No Stand Up Eating

Tonight as I was pulling food out of the fridge to figure out what to serve for dinner I came upon some leftover Chinese green beans. I put the container on the counter while I assembled the fish to put in the oven and got a pot of water to cook the broccoli. One by one I popped a green bean in my mouth, mindlessly eating them standing up as I salted the fish, popped a green bean, turned on the oven, popped another green bean, talked to Carter, two or three more beans.

Before I even got everything that needed to be cooked started I had finished all the green beans. No one else was going to have beans for dinner — kale salad for Russ. They were leftovers and not enough for all of us, but I did not offer anyone the first right of refusal. It was too late. They needed to be standing in the kitchen to get a chance at them. I had turned those green beans in to snack food.

Now green beans are a better snack food than say, chips, but the bad part about the whole thing is that since I ate them with my fingers standing up I don’t think my brain registered I was eating at all. Maybe it is the straight line that food takes to the stomach when you eat standing, or perhaps the lack of using a utensil means something to my brain.

Whatever the reason I know eating standing up is not good for my general health.

If I were to have to stand up from a seated position between every bite that might be the only way it would be OK to eat standing up because at least I would be doing squats between bites. Mostly I think that standing just promotes eating too quickly. Like I am on way to do something else and am just grabbing something to eat and don’t even have time to sit.

That is crazy talk since I always have time to sit, so there is no reason for me to ever eat standing up. I don’t go to saloons and stand at the bar with my foot on the brass rail downing a shot, nor do I eat at hotdog carts. Now a really good food truck might be someplace I want to get a meal from, but if it is something that good to eat I would want to at least find a rock to perch on to enjoy the food.

So new rule for me – no eating standing up. I need to enjoy the little bit of food I should be eating and give my brain a chance to catch up on what my stomach is taking in. This also means no eating walking around. I know I ate some yummy gelato in Rome that I ate walking back to the hotel after dinner. I can only imagine how good it would have been if I had waited and enjoyed it sitting down. I’m sure my brain had to spend some capital thinking about walking and finding my way and not on how perfect almond gelato goes with dark chocolate gelato, but then again, it is probably better my brain not think too hard about that.