Beck Diet Solution: Day Three

Day Three talks about how you must sit down, at a table, and avoid doing anything other than eating when you're supposed to be eating.  This is a very difficult thing for me to do.  I know a lot of women eat while standing up (while they're cooking, or rushing to get other things done), or eat food off their family's plates while they're cleaning up.. and that's not me.  When I eat something, I relax.  However.. I don't sit at the table, and it's only at dinnertime that I don't do something else at the same time.

For me, it's because mealtimes are a break.  I discovered long ago that my children eat better if I'm not sitting there nagging them.  So for breakfast and lunch, I'm usually around but not sitting with them while they eat.  At breakfast, I'm often doing things in the kitchen, but for lunch, I'll take my food and sit at my desk in my bedroom and check email while they watch a TV show while they eat (terrible habit to promote, I know).  Or I'll sit next to them but read a book.  And when I snack, I'm usually either watching TV or reading.  I figure - if I'm going to take a break to eat a snack, I'm going to include TV, reading, or the Internet to make it a really good break rather than just a chance to eat food.

So I know I'm going to have a difficult time with this.  It will not be easy to sit at my dining room table and only eat.  I know I'll feel deprived, and I won't want to bother with it, but I need to try to do it consistently, because what I've done in the past obviously doesn't work.

My sabotaging thoughts will probably be:

1.  "I could be doing X right now while I'm eating, it's a waste of time to 'only' eat."

2.  "This is so boring!  I don't have anything to do."

3.  "I deserve to be able to enjoy myself while I eat."

My responses should be:

1.  "I'm not 'only' eating - I'm focusing on how the food tastes, and I'm paying attention to how full I'm feeling.  I can watch TV later, but I can only do those things now, while I'm eating."

2.  "There's plenty to do - notice how each bite tastes, make sure I take my time chewing, and monitor my hunger/fullness."

3.  "Eating is not supposed to be soothing.  If I need to soothe myself somehow, I should focus on healthy coping behaviors, and not incorporate food into that.  Food is meant for nourishing my body, not my emotional state."

I read my Advantages List twice today, and I also listened to my guided meditation.  I commited to eating while sitting down every single time.