More and more often I feel not hungry, but eat anyway. Yet I eat meals on a schedule, even though I could wait without consequences. I also eat between meals without a significant hunger. What the heck is that about?
Some possible reasons include:
- the habit of eating at regular times makes me feel comforted and secure
- chewing is a pleasurable activity (this is also a good reason that it’s hard to stop eating once you’ve started)
- what would I do if I didn’t eat?
- cravings. peanut butter cookies sound really good right now, and I would certainly put in some effort, in spite of the other fun things to do in my life.
- Eating to prevent future hunger
- Cooking one a way to relieve stress in other areas of my life.
Some things that are NOT reasons:
- boredom – there are more things to do in my life than I have time for
- social – we’ve pretty much separated our mealtimes as a family, and we only do communal cooking on weekends
I can’t even figure out if I’m getting any particular comfort from the activity. I do know that it sometimes makes me feel bad to eat, and I’m starting to sense when I punish myself with food.
Oh well, this is one of those classic times in which I’ve given myself a mental block to prevent myself from learning the real reason. Now to just let that all sink in, and see what the real reason is.
Off to make those cookies. I think I’ll use the recipe below. Only add a little honey and maybe some chopped nuts.
Hmmm. Maybe I eat/cook because it’s a creative activity and that’s a good change from my engineer’s life.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups flour, sift or stir before measuring
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
Preparation:
Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars; beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour mixture, blending well. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls; place on greased baking sheets. Flatten each cookie with the tines of a fork; dip fork in flour periodically to keep it from sticking to the peanut butter cookie dough.
Bake peanut butter cookies at 375° for about 10 to 12 minutes.
You will get there – meantime I find that when I am tempted to eat when I am not hungry it is an idea to have a list of some fun activities that I could do instead. Not chores, I would rather eat than do chores any day, these are treats – researching an interest on the net, phoning a friend for a catch up, planning a holiday, doing a quick burst of family history research.
Your stomach will let you know when it is time to eat.
Maybe the way of dealing with the cleaner, is when you are hungry to pop out for breakfast out? Or to make yourself a filling drink – IE has taught me how filling drinks can be.
I like the recipie, I will try it.