This column was originally published in the April issue of the Cumberland Times-News Health Journal. It was prepared  as part of Allegany College of Maryland’s (ACM) Integrative Health Core Curriculum Project (IHCCP).  A collaborative initiative between ACM faculty and health professionals from five Community Partner agencies (Western Maryland Health System, Archway, Allegany County Health Department, Family Crisis Resource Center, and HRDC Aging Services), the Project’s goal is to introduce evidenced-based mind/body medicine approaches into academic education and community health/mental health practice. This article is the first in a series on mindful eating.

Walk a mile for a caramel? Darn right I would! Especially ones from McFarland’s Candy store, an easy stroll down the street from my house in Frostburg!

Which is exactly what I did recently….in fact, truth be told, I had to walk that “mile” not once but twice. For a reason that is hard for me – as a devoted mom of four - to confess. But here goes. (Gulp)

I ate all my children’s caramel chocolate Easter candy mini-bunnies. Not once, but twice.

Yes. That’s right. My poor little darlings never got even one mouth watering McFarland bite size caramel bunny nugget.

Well, that’s not exactly true. Two of my four kids did get to enjoy those little mouth watering morsels– but that was only because I went straight from McFarland’s Candy store to  the Post Office and mailed them off to Michael in Scotland and Abby in Africa. Those were the bunnies who got away.

Unfortunately for Bryan and Danny, their little bags of bunnies were left unprotected for two weeks in my spare room awaiting Easter Day when they would (hopefully) join the other goodies and McFarland wonders in their lovingly Mom-created Easter Baskets.

But alas, two weeks was too long. They never made it to the basket. Instead, they were consumed by the Mindless Mouthful Mom. Secretly. At night. Behind closed doors. Not one bitezsize bunny, but the whole bagful.

The first time this occurred was not so bad. I had time to repent and return to McFarland’s for another bag. Which I did the day before Easter, absolutely certain that Barbara and the staff at the store would see right through me and know my crime. But I managed to escape undetected. That left me less than 24 hours to control myself. I vowed these little bunnies would make it from bag to basket and my kids would have the Easter they deserved.

But then the moment of reckoning arrived. I had to remove the bunnies from the bag and assemble the Easter baskets on Sunday morning. Alone, in my bedroom, and unprotected, it struck. A large and in charge Caramel Craving. I went through all the stages of loss – denial (I don’t need to eat this!) , bargaining ( I’ll only eat one little bunny),anger (why don’t I get an Easter basket anymore??) , depression Because (I’m too old to get one), and then – acceptance. (The bunnies are calling to me.)  The rest is history.

Like most addictions, I have kept it a secret. On Easter morning, my kids happily munched on the McFarland jelly beans inside the plastic Easter eggs, never suspecting that these eggs were intended to hold bite size caramel bunnies.  And since my craving seemed to be confined to caramels, the McFarland chocolate chicks and the peanut butter meltaway eggs I bought a few weeks ago were spared. All was well – on the surface.

They never noticed. But I knew. And now you know. Yes, I am a mindless eater,

But at least I am an aware mindless eater. (How’s that for an oxymoron??!) And I have made a public confession. That’s always a good (though embarrassing) sign, eh?

Now I have to change. And so, characteristic of many addicts, I just shift to another addiction. Only this one – books – is a good deal healthier than bite size bunnies and definitely much less fattening.

So far I have found three that I am hoping will help: Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Eating the Moment by Pavel Somov, and Eating Mindfully by Susan Albers. I also found a great website (www.MindlessEating.org which features lots of ideas, articles, and even a Mindless Quiz. (I am a bit afraid to take that one….)

So join me on a journey to mindfulness! And sometime in the next month, how about checking out the MindlessEating website? In upcoming Health Journal articles,  I’ll share some tips and tales with you and maybe, just maybe by Halloween I can look a bite size McFarland caramel pumpkin in the eye and only eat one – mindfully, of course!

Cherie Snyder is a professor at Allegany College of Maryland and directs the Human Services and Integrative Health programs. She also serves on the faculty of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC. She can be reached at 301 784 5556 or 5557.

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