Why are Japanese words so relatable?
My newest Japanese word describes me so well: Kuchisabishii is the Japanese word for eating when not hungry. It means “Lonely mouth” or eating just to fill your mouth because you are stressed or bored. I absolutely relate to this feeling.
During the last two pandemic years, much of what I have put into my mouth falls under these categories. But honestly, not as often as I once would have because since January 2017, I have been an active member of Weight Watchers (WW). In fact, during the first four months of Covid, I kept very strictly to my program allowing me to reach my goal weight in June 2020 becoming a life member. I lost 48 pounds in all.
I kept it all off for until January 6, 2021. There were several reasons why I started to gain weight. The first was political. Watching the attack on the Capitol truly stressed me out. For a week I was in full kuchisabishii mode. I wanted to eat even though I was not hungry. I just needed to fill my lonely mouth mainly with chocolate and salty snack foods. Food released something in my mind that helped me cope! The feeling of chewing and the wonderful textures delighted my tastebuds.
But it wasn’t only political stress that got me eating. Up until Januay 2021 I was participating in virtual WW workshops with local leaders which included a few of the people who had been at my meetings before Covid. After January, the last of my local workshops with leaders I knew, was cancelled. The meetings were now either national or at times that did not fit my schedule.
Finally, there was COVID. After a while the stress and the worry of avoiding the pandemic got to me. Even with my vaccines and my booster, I felt uneasy. Perhaps because so many people still did not want to be vaccinated or wear masks. I began to see others as the enemy, which is so against my normal attitude. This all made me want to eat…for no reason.
With no workshops to give me the moral support I needed and the stresses of the world, I reverted to some hard core Kuchisabishii. I was not hungry, but my mouth was lonely for food. I just wanted to chew on something!
To be honest, I gained almost 12 pounds this year. The good news, is that my original loss was almost 50 pounds, so I am still over 35 pounds lighter than I was when I started my healthy eating program. I might have eaten more than the portion called for, but I did not revert back to my extremely bad eating habits. I did not take a bag of peanut butter M&Ms in my lap and just eat. Instead I took ten or 12 M&Ms and slowly ate them.
A year has passed since the world upset my equilibrium. Although the world is still not where I want it to be, I am now going in-person to WW meetings. After a year of not following sensible eating and relying on kuchisabishii to get me through these uneasy times, I decided I had enough. I plan to bulk up on my vegetables, stick to eating the Zero point foods and do something else when I feel stressed!
I still love the word, kuchisabishii, but I am not going to let unintended eating define my life.
https://nihongomaster.com/japanese/dictionary/word/65067/kuchisabishii
zicharonot 