Do your eating habits serve you, or is there something you wish you could change?
Nutrition is a special topic for me – I’m a trained sports nutrition specialist, and was a healthy food blogger in a past life.
It means though that I developed over the years rather strict eating habits. 5 meals a day, always the same portions & nutrients – and inevitably, some irrepressible cravings for unhealthy food during social occasions.
Changing this has been on my to-do list for ever, but I never really made a solid attempt. It’s not technically broken – I’m still very much healthy and in good shape – but I’m realising how addicted I am to certain habits: constantly thinking about food and involuntary calorie counting, artificial sweeteners, an obsession with protein and having snacks with me when I leave the house.
More than once, I left a social event to go home and eat food I prepped, instead of enjoying myself.
Breaking the pattern
As I was in need of a global reset, I recently stayed 3 nights in a buddhist monastery, north Thailand. It offered me a fantastic occasion to stop, reflect, and learn.
It also gave me the perfect chance to change my nutrition habits entirely, all at once.
Meals were entirely vegetarian, mostly rice and vegetables cooked in oil, with almost no protein.
But the biggest shift was the meal schedule, flipping my usual routine: one breakfast at 7 a.m. and one lunch at 11am – no dinner.
You could eat fruit later if you wanted, but monks don’t. I decided to fully commit to this rhythm – and the silence practice that went along with it (more on that another time) – as uncomfortable as it felt, just to see what might come of it.
I was dreading that first evening. But to my surprise, it went better than expected. I noticed the hunger, chose not to act on it, and carried on with evening chanting, reading Buddhist texts, and journaling.
The second and third days got even easier. Once I made the choice, food stopped dominating my thoughts. On the last day, I even decided to fast for 24 hours – something I’d never done before. I helped prepare the meals at 4am, and sat with others while they ate, without a single craving.
What I learned
• My food routine isn’t as strict or necessary as I thought – and if it’s not serving me, why hold on?
• Skipping dinner made me feel fantastic. My sleep improved, I felt lighter, and wasn’t stuck digesting food all night for energy I didn’t really need.
• Snacks used to mark my day, but I realize they were more about a dopamine hit than actual hunger. And I definitely can leave the house without planning for food.
• I feel way less scared of food now.
Reflections
If you answered yes to that first question, maybe pause for a moment and think – what small change could you test today, tomorrow, or for a week? What habits really serve you, and which ones hold you back?
