October 1, 2023: Slow Eating

October 1, 2023. I'm in Borsum. When I woke up at 8 a.m., I still had heartburn, but it wasn't as severe. My earlobe hurts when I press on it, probably because I slept on the pillow today. I used to experience these earlobe pains in the morning more often when I had a regular bed and pillow. Since I started sleeping without a pillow on the floor, I haven't had these earlobe pains anymore.

After waking up, I stayed on the couch. Out of boredom, I reinstalled Bumble and was curious about how my new professional photos without glasses and all black attire would be received by the women on Bumble. Also, I changed my swiping behavior: I no longer desperately swipe right on all women but swipe left on almost all. Only those I really like, I swipe right. I didn't want to message the first match anymore. It's important to me that she lives as vegan as possible, has no photos with sunglasses or beer bottles, preferably doesn't smoke, and ideally looks like a hippie chick. Messy hair or dreadlocks and practicing yoga would be a plus.

While chopping peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, and carrots for my breakfast, I thought that I eat too quickly after taking a bite of pepper. Especially when I watch something on YouTube at the same time, I eat very quickly and can hardly satisfy my hunger. So, I delved into slow eating and learned that the feeling of fullness occurs about 20 minutes after the start of the meal. So, I can stuff as much food into myself within 20 minutes without feeling full. That's why I'll consciously eat slower today. One of the benefits of slow eating is lower energy consumption because digestion consumes more energy than thorough chewing. And when I eat slowly, I feel less full after eating because I feel the feeling of fullness in time.

While eating my breakfast slowly, rules came to my mind that helped me eat slower:

1. Consciously chew slower,
2. bring the spoon to the mouth slower,
3. only swallow when all large bites have turned into mush,
4. only take the next spoonful when I've swallowed the previous bite.

For fun, I counted how many times I chewed a carrot: 32 times before I swallowed it. Then I slowly ate a Duplo and a cookie. After the first cookie, I didn't want another one because I felt a slight soreness in my jaw. The cookie tasted less and less the longer I chewed it.

I thought of other things to eat more mindfully. I should consciously smell the food and perceive the different smells. I shouldn't see or hear anything while eating. I'm curious if this will work for me because watching YouTube and eating at the same time is a ingrained habit. I should also notice the consistency of the food and the sounds while chewing. As soon as my thoughts drift away, I must immediately redirect my attention to the food. Eating becomes a form of meditation.

At 12:30 p.m., I took a short nap. When I woke up at 2 p.m., I felt low and lethargic. I took a cold shower and was awake and full of energy. Then I launched a challenge for the whole of October: I won't drink coffee for a month.

After that, I went for a barefoot run and stepped on something in the grass just before the front door that stabbed me in the sole. It hurt like hell for about half an hour. Then the pain subsided. The puncture site and the surrounding area were red and severely swollen. It was probably a wasp sting.

Dasha and Tobi came by at 6 p.m. Mom brought apple pie from the bakery. We had dinner and then the pie. Tobi and Mom had coffee, I had spelt coffee, and I abstained from caffeine today.

Dasha and Tobi went to the cinema. They wanted to see the horror movie "The Nun II" with friends. I didn't want to come along because it would have gotten late, and I would likely have been tempted to buy something due to the delicious smell of popcorn and soft drinks. I didn't want to eat or drink soft drinks late at night.