I eat more when I am sitting on my butt at work than I do if I am out hiking. Is it any wonder that I’m putting on more fat than my middle aged body can comfortably handle? I’m endangering all my internal organs which are now surrounded by a layer of slow death. My arteries are clogging, my heart is struggling to move oxygen around a body that is more blubbery than healthy. My digestive system is crying out for more fresh produce and less empty carbs.
Why do we eat more than we need, knowing that our health is suffering now and in the future?
Because I’m bored. Even when I’m flat-out/running to the printer/huffing into the phone busy, I’m still bored. It’s not that there isn’t anything to do, because there is plenty to do. It’s because the things that I do provide no stimulation and no challenge.
I sit on a swivel/wobble stool which is better for my posture than slumping in an office chair. That is supposed to provide me with challenges to keep me motivated during my tedious work hours, but doesn’t really. I rock back and forth on it to see if I can tip myself off. I stare into a corner made up of a half wall on one side and oh, another half wall on the other side. The walls are brown. The desk is brown. I call it my cubby like a lion pacing in its cage would call it a cubby.
I regularly change the gnome/plant/picture that sits on the shelf above the two computer screens that dominate my field of vision to no avail. The problem is that there are two computer screens dominating my field of vision. NOTHING can fix that.
I have a little digital photo screen that scrolls through memories of my distraction trips. It catches my eye sometimes and I steal a second to wish I wasn’t here.
Is it any wonder we lose weight when we spend time in Italy.
There are no compulsory computer screens in the Apennines. (I say compulsory because we do take our laptops). No cubby. No boredom. Instead of a view of a corner between two brown walls, there are expansive views over the hills to the mountains. Instead of an office chair there is a log on the edge of that view.
One lunch spot is a rock that we move to the middle of the cow paddock to sit on and eat our picnic. The view is more wonderful from there than from the track. We move the rocks back after we’ve had our picnic. We don’t want a cow to trip over them one day, hurtling down the hill just for fun, as cows do. Sometimes there’s an actual park bench with the view spread out below. There is a sense of achievement since we have had to hike up the hill to get to the view. There’s a simple pleasure in eating a simple picnic meal made up of fresh, local ingredients. The food tastes better for the view.
We don’t feel hungry after we’ve eaten even though we are eating half of the food we would normally be. This is not because we “diet”. We are distracted from using food for pleasure by being in a position where every breath is a pleasure. We don’t eat junk food because there is none available and junk food is one of our (many) vices. Take junk food out, and we are just eating what we should be. Even when we are travelling and there is junk food available we’re not drawn to it as we once were. Our cravings for high fat, high sugar, high salt, highly processed “foods” have disappeared from lack of eating it. We basically fix our food addictions and habits with very little effort and absolutely no intention.
The difference is that we are happy. We are receiving pleasure from all of our senses and not relying on small bursts of food to give us something interesting to experience in our otherwise mundane existence. These trips distract us from ourselves and our lives. They are medicine for our body and our soul.
