Food Rule #47 Eat when you are hungry

Update on Food Rule 60: Treat Treats as Treats:  I did fairly well at this, except for a few blunders- including eating pudding (not much nutritional value-excluding the milk, its not bad, not good).  I probably should have had a bowl of whole grain cereal with milk, or a piece of fruit and yogurt instead. When friday hit, I had a hard time.  I've usually let myself eat treats during the whole weekend, friday included.  My friend's son had a b-day party and I made Chocolate clusters (recipe coming soon!) for it, and had to taste it to make sure they were good, right???  And of course there was b-day cake at the party, so I had to be polite and taste it right.  Luckily, my friend has  the same health consciousness that I do, so she made a lower fat cake with a bit of whole wheat flour.  I love her for that! 

The weekend was wonderful.  I treated myself to a bowl or two of my favorite cereal/chocolate chip/applesauce/milk concoction, as well as some of the chocolate clusters (they have dark chocolate, nuts, and dried cranberries, healthy right???), as well as homemade Apple Brown Betty and Homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream (both recipes coming to you soon- all may be posted on Friday for those of you trying to keep the same goal I am).  A great weekend and a pretty good week.  I have found that homemade smoothies with no added sugar work wonders for my sweet tooth during the week-I just blend some skim milk and my favorite frozen fruit-banana, strawberries, and blueberries.  YUM!

This week I aim to improve on this goal of eating treats only on Saturday and Sundays, and build upon this goal by following the next food rule I am choosing to highlight:

Michael Pollan's Food Rule #47: Eat When you are hungry, not when you are bored

Wowsers, do I have a hard time with this one sometimes, especially on the weekends when that yummy cereal concoction sounds oh so good, or I want triple double helpings of that yummy ice cream I made earlier (homemade peanut butter ice cream is my favorite, also a recipe I will share in the coming weeks). 

I eat for several reasons-because I'm bored, for entertainment (who doesn't like a big bowl of popcorn during a movie, or game), if I am happy or sad, or excited.  I can think of many excuses to eat that are not because I am hungry

So, then what to do to help me follow this piece of advice?

Pollan says, "Try to be aware of why you are eating, and ask yourself if you're really hungry- before you eat and then again along the way".  He said that one old wive's test is "If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you're not hungry."

So to you I present this weeks goal and challenge: Eat when I am hungry, not bored.  Good luck!