My friend Kelly over at Make a little birdhouse fasted this past week and came up with some interesting results of what food means to her. Since I have been sick I have not been able to eat like I'm used to. In the beginning the urge to eat made me nauseous. From there it made my stomach hurt to even look at or taste food. After that I craved salty foods, but not the results after I ate them. Finally I was told to go back to bland foods and that just wore me out wondering which foods fit that category. Bottom line is my stomach has shrunk and I rarely eat more than two meals a day.
After reading and listening to Kelly's tale of fasting I went to dinner last night at Chili's. It was quite late, 8:30 PM, and my new health regime is that I shall not eat after 8:00 PM due to my hiatal hernia. But Tom and Darcy hadn't eaten (Madison was at a birthday party) and so I went with them intending to eat a cup of soup. Unfortunately, the only soups on Chili's menu are spicy ones and hello, hiatal hernia, not allowed spicy foods, especially past my time deadline. I perused the menu and finally decided on a house salad and mashed potatoes. When the waiter came to take our order Darcy and Tom opted for my favorite appetizer ever at Chili's: skillet chili con queso dip with salsa and chips. I decided against the mashed potates.
The appetizer came and we all dug in. I went slow afraid of what this would do to be later while trying to sleep. It's not that I have tons of heartburn and reflux, but now knowing that I have this hernia and reflux I'm trying to change my diet habits. I dipped the chip just a tad into the con queso and salsa. Same with the next one and the next one and the next one. I chewed slowly and talked to Tom. My salad came and if there were five pieces of lettuce in there I would be shocked. It was a sad salad, but then again it was a side dish. I ate it in four bites. We ordered another basket of chips to finish the dips. I helped myself to a few more. Then I told myself I was done.
And here is where this story ties in with Kelly's. While I sat chatting with the family I had to keep my hands folded. I drank more of my blackberry iced tea then I wanted. I played with the tomatoes I didn't touch in my salad bowl. I realized I wanted to keep eating the chips and dips. My mouth wanted to taste that cheesy goodness on its tongue. It wasn't that I was hungry. In fact I wasn't hungry at all. I wasn't hungry when we came into Chili's. I just wanted to eat because there wasn't anything else to do while everyone else was finishing up their meals! I too eat from boredom. I too eat because my hands don't know what else to do with themselves. Food isn't really important to me except in a way that it isn't intended to be. Interesting.
I kept myself from sticking my face into the basket and devouring it all. I didn't lick the con queso skillet or drink from the salsa bowl. I tried keeping my hands in my lap. I discussed the theory with Tom. I sweated through it until we were ready to leave. Once we were gone I was good. Out of sight out of mind. I didn't eat again until late the next morning. I'm not sure how this will affect my new health kick. It will be interesting to see which foods are triggers like the con queso dip. I'm just glad I didn't have to fast a week to discover this, although I'm not sure my way was much better....
I would much rather have purposefully fasted for a week than to go through what you have been through this whole summer! I had a choice where you did not. Good luck on the new food regime. Now that you are eating so early, you'll be like all the other senior citizens in Florida, taking in the early bird specials. Ooops, did I say all the other senior citizens, as if you were one yourself? Slip.
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