It's no surprise that I am a big burger fan. Burgers are one of (if not) my favourite meal. I also enjoy the glass of wine or gin soda. One thing that I usually don't find myself eating or even desiring is rice crispy squares.
One Sunday, my Aunt Theresa (per usual) placed some freshly baked goodies in front of me for dessert. I wasn't particularly craving one, or in general, do I ever. However, this time I grabbed one, and enjoyed it.
I took a second as I caught myself going to grab another. "Moderation", I thought, "It's okay." But in this particular instance, moderation is not okay. I was using my way of mindful eating as a scapegoat to allow me to take another treat. This brought me to this realization:
Moderation does not give you a pass to eat whatever you want, whenever you want.
Moderation or mindful eating allows me to eat a healthy, well balanced diet, without giving me any sense of stress or extreme restriction. It also works coincide with my goals. What we (I) don't want to do, is give mindful eating the control of allowing me to eat whatever I want, when I want because I am allowed to indulge in moderation.
If moderate eating is apart your nutritional plan, and it works for you - that's awesome. But don't fall into the trap of "Indulging is okay, I can eat this now, and have another."
Moderation is supposed to help you, not hinder you. If you find yourself always indulging because "moderation", we are missing the point.
The problem is not with the treats we are eating, but how often we eat them.
We still want to limit our unhealthier choices. Allowing the indulgences now and then - the ones we really want because we love them and they are a rarity, not because they taste pretty good and well, moderation.
On the flip side, mindful eating is becoming aware of the foods we are consuming and why. So really, the whole practice here of realizing I was using the plan as a scapegoat to over indulge, really is being mindful. I was aware of this, and this makes me feel pretty good.
There was an occasion too where I really wanted a burger for dinner, but didn't want all the add-on's that came with it. So I opted for a bowl of black beans with my burger and joined in the table's sangria. So this is a point of finding the negotiable and non-negotiable indulgences. You don't have to go overboard with your indulgence, but enough to feel comfortable and satisfied.