In a recent Pickles comic, Opal commented that she loved October because it was the one time of year when you can buy a big bag of candy without feeling like people are judging you. I laughed, but it also got me thinking. Do you also indulge in bulk candy buying while you can? If so, you’re not alone. Americans are expected to spend $2.6 billion on candy for the season, or about $25/person. Interestingly, candy corn is the top seller, but it’s followed by chocolate in the form of Snickers, Kit Kat, Reese’s, and M&M’s. Now, some of this candy goes to trick-or-treaters, but let’s be honest. A lot of it doesn’t. A lot of it is put out in offices or at parties, gets eaten at home before Hallowee
“[If] you hold fear in front of you, it doesn’t dictate your behavior. But I think, because we’ve lost our capacity for pain and discomfort, we have transformed that pain into hatred and blame. It’s like it’s so much easier for people to cause pain than it is for them to feel their own pain.” – Brené Brown That quote came from an interview Brené Brown did with Krista Tippett in an On Being podcast called Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart. What I found fascinating in listening to the discussion was that even though Brown was talking about relationships between people, I kept thinking of how this applies to our relationships with ourselves. With that mindset, the podcast had a lot to offer f
Note: You can learn more about the Am I Hungry?® Mindful Eating Program at AmIHungry.com or on my website. Listening to the kids in the documentary Fed Up was heartbreaking. Hearing them talk about trying to eat right and exercise and do all the things they’re “supposed” to do – and still not lose weight – brought me back to my first round at Weight Watchers. I remember doing a “Breakthrough Diet” for two weeks, and I thought it was guaranteed to make me lose weight. Except I gained a little. I wish I had learned enough from that experience not to go back, but I didn’t. Like so many others, I thought it was all my fault, that I had failed at the diet. I didn’t think that the diet had failed
I’ve heard of slow food before, but I only recently came across the idea of slow thinking. This was a concept introduced in the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I haven’t read the book, but after listening to an interview with Kahneman, and reading a little more about the concepts, I realized that to eat mindfully, you need to use slow thinking. What’s the Difference Between Fast and Slow Thinking? Kahneman separates our ways of thinking into two parts: System 1, or fast thinking, is our initial, gut reaction to something, when we jump to conclusions and make first impressions System 2, or slow thinking, is a more reflective, logical approach where we do analysis and problem-s
