“If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re probably not hungry.”

“If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re probably not hungry.”

—Michael Pollan, Harvard University Professor

Image from Unsplash by Shelley Pauls

I eat an apple every morning as part of my breakfast routine. Honeycrisp and Jazz are two of my favorite varieties.

It is a bit strange to me that I rarely eat apples any other time of day. Perhaps because I am literally breaking my fast from my last meal or snack, 10-12 hours earlier.

What do you notice about you own hunger trends throughout your day?

What percent of your eating is generated by true hunger verses mindless or emotional eating?

EXERCISE:

Consider creating a hunger/food log to monitor your daily eating habits. What additional strategies can you use in addition to having a few tasty apples on hand to satisfy your optimal nutritional and hunger needs?

The mind is like the stomach

“The mind is like the stomach. It is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests.”

Albert J. Nock, 20th Century American Libertarian Author

image of a panda eating bamboo leaves

Image from Unsplash by Debbie Molle

Did you know that a panda’s daily diet consists almost entirely of the leaves, stems, and shoots of various bamboo species? Bamboo contains very little nutritional value so pandas must eat 12-38 kilograms – that is, 26-83 pounds – every day to meet their energy needs. With this volume pandas can spend up to 14 hours a day eating.

What are you feeding your mind each day? How much nutrient-rich super foods for your mind do you ingest and digest? Alternatively, how much junk food – including forms of media – are coming your way, creating malnutrition of the mind?

EXERCISE:

Given the phrase “you are what you eat,” how can and will you be a far better dietician / nutritionist for your mind to lead a healthier, more optimal life?

Hope is a good breakfast

“Hope is a good breakfast but it is a bad supper.”

– Francis Bacon, English philosopher

Image of coffee and pastry breakfast

Image from Flickr by Kathryn Yengel

Starting each day with a hopeful mindset is very important – just as many nutritionists indicate that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

If hope, however, is all we have to keep us going, we’ll feel that grumbling sound in our stomachs at supper time.

Exercise:

What other factors constitute the meals and fuel that keep you going throughout your day, to move you from hopeful intentions in the morning toward goal realization by bedtime?