippies. Oh chippies. How I love you. But when I eat too many of you, I always regret it. There are some food theories that you only fully taste the flavour of something at the first few bites (which might be why a food with complex flavour and ingredients is more satisfying), and that is SO true for chippies. I'd almost say that the drive behind chippy consumption is the quest to recapture the taste of the first three chips. So if I sit and Do Nothing Else, I'll probably realize that the taste is gone, and stop. And plus, the boredom. (Crunch crunch stare at wall crunch crunch stare at foot crunch crunch...)

And now I feel like having some chippies. Bye!

a long-o day-o

Work
Umm so I was a wee bit tired after two nights of 3 hour sleeps. And it was a busy day. My brain could handle it for the first 8 hours, but the second my shift was officially over (and I wanted to work on my own work, as opposed to running the store) every customer received a telepathic message telling them I would be there to fill their every need and dream and they should not let me take two steps without stopping me.

Ordinarily I love that sort of fun-on-the-sales-floor, but I had someone waiting to talk to me, so it just stressed me out. After 30 minutes of this (and after taking off my uniform vest didn't help) I finally took off in an all-out run for the office. Jumped into it like I was leaping into a fox hole. 3 hours later when I tried to leave work, my brain cells were so fried I returned to the office about 5 times in a row, while another manager was holding a meeting in there, because of forgetting things. It was like... Departure Fail. Failure to launch.

Eating
Yesterday I ate pasta while listening to a program on CBC, but I felt fine about it because I started listening while making supper and it wasn't over when I was ready to eat. It was about two Newfoundland Inuit families in the late 1800s who agreed to travel around Europe as part of a zoo exhibit. The Germans didn't remember to inoculate them against smallpox so they all died. One of their member kept a diary in Inuktituk, which the CBC show was based on. Really interesting.

But today at work I worked while eating, simply because there was so much to do. Blech.

Food
I went to the grocery store after, and tooook myyyy tiiiiiime. I wandered slowly through the aisles, weighing my really really empty fridge (emptier than it's been in years, literally) against how much I could carry. Towards the end I came across a new aisle they just set up of international food.

Oh man did I have fun! The municipality I live in is pretty white and oldy, but just north of the grocery store (still well in the burbs) there are a lot more immigrant (or first generation Canadian) nabes. I only know this because if I take a bus in that direction, in the space of one block, I go from being part of the majority to the minority.

Anyway, the grocery store must be finally trying to tap that market because they have a huge new aisle of international groceries. Not the North-American-ized kind (Heinz's Tandoori sauce or whatever) but the kinds of prepared foods you usually see in smaller markets, with 6 languages on the label. Plus ginormous bags of various rices, and cooking oils.

It used to be I couldn't locate a stuffed vine leave for love nor money in that store, and I searched high and low for tahini. This new aisle had a variety of stuffed vine leaves, 6-8 brands of tahini, 8 different kinds of refried beans, and a whole other host of Interesting Yummies. Indian, Chinese, Russian, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Greek... I felt like I was on a Disneyland "It's a Small World" ride.

I took a pass on the gefilte fish, and had to pass the things that would have been too heavy (jerk sauce, refried beans), but I couldn't resist a huge bag of the brightest dye-coloured tortilla chips I've ever seen, a big package of chocolate wafer cookies, stuffed vine leaves, Chana masala spice mix, and back in the frozen section I found samosas. If I have to return to processed food I can at least do it in style!

Books


They're pre-screening this a Fantasia this summer -- a Montreal film festival that used to focus on Asian films, but I get the impression they're now positioning themselves as a "genre film" festival.

I found out today that it's basd on a manga-esque graphic novel called Scott Pilgrim. It's actually a Canadian series, with a Canadian setting, but apparently they've un-Canada-ed it for the movie. Tsk tsk.

I bought the first edition as a bookseller told me it's really good. Will report back! ;-)

Muncheroo

[The Nom Nom Experiment: Eating without doing anything else at the same time, for one week.]

What day am I on??

Anyway. Stuck to my guns today.

munchity munchy munch

[The Nom Nom Experiment: Eating without doing anything else at the same time, for one week.]

Today at work I sat eating the last of my herbed bread with a chai latté, and thought of all the work I could be getting done while eating. It was kind of stressful, cause I'd think of something I could do! Then remember I couldn't. Then think of something else! And couldn't. And they were all things that would need to be done eventually, so it was like this to do list kept piling up.

And then I didn't get time to eat the other half of my meal, so at closing time my stomach was gurgly. So I'm afraid I ate some dates & walnuts (my work-drawer snack) while doing closing procedures. But I did stop and put them away when I realized I'd had enough and might just keep eating them cause they're there.

It's hard, I tell you. Hard!

munching munchy munch

Listening to:


So I didn't do any work while eating my lunch at work. Talked with husband while eating supper at home, but, like, I wasn't going to tell him: Shh! I'm eating!!

But I had an interesting moment a couple hours ago when I went to get a bit of herb loaf to snack on. I was cutting a piece, and thought: "Shit. If I cut too big a piece, I'll be bored as I sit around eating it." That was the moment where I was Seriously Tempted to cheat on my experiment. I wanted to eat my snack and watch something dammit!!

Instead, I just sat on the couch. Munch munch munch. Let my mind wander, as usual. Nom nom nom.

Munch munch munch

I listened to this song while writing the following post, and, it's so good. I thought it required sharing.



So. I've always wanted to MAKE myself try the experiment of not doing something else while eating. As a way of being more conscious of my food and when I'm full.

But the idea always *scared* me. I love combining food with other forms of entertainment. Getting something nice to eat, and pairing it with a good book or TV show... it's almost planned. "As soon as I'm done reading my emails, I will make a nice (faux)cheese sandwich and eat it while watching The Office."

At the same time, I know I'm a classic unconscious eater. And ever since being on my headache pill, my appetite has changed in some way. I get hungry when I shouldn't, logically, be hungry. And I used to be a little better at not indulging in something yummy-but-meh-nutrition, like potato chippies. Now, my brain has become Lost to All Reason.

I don't want to go off the headache pill, because I'd rather be fat with less headaches; but as of a couple months I've noticed my knees hurting me. So the fat thing has crossed some invisible line from "s'alright, I'm can survive at this weight" to "intrusive."

Anyway, yesterday for some reason I felt I could finally try the entertainment-free-eating. So I've to try for at least one week, right? An experiment should at least go one week.

I've given myself breakfast as a reprieve, because coming alive is already the biggest trial I face every day. And at work today I just forgot. I focused while eating my homemade bread cause it was crumbly, but I think I read emails while eating carrots.

Also, full disclosure, I have a map of the world placemat on the kitchen table.

It was funny just now, though, when I went to get some chippies. I poured out a reasonable portion of chippies, sat down on the couch, and then thought--hm. I have to turn off the tv. Ignore my computer. And just sit here and eat chips.

It was a novel experience. Snacks feel like they should go along with an activity. It wasn't as boring as I thought it'd be. I composed this entry in my head. And then thought about a conversation I had with my boss. Is that cheating? I can only do so much to prevent being entertained.

I fully anticipate not being able to make this an actual Real Habit. But experiments are at least educational. I once went a week without eating corn syrup and that was an eye-opener.