Did you eat yet?
Your favorite food
With three meals a day to contend with, you would think that we could get tired of eating. But at the first rumble of our tummies, we are thinking about our next meal. Food can become mundane if you eat the exact same thing for every meal. Or it can be a way to get a better handle on why we eat. There are so many theories around food and the dreaded idea of dieting that what to eat has become very complicated. If diets really worked, there wouldn’t be a new one each week. There would just be the one that worked. Our cave ancestors went for whatever was available and were thankful. They didn’t have to think about losing weight because food was a commodity that was in short supply most of the time. Besides, if you wanted a hot meal, you had to create a fire and wait for whatever you found or trapped to finish burning. Plus, there were no s’mores for dessert. The favorite food was whatever you had available. Bowing your head in thanks seemed appropriate.
Food for Fun
Food can be fun and there are many holidays with specific foods. Families have been creating traditional favorites for centuries even if they aren’t very tasty. They are treasured memories of past lives. The journey of making the food is the goal. Birthday cakes have a long-standing tradition of being a special treat and come with little candles for wishes. We don’t spit out the flames any longer now that we know that it’s not right to expect others to eat a piece of cake we spat-wished on. Parents sometimes create a favorite food for a birthday also. For children that may be the only food that they don’t make evil faces at when placed in front of them. My daughter gave up eating meat at 4 and only wanted salads and vegetables for her meals. It was her choice and the rest of us went on eating meat with meals. At some point after that she made the decision to go back to eating meat. Nobody made a big deal out of it because you shouldn’t force feed kids.
Making Food
Cooking gets a bad rap when you are required to do it. The most feared question in the world is the one that asks what is for dinner. But preparing food and cooking is a great shared pastime for many humans. The science of putting together ingredients and making something edible is proven by the millions of cookbooks and exchanged recipes. Kids love getting to help make food. Every human should be able to make enough food to take care of themselves and not rely on a bowl of cereal for dinner. Although I sometimes choose to have that particular choice out on the porch. In the past, the women of the tribe would bring their dough to the communal oven to bake. While they were waiting to do so, their children would play, the women would visit socially, and their life-giving loaves would bake. The whole practice would repeat itself a couple of days later. That bread was holding the group together. That is nutrition.
Lighten up
As a coach, I have had many conversations about food and eating. Humans like to complicate things, and this is a big ball of tangled thoughts for many of us. Even worse, food can bring unhappiness. I am sure that was not its original intention. It takes great courage to lighten up on weight issues and focus more on what to eat /what tastes good and fuels our minds, bodies and souls. I guarantee that is not the usual meal eaten today. That means that my cereal is okay for dinner and your choice to have a salad for breakfast is also alright. That means that choosing to eat only half of what you ate previously might keep your tummy from rumbling and also keep it from getting stuffed. Saying yes or no to what you really want to eat means changing your ingrained habits. Take your journal and make a list of what you really want to eat and what you want to skip forever. Remember to place your hand on your heart and breathe. For extra credit, draw little hearts next to your favorite foods. They are probably good for you somehow. When you begin to feel the difference in your mind and your body by eating with more thought, your soul will be satisfied.
Eat something untraditional for you today. Rethink tomorrow’s meals. Do you feel lighter?
