Comments on: The art of eating

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:19:59 +0000

Oh, and just in case my comment was misleading, I do eat pasta regularly now. I just keep it to a cup (dry) per serving, and I use a healthier pasta. I like the Barilla PLUS, since it has extra protein, fiber, and omega 3's. I just dump the penne or the rotini into a large plastic ziptop bag when I bring it home, which makes it easy to take out just a cup at a time.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:14:35 +0000

Susan, yeah, I know that before I got started like this, I was really struggling with what the future looked like. What?! No more pasta? No more cookies? The mental athletics I was putting myself through was far worse than the reality.

For me, making the connection that the quality of what I was putting into my mouth has a huge affect on how I actually feel means that it just isn’t that hard to avoid things like chips and cookies most of the time.

And yep, I do a small piece of dark chocolate most nights before bed :).

By: susan

susan — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:51:34 +0000

Well, it’s kind of depressing that everything always boils down to eating healthy foods. Even people in the “non-dieting” movement like Geneen Roth don’t eat things like potato chips, Pop Tarts, cookies, and seem to avoid white flour and sugar. They enjoy “a small piece of dark chocolate” as a treat.

By: Marla

Marla — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 19:59:26 +0000

I agree totally with the mindful eating and the quality, and the whole “make your plate look like Matisse” concept – I think when we take the time to appreciate, savor, and really ENJOY our food, we’re getting more out of it, in many ways. But that woman just gets under my skin somehow.

Little Miss Ess, you crack me up – I’m sure she smokes Gauloises! (or however you spell that…)

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:56:59 +0000

I too didn’t particularly care for the tone, which is why I never bothered to even scan the book at Borders, much less order it :). But I did like the issue of quality, hence the post.

Thanks all for your great comments…you guys rock!

By: little miss ess

little miss ess — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:41:54 +0000

To button on to what Marla wrote up there, I have read the book. I am a sucker for stuff like that and will buy it the minute it comes out, just because I’m curious. Marla, the tone you’ve picked up from her is totally the tone of the book. It does have useful things in it, and Beth has certainly picked up on one of its most important lessons, ah but her message itself would be so much more palatable if she herself were not so smug and pampered. She has an apartment and Paris and one in New York City. She has no idea how most Americans live (Allo, allo, Madame Marie Antoinette, it’s not like in New York City!). And she was already very, very wealthy even before she made a pile of dough off of her book. Madame has time to make her own yogurt! Ah, wouldn’t that be nice?

Anyway, it is worth reading. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to punch Madame in her cigarette smokin’ kisser (not that she smokes. I don’t know that. But I imagined her drinking bitter black burnt-tasting coffee and puffing on cigarettes the entire time I read her book).

By: neca

neca — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 13:36:00 +0000

This post really resonates with me – how many times have I “woken” up and found myself mindlessly stuffing food into my mouth? Or realized I’m eating out of anger, not even enjoyng the food I’m eating? Mindful eating is much more nurturing.

By: Marla

Marla — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:08:26 +0000

If I ever see that book at the used book store I will get it, because every time I hear of it or hear the author speak, I become annoyed beyond all reason. Well no, actually for two reasons: 1. Perhaps she has researched thoroughly for this book, but I sure ain’t heard about it; anecdotal stories are B.S.! and 2. Lady, we’re not IN France. By that I refer to things she says such as “Frenchwomen get more exercise because they walk everywhere.” Great for them, but what relevance does that have to me, living in a suburb which is 4 miles from the nearest store, 16 miles from work, with no public transporation and not even any sidewalks? No doubt it would be wonderful if the entire infrastructure of the country were redesigned to accomodate more exercise, but in the meantime… Also, I saw part of her segment on Oprah, where they had one of her protegees discussing how much weight she had lost in order to fit in to her leather pants, and the woman was haggardly skinny, plus she showed herself eating four apple slices for lunch. Four apple slices. That might be skinny, but it’s not health.

Anyway, you see how rabid I become about this book, so really it’s only fair that I should actually READ IT and give the woman a chance – she may say some really brilliant things if I’d only let her.

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 11:32:14 +0000

Hi, I just stumbled onto your site yesterday and I’ve already read through quite a bit of your site. I just wanted to say how refreshing I think your site is, especially because it is NOT about simply dieting to lose weight but trying to look at the bigger picture of why we may overeat. I also love how you enter spirituality into it (btw I’m also not particularly religious so I really found the Einstein “universe” theory fascinating), its an aspect I’ve never really thought of but I can see how it would play a part in it. Anyway I’m definitely going to become a constant visitor to your site, hopefully I can pick up some tips about how to stop overeating myself. Over the last few years, I’ve had the worse eating habits, and gone through many cycles of bingeing/dieting/bingeing etc. Although recently the types of food I’ve been eating have become healthier (eg. lots of vegies, fruits etc), I still don’t think I have a normal appetite. I tend to eat nothing in the morning, but then end up starving by the evening and will binge on everything in the house until I literally have to stop b/c its time to sleep. I actually just finished digging my hand continuously into a packet of mixed nuts. Sure nuts are healthy, but not at the rate I go through them (and plus after all they are full of fat). Anyway keep up the interesting writing, you’ve got me hooked already.
- Sue

By: Chrissie

Chrissie — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:28:04 +0000

You know, I tried eating slowly the other day during lunch. I didn’t have a book open so I could pay attention to what I was eating. I took small bites and tried to really experience my meal. In the end I was really bored and wanted to eat faster so that I could hurry up and do something other than sit there and think about chewing.

Eating slowly, considering your food while you eat it is a discipline that needs to be learned. For me, who for years would eat while working, it’s really difficult to sit and be still for any reason, especially not while I’m eating. I could, after all, be doing something better with my time than just eating. At least that’s how it seems. I think I’ll continue to work on it.