Often we don't get around to eating breakfast until about 10:00. We get up around 8:00, do chores, do yoga and then do breakfast. It's our first meal of the day, so I suppose it's breakfast, even if it's occurring at a time that most people would call brunch or, perhaps their second coffee break.
Here's the issue, though. We often end up eating breakfast and lunch in quick succession. Or, lunch is put off until 3:00 or so. The problem with these scenarios is that, frequently, I'm eating a meal that I'm not really hungry for. So why do I eat it?
Well, if it's the eating lunch at 3:00 option, it's because I'm quite hungry for lunch and then I feel like I should eat dinner, especially if it's a night that we're all home.
If I eat lunch quickly after breakfast, it's usually because I'm worried I'll be hungry later or not have enough fuel to get me through swimming. Sometimes I'm actually hungry and I figure that's okay. But, often I'm just eating to get the meal in, even if I'm not hungry.
None of this is a big deal for Davan. She's pretty much just always hungry, it seems, and pretty much would enjoy a nearly constant food offering. If we're not eating meals within a couple of hours of each other, she needs snacks. Her snacks resemble other people's meals. She, I'm certain, eats more than I do. If, though, she's not as hungry when a meal is offered, she just doesn't eat as much. Or she'll occasionally say, "No, thanks," to a snack.
For me, though, I keep thinking something has to change. I've though of a few plans, as it were.
A) Just skip breakfast, as it's practically lunch time by the time I eat it anyway. The downfall to this one is that it's really hard to feed Davan and not eat. I guess, actually, that's part of the whole issue, really. But, it's particularity hard at 10:00 when I'm hungry.
B) Either skip lunch or just have some raw veggies in it's place. This is really what I should do most of the time, I think.
C) Have something very small or, at least, very low calorie at breakfast. I did this one this morning. I made Davan a typical (for us) blueberry smoothie loaded up with peanut butter and all of it's good stuff. What didn't fit in her smoothie cup (think about the size of a Jamba Juice large), I kept in the blender as a basis for my smoothie. There was only a smidgen left - maybe a half a cup. I added about 3 cups of leftover salad (just Romain and spinach), three tangerines and a tablespoon or so of flax meal. It was more of a blended salad than a smoothie, but I got to eat and I am already hungry for lunch.
Mostly, though, I need to not eat when I'm not hungry. This is a hard one for me because I really enjoy eating. However, it's not healthy to eat when one isn't hungry. I can see that and, even in the moment, I can tell myself, "I'm eating just because this tastes good/I'm bored/I'm stressed/it's here/it's 'time to eat'/I want to be polite/Davan's eating/whatever." I'm good at seeing that reason. What I'm not good at then not eating when it's not about hunger.
All of this is helped by the fact that I mostly eat very healthy foods. That's a good thing. However, even with healthy stuff, it's not good to eat more than my body needs.
For now, though, swimming is fast approaching and I need to fit in lunch (!) and a trip to the post office. By-the-by, if you wanted the Mazda, you're out of luck. ;) We sold it Monday evening. Yay!
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