The FastDay Forum

This made me think. In a magazine Ive just read a doctor writes about encouraging his patients to wait 30 seconds between bites of food. This helps them to tell when they stop feeling hungry and stop eating before they feel full. His theory is that there's a point well before you're full when your hunger is satisfied.
I'm going to try to eat mindfully this weekend and hopefully consume a bit less.

All well and good in theory!!! Just back home after meal out.....fasted yesterday and lost 1lb this week so feel good about food today!! Anyhow, had two courses....smoked mackerel pâté with salad and toast, then whole plaice in prawn and sun dried tomato sauce, fresh veg and small portion chips. Yum yum full tum!!!! (Sorry if you're fasting today) THEN the waitress brought us the sweet menu, "just looking", I told hubby....next thing I knew I was ordering raspberry creme brûlée!! It was beautiful, but definitely 'wanted' not 'needed'!!! I'm not worrying about it though.....fast day on Monday!

Sounds gorgeous! Lucky you! Creme brûlée (drooling now)
I should have added that I'm only doing with my own cooking and definitely not when eating out! I do shovel down food though so will try to slow down

Is that meaning stomach over mind? Trouble is my mind is too demanding!!! Hope this WOE cures it!!!

Definitely! In the past I've eaten before really feeling hungry. Think I thought I'd keel over or something! But I'm always going to enjoy food if someone else has prepared and cooked it. Would be rude not to! At least we can always repair the damage on fast days.

Very true. I was brought up to eat 3 meals a day whether you needed them or not! It's very difficult to adjust your mind to what the body actually needs.....I'm trying hard! Xx

And clearing your plate or no dessert! And the poor starving children! And my mum had this horrible phrase about your eye being bigger than your belly (which was a bit unfair when she was serving up the portions!). All those beliefs to get rid of.
Both my daughters stop eating when they're full so I managed not to pass on my bad habits. I just need to eradicate them and this WOE is really helping. And the forum too.

Oh well done with your daughters, don't know if I've been so successful with my boys....I still hate to see wasted food. Think it's my problem with portion control though....too much of it!!! Trouble is hubby likes his food and before 5:2 I was matching his portions....not any more, but it is hard! Your mum sounds just like mine used to....my boys used to tell her to send the food to Africa...I wouldn't have dared! Xx

I was another one brought up with"don't waste", "think of the starving" and so on! I used to wonder if rice pudding could be poured into an envelope and sent to Africa!
Makes one realise how much upbringing, social attitudes, etc effect our eating habits.
Providing food and lots of it was a way of showing love in our family ....... somehow quantity has to be replaced with quality I guess!
Quality for me at the moment is English asparagus

Portion size has been a problem for me too. My OH sounds like yours Grannyl and I'm trying to reduce mine compared to his. I still cook too much food though.
My mum was definitely of the 'eat to live' and not 'live to eat' mode but she was always cooking for us, loads of cakes, pastries etc. I think it was her way of showing love like in your family Pammy. Trying to undo all this stuff takes a lot of time doesn't it?

I really struggle with mindfulness when eating. I have a tendency to shovel down my food as if someone's about to snatch it away. This has never actually happened - I was an only. Maybe in a past life!

I need to practice mindful eating - I'm sure it'll really help with being aware and stopping when I'm full rather than when I'm stuffed. But also experiencing gratitude for and appreciation of what I'm eating. Sorry, straying into spiritual territory there.

This is the next step for me - fasting has helped me realise whether or not I actually feel hungry and so sometimes I have just had a cuppa soup or light snack at dinner time, whereas before I would have automatically come home and made a full dinner regardless of how hungry I was. Feel like thats a really big step so I'm dead chuffed!

The next thing is what you're talking about - not continuing to feed my face when I'm no longer hungry! I've managed it a few times but I still find it hard to resist eating everything on my plate! Definitely partly a 'mustn't waste' mentality, but also because I know I'm a greedy monkey!

Thanks for the graph Kencc. Fascinating (and sorry Mum! ). I take food for granted because its always around me but I have noticed that after a fast day it tastes so much better. I'm going to say 'thanks' more often, slow down when eating and stop when full...and carry on this WOL.

It's that switch off button! I think mine is faulty but hoping as I persevere with this WOL it will get better.

I agree with the 'love' issue and food. I love cooking for my family and to feel the enjoyment we all have when sitting and eating together. It's another way to express my love for them......but on reflection, I must learn not to force more food on them than they want or to see this as a rejection . They seem to have a healthier approach to food than me! Oh well, one happy dog with all the leftovers!!

The trouble with 'mind over matter' is that I used to have more matter than mind, but not any more thanks to 5:2

Ballerina x