Mindful Chocolate-chip cookie eating

I'm still snowed in, in our mountains above LA. Which is giving me a really bad case of the munchies. The one thing that I take consolation is that because we haven't been able to go anywhere, at least I am munching on "healthy" foods that I probably made from scratch myself. Point is, I'm not stopping at Jack in the Box for an Oreo Cookie shake. I shoveled snow for nearly two hours today, and when I came back in, cold in my bones, I wanted a chocolate chip cookie. I really wanted a chocolate chip cookie. We had no chocolate chip cookies, so I baked some. With ingredients I can pronounce. Flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, and such. And I licked the bowl. And it was yummy. And I don't feel guilty because I made a conscious choice to eat chocolate chip cookies.

I think that's a big part of my problem. I'm just not mindful. This goes way beyond eating, but eating is a physical manifestation of it. I believe that my body always knows what it wants and needs. I just don't take the time to listen to it. So I'm kind of getting into the whole Mindful Eating thing. If you google Mindful Eating you come up with all sorts of links. The best one I've found so far is The Center For Mindful Eating. I'm still going through it all, but there are lots of links and meditations and ways to become aware of the needs of the body - when you're really truly hungry, and the food your body really truly craves. That's the whole point. Diets don't work, because you're only depriving yourself of food while on the diet, and not really learning new ways of eating so that you don't get big again after the diet ends.

So I am trying to be slower and more deliberate in my actions, having gratitude for everything, appreciating the moment, all that good stuff. And that goes for food, too.