It turns out that eating chocolate mindfully is harder than it looks.
I’m glad to report that I survived my first week of the mindful eating chocolate challenge And I still have chocolate left. WOOT!
For the first day or two whenever I chose to eat a piece of my chocolate, the only conscious decision I made was how much to eat. Not wanting to go overboard on it, I regaled myself to two squares/pieces because those came the closest to one ounce.
Hard to believe this is an ounce huh?
It was rather freeing knowing that it was okay to eat the chocolate and not feel guilty. A couple of days into the challenge though and I felt myself not really craving it so much as just wanting to eat it because I COULD. There was no feeling of shame to it or that I shouldn’t have this piece of chocolate. Unfortunately there was also no feeling of NEEDING the chocolate either. I felt like I had moved past craving and onto eating out of obligation. Not cool Chocolate lover. Not. Cool.
But that got me thinking, since I had removed the stigmata of feeling shame for wanting chocolate, couldn’t I also remove the mindset that I should eat it because it’s there? I feel like the answer to this is yes and it’s just going to take time for me to find the balance of craving vs. eating because of availabilty. I already know that I’m a boredom eater (I eat when I’m bored) or when I’m working (speaking of which, I have a weekend of editing ahead of me… please pass the potato chips).
On Thursday I checked in on Dr. Albers’ Facebook page (that’s where the Mindful Eating Chocolate Challenge is taking place!) I wanted to see what was happening there and I found a video that I think is really going to help me move from eating a food because it’s there to eating it with purpose (what I call mindful eating).
I don’t know if I’m totally on board yet with invoking the feelings of eating chocolate. Though I do know there have been times when I’ve absolutely felt a feeling of joy,peace, relief (whatever you want to call it) come over me when I’ve had a glass of iced tea or chocolate, especially when I haven’t had any in awhile (I believe this is how drug addicts must feel when they get a fix). Perhaps it’s those feelings that I am to strive for in this mindful eating challenge and then learn how to harness them (FOR GOOD, NOT EVIL <– sorry I couldn’t resist!). I’m going to take a different approach going into this week and let you know.
Read from the beginning to learn about my Mindful Eating Chocolate Challenge and follow me and my #chocolatechallenge hashtag on Instagram. You can also visit Dr. Albers via her Facebook page or read about others and their experience with the Mindful Eating Chocolate Challenge on EatQ.
**This is part of a social media campaign on behalf of Dr. Susan Albers and EatQ.com. I have been provided with the tools necessary to complete this campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
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