Accidental Ambivalence

Project: Food Photography Results

I spent the last week photographing my meals. It was an exercise in mindful eating and completed alongside my current no-snacks plan. I don't always manage not to have snacks (I'm very weak) so you aren't seeing everything I ate in the last week, but the extreme majority of it. I missed one photo, an unremarkable Sunday afternoon lunch.

My first draft of this post included two paragraphs defending and explaining my choices, but after sleeping on it, I realized that I don't need to explain myself. So I deleted it, and I'm going to stand by that.

I think the real question is whether or not it made a difference to my mealtimes. Taking the photos took approximately three seconds, though I admit to taking a bit more time "styling" the food before I ate. And in fact, I think that's a good thing. We eat with our eyes first, right? It definitely influenced my choices, but that was the fact that I'd be showing the photos not the simple act of taking one. I wanted the photos to be at least a little visually appealing, and beige food (often bad for you) is not so visually appealing.

Perhaps this is the sort of project to be undertaken periodically. For me, the accountability was key, not the actual photographs. It is interesting, however, to see them put together in a collage like this and use it to consider colors rather than specific foods. The unhealthiest meals? Brown and beige. (Though to be fair, I'm pretty sure that oatmeal with peaches and pecans was pretty nutritious and it's mostly beige too.) This also really brings your less healthy meals to your consciousness, and while I think we all need to indulge, I could stand to indulge less.

Overall, an interesting and successful project. Is this the sort of thing you might want to try? Any questions about my odd eating habits?

Labels: kitchen adventures, project

posted by nicalyse @ 8:04 PM