It's over already? Haha.

Today was the final day of my mindful eating challenge and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I was extra mindful today, and that definitely benefitted the studying that I wanted to accomplish. It's hard to believe that it's already been three whole weeks since I started this challenge, but I guess the summer always seems to fly by.

Today started with intention and gratitude journalling again, and that was a good call. I might have to make that a regular morning practice. Got myself out of the house and to a cafe early-ish this morning to get the studying on a roll. Didn't let myself get bogged down with making breakfast and instead opted to indulge in a chai tea coconut milk latte at one of my go-to cafes, The Tampered Press. It's on the north edge of Trinity Bellwoods park and I love the working space and the view you get from the bar by the window, overlooking the park. This spot also let me keep an eye on my bike (in the background there), which is always nice.

Keeping the studying motivation going, I treated myself to Impact Kitchen for lunch. I love this place. Real food, locally sourced and all with fueling the body in a delicious way in mind. I only ended up eating half of the bowl that I got (Hero bowl with added chicken) and was proud that I recognized when I was full and stopped eating. Got a box for the rest to take with me.

Didn't feel like heading home quite yet after lunch and thought I'd be more productive if I went to another cafe, so I hit up a Jimmy's coffee (one of the two locations on Portland Street). I loved sitting at the bar they had outside to work, getting the fresh air, nice view and good coffee all in one spot.

When I got home, I was hungry again and decided to eat the rest of my lunch on the balcony, taking a break from working. I supplemented a bit more avocado and a few small heirloom tomatoes from my farmer's market haul yesterday. Ate mindfully and really enjoyed the food and the summer air while giving my brain a little rest.

Reflecting on this Challenge

I feel like this challenge was an incredible tool for growth and cultivated a lot of awareness around my eating habits. While I wasn't able to eat mindfully ALL the time, I do feel like I've improved and that I'm in the process of making it an automatic behaviour. I like to define "success" in terms of progress, and by that definition I feel that I was successful at this challenge. I'm also impressed that I was able to do my posting about it every single day. That's an accomplishment in and of itself. The journalling that I've been doing in the last few days has really been helping me and I think that journalling and putting my utensils down between every bite were probably the most helpful strategies for me. I'd like to do another follow-up challenge sometime soon to see if I can improve compared to this challenge. Now I have a baseline starting point and something to work with. Next time, I might make it just a week-long challenge as I found that it was the hardest to maintain motivation and strength in the middle and maybe doing it with a shorter time-frame in mind would seem less daunting and keep me going.

Did you try any of the strategies I mentioned? Do you feel like you've improved in your mindful eating? What lessons did you learn about yourself through this challenge? If you were able to eat mindfully even for just one meal, please congratulate yourself on that with a self-high-five! It's by focusing on the little victories consistently that we achieve big things over time.

Big thanks to everyone who was following along over the course of this challenge and an extra big thanks to those who supported me with encouraging comments. They really help!! :D

Stay tuned ;)

Jackie O