Mnmlism

The idea of minimalism intrigues me. I read a post the other day where the author wanted to live with less than 100 personal items. He listed out all of the things he owned (shared household items didn't count) and he came up with 90 items including his whole wardrobe! Now...maybe I wouldn't go that far but still....

Quite a few years ago, my beautiful younger cousin (who might be one of the smartest people I know -- even though I know that is not how she sees herself) told me "Anything you own, owns a piece of you". And it makes a ton of sense -- houses need repairs, if you have more than one pair of shoes -- it is easier to lose one and end up spending time looking for it, the more clothes you have, the more laundry you do, etc, etc.

A few years ago, I moved to a new house and vowed not to take anything that wasn't either functionally necessary or something I really loved. And when all was unpacked, the house looked pretty underfurnished. As the years have progressed, I have added meaningful pieces to the house and it is coming along nicely -- but to get to my point....

How would it work if you were a food minimalist? You could eat anything you want but it had to be delicious -- not just run of the mill ordinary. If you took the first bite of something and it didn't meet your expectations, you didn't finish it. Or...when you were full you put your fork down and didn't finish what was on your plate.

In exchange for you high standards -- there where no holds barred -- you could eat anything that appealed to you without thinking about whether or not it was "healthy" or "low-fat".

Can you feel the sense of freedom this would give you?

Do you feel the first buddings of hope?

Being a minimalist with your food works. But, just like me trying to furnish my house with only pieces I love, it takes time to decide what your style is. You have to put some thought into how a certain food makes you feel -- both as your eating and after (ever been to the ball park/county fair/hockey rink and had something that later you realized was giving you the stomach ache of your life? Then when you went to a similar event at some later date you ate the same thing, with the same results, and wondered why you did it...again?)

To maintain a healthy weight -- every bite you eat needs to be used by your body or your body stores it as fat.

To lose weight -- you need to eat fewer bites than your body needs so it pulls the extra calories to maintain itself from your fat stores.

It is true what brilliant little cousin told me ... every thing you own, owns a piece of you. How much are you willing to let the food in your life control your quality of life -- the way you see yourself, the way you look at what you can accomplish in this world???