A snack sized hole ...

Since embarking on my new way of eating, I've been thinking about the role ritual and habit play in our food choices.

I began writing this post during my mid-morning break; a time when I would usually be eating a snack.  I've always eaten breakfast and tended to eat 'stereotypical' breakfast foods such as cereal, porridge or toast, and yet by around 10.30am I'd be feeling really hungry and my stomach would be rumbling.

Over the last couple of weeks I've changed what I eat for breakfast and have been having higher protein foods like meat, fish or eggs alongside some fat and a vegetable like spinach.  

Some people have turned their noses up when I've told them because they can't imagine eating these kinds of food for breakfast. And yet, it's not that far off the continental style breakfast of meats, cheeses and salad stuff that people readily accept.  I think my breakfast transition was made easier by my having been abroad just before I began my plan and eating this kind of breakfast whilst there.  And also, the experience of being somewhere different and presented with a buffet-style breakfast with many choices led to me beginning to think more about what I wanted to eat for breakfast.

It seems that in many peoples' minds, breakfast equals cereal or toast.  Or on special occasions or as a treat, a fried breakfast.  It's interesting to notice the beliefs we hold around food and the kinds of foods which 'should' be eaten at particular times.  And yet the reality is, there are no rules!  We can choose to eat whatever we want whenever we want to!  But cultural conditioning seems to play a role here for many people.

For me, changing what I'm eating for breakfast has had a big impact.  I find that these foods satisfy my body and my mid-morning hunger pangs have vanished.  I reach my mid-morning break and I still feel satiated.  It's not that I can't have a snack, it's simply that I don't want or need one.  And that's slightly unsettling and it almost feels like something is missing!  It's interesting to experience a sense of feeling cheated of something that I no longer need or want.  And I can only assume that it's the ritual and habit of eating something at that time that I'm missing.  

Having to think about what I'm going to eat for breakfast has had an impact too.  Up until recently, I would simply reach for the toast or cereal without thought and mindlessly drift into my day.  Now, I have to put more thought into what I'm going to eat and it takes more time to prepare.  But by connecting to my breakfast and thinking about what I'm going to put into my body, I'm encouraged to connect more to myself and therefore to my day.  And I enter my day feeling satiated and aware of the feeling of the food inside me and the nourishment it's providing, rather than just engaging in a mindless habit.

And yet despite all of these positives, I still feel like I'm left with a snack sized hole in my morning ...