Habitual eating!

How many of us are guilty of habitual eating I wonder!
I do it and I've only just allowed myself to really think about that statement and what it means.
The last time I felt hungry - really hungry - was when I was a kid. We had 3 proper meals a day but you know what kids are like - hungry all the time lol, and we were not allowed to eat between meals so if we were hungry it was kinda tough crap! Until the next meal time of course.
Obviously this where my negative relationship with food began and it just escalated throughout my childhood and into my adult life. Now I can honestly say I do not know what it feels like to be hungry BUT is that a good thing? Not when I habitually eat to prevent myself feeling hungry it isn't!
I don't eat because my stomach is telling me it's empty or because I have a feeling that says I need to eat food. I eat because I can! The problem with this though is that I'm not mindful of the food I do eat, I simply shovel it in.
I've spent years trying to figure out why I eat the way I do and where it stems from and so it was strange for me to finally think to myself "does it really matter why?"  "Will it change anything?". The answer is No, it doesn't matter why and the knowledge will not change anything. The only way to change what I eat is to be mindful and aware of what I eat - my childhood food issues cannot be changed only my adult ones can be.

 "Cats meow. Dogs bark. And whatever happened in your life that you aren't happy about...happened. No amount of thinking, hoping or wishing will change it.
So unless you accept it, you're just fighting reality."  My bodytutor.com

Last night a strange thing happened, I got the munchies! The munchie part isn't the strange thing though obviously, the strange part is what I craved. Normally it would be chocolate (a craving I now have under control) or cake or something else sweet. But last night I seriously craved Melon! Of all things....Melon. I was salivating just at the thought.  But it didn't stop there. I allowed myself to imagine the Melon and what else I would like and I was piling Pineapple & Strawberries onto that image.  Of course I had to crave something I didn't have so I went to bed before I replaced it with something not so healthy but still..................Melon :)

So where am I actually going with this?  Well, that craving last night showed me what can  happen when I actually think about food. Instead of automatically reaching for the comfort food I asked myself what I would reeeeeeally like to eat and the answer suprised me so I am going to try to do that from now on. Instead of automatically saying Yes to whatever is being cooked I'm going to ask myself if a) I am hungry (I think this going to take some practice) and b) what do I fancy eating.