Eating in secret

Used to be I’d go out to dinner with friends and eat what I saw as a reasonable portion of whatever I had ordered, get the rest to go and when I got home, tear into it like a starving badger. I’m betting I’ve actually ingested aluminum foil bits in the past! I actually thought that if someone did not see me eat it, then it was okay. Or that they would not judge me for eating it. But one day, I had this amazing epiphany and it still gives me goosebumps to a degree to think about it. 

There is no such thing as eating in secret!

People may not have seen me put the food in my mouth, but they sure saw the results in my face, belly, legs and let’s be real here…my entire body. And I was allowing myself to feel shame by eating or I would not have been eating in secret to begin with and I couldn’t correlate that I wasn’t fooling anyone AND I was not getting the pleasure and enjoyment from the food because I was wolfing it down the way my dogs do at meal time. 

Correction, my big dogs. 

My two little dogs eat like princesses. They won’t eat alone. Only with others. They don’t just eat and eat and then lick the bowl like those big dogs do twice a day, every day. Those little dogs take a bite. They want to have some conversation, then they take another bite and while it can be incredibly wearing for me at times and I’ve actually stood over a Shih Tzu saying “Come on, eat, I’ve got things to do!” and instead, I should be thanking them for showing me that taking the time to slow down, enjoy your meal, have some interaction, be very open about eating and having a rich and full experience, even if it is just Blue Buffalo Senior Small Breed kibble morning and night for the rest of their lives….it is all to be savored and enjoyed!

And I'll never eat in secret again. EVER.