Conscious Eating

When it comes to food and eating, we have very little
actual requirements. I'm speaking of our basic biological
requirements.

We need to eat for nutritional intake to maintain our bodies,
health, and mass. (Now, getting specific, the level of protein
you need, the vitamins, etc, is very specific. But our reason
for putting food in our bodies--as a necessity--is very simple.)

However, we are a by-product of a prosperous and spoiled
society, and a technological society, and our eating habits and
motives have become varied. And negative.

We eat because others are eating.
We eat what it is convenient to eat.
We eat the amounts that others give us.
We eat because we are bored.
We eat so as to not have any leftovers left to save.
We eat to fill an emotional void.
We eat to finish the bag.
We eat because we're angry and not paying attention.

But the bottom line on all of these patterns of behavior is
that we are not truly PRESENT in the moment, paying
attention to what we are doing...and more importantly,
the EFFECTS of eating what we are eating.

It's important to recognize the correlation between our
actions and our consequences. Our weight, our health,
our energy levels, our longevity, our very lives are effected
by the quantity and quality of every single thing we place
in our mouths.

Hard as it is, we have to get out of a habitual action of
eating whatever is available, or eating to medicate feelings.
If we are learning to care about self, we must learn to consider
and deliberate what we are doing and how it relates to our
body's actual nutritional needs.

We need plenty of water, vegetables, fruits, and protein.
We need less fats and oils and sugar.
What have we had so far today?
How much are we eating beyond quelling hunger?
What would make me feel better?

Stop. Think. Consider.
We are responsible for our well-being...and we must make
the changes required to adjust to better living.