Thoughts on food

Two things are changing in the way I feel about food and eating. 

The first is that I am going from a base assumption that I eat for pleasure and that good food is food that makes me feel good when I have it in my mouth. What I am moving towards is a base assumption that I eat for function, and that good food is food that makes me feel good for the day, week, and year after I have had it in my mouth.

Building upon this, the second is that I am being challenged about the quantity and quality of the food I eat, and therefore the amount of money I spend on food. Food has been an area I have tried to minimise spend on as much as possible. In moving to a different foundation, I realise that money spent on food is not money wasted. It is actually an investment in myself and how well I am able to show up in each moment.

I have no idea how to take my kids along on the same journey...but that can be a topic for another day.

Dinner leftovers for breakfast

The leader of an entrepreneurial and self-development program I did recent gave me an answer I was not expecting.

As part of this program we looked at the big ways we can help improve our personal vitality and effectiveness. This included working through modules on sleep, meditation, movement, and positive psychology.

I was going for walk with him one day and asked him if eating and food was one of the upcoming personal vitality modules. He simple said 'No', that it was too hard and too controversial.

This was not the answer I was expecting because from where I am looking the things I put into our body are right up there with sleep, meditation and movement in improving how I feel and function in everyday life, not to mention their impact on my long term health. Changing the way I eat and drink has been a major factor in thriving through difficult periods.

I contrast this with somebody I heard talking on RRR radio last weekend. When asked what she recommended eating for breakfast, she reflected that eating cereal and toast were a relatively recent and culturally specific practise, and probably not that great for us. In times not too long ago, vegetables and meat for breakfast were much more common, and therefore she recommended the best breakfast was eating leftovers from the night before's dinner.

So I gave it a go during the week: chicken sausages, broccoli and carrots for breakfast. 

While it was a head spin for me and my kids who watched me do this with gaped mouths, my body felt great during the day (and I didn't feel like eating again until well after noon).

I was also a great challenge to how I think about the first meal of the day and set myself up to be the best I can, and also to what I have mindlessly taught my kids about this meal. 

Leftovers anyone?

Food as medicine

I go through some strange mental gymnastics when it comes to eating. I know that eating nutritious food helps me to feel better in each moment. I am actually able to be more present, have more enthusiasm for those around me and for life in general, if I am eating well. For me this means laying off the sugar, the wheat, and the second coffee, and eating heaps of vegetables.

I often get to that point where I have eaten really well, where I am feeling energised and healthy, when for some reason I tell myself that I deserve to eat a 'treat'. For me this means a bunch of chocolate, a second or third coffee, or some cake. Or just eating more than I need to.

What inevitably follows is a feeling of lethargy, a cloudy head, an uncomfortable stomach, and overall a feeling that I don't want to engage.

So when I say that I deserve a treat, what I actually seem to be saying is that I deserve to feel a bit worse than I am feeling right now. Doesn't actually sound like something I deserve. Or want.

What I want is to be present, to feel energised, and to produce my best as often as I can. What I eat seems to be a big part of this.