Habit a Week 5: Slow Down

A report about the last four weeks...

• #1: Fix Your Water Intake - I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but I decreased my water intake this week. It might be because it's been raining and weather was fairly cool, or I just don't get thirsty that I sometimes forget to drink my cup of water after my workout. Bad.
• #2: Move! - Despite the lazy weekends, I could say I moved a lot this week. I am thankful that Bloody Mary cooperated with my situation and has allowed me to do some of the things I needed to do.
• #3: Eat a Veggie - Good news... I got to eat vegetables everyday of this week. Hooray! Well, I try to include vegetables into my diet and even if I got to eat more meat/fish last Saturday, my Salmon BBQ meal had a small serving of ensaladang talong, which is a vegetable, too.
• #4: Increasing the Fiber - One major thing I did this week was to eat oatmeal (just for one day, though) and whole wheat bread. I wanted to buy more fruits - apples and pomelo - but they were just too expensive! For now, I will just stick with the whole wheat bread, and maybe train myself to eat oatmeal again.

We are now entering Week 5 of Lyn's Habit-a-Week Challenge, and this week, we have to learn how to slow down...especially in eating. Biting more than I can chew was one of the factors why I got big, and I admit that when I eat with family members (relatives included) and / or friends who are hearty eaters prompts me to eat more. Now that I am eating less than usual, slowing down is still something I need to learn because I sometimes fill my spoon with a lot of food, therefore my plates got empty pretty quick. It often results to me feeling bad that my family are still eating and yet I can't add more food on my plate. The feeling that I was "left out" doesn't feel good, so yes, I need to train myself to put just a little food on my spoon and chew it slower so I would finish eating the same time as my family.

Lyn indicated shared different tips that I will follow:

• Taste each bite.
• Really take the time to LOOK at the food - it's shape, textures, colors.
• Really take the time to SMELL the food.
• Take a minute before you eat. (Well, I do photograph my food before I eat it, so I think I got this one covered.)
• Enjoy each bite - put down the spoon, fork, and/or knife after each bite.
• Halfway through your meal, get up and go somewhere. (This is quite weird, but it can be done)

If you got some tips to share, you're very much welcome to do so.