Every being needs to eat. Nourishment is at the core of our physical and mental health and strength. But we can easily lose touch with what it takes to feed us, or why we are eating. Disordered eating habits can be fuelled by many things, such as food’s connection to body size, unhealthy familial eating patterns, and a lack of nutritious food options. The dominance of diet, cosmetic surgery and celebrity cultures, coalescing in popular obsessions over weight and ever-shifting body ideals, damage our sense of wholeness and self-worth. To repair our often fractured relationships with food, we must unlearn harmful habits and cultivate new, healthier ones
Modern existence socialises people into emotional and capitalist relationships with food, which can be out of sync with what our bodies need. We may eat too quickly, when not hungry, or as a response to boredom, sadness, or stress. We eat when it is ‘time to eat’, to reward ourselves, or to take a break from work. We may also graze all day long. These habits may be automatic responses to current conditions of stress and pressure, or of present or past deprivation, either of food or of the physical comfort it can bring.
Adopting a mystic perspective can transform how we relate to eating. Viewing food as sacred can introduce intention, slowness and reverence to every meal. Taking a moment before eating to thank the farmers that grew it, the hands that prepared it, and the plants and animals whose lives were sacrificed for ours, increases the potential of the food before us by imbuing it with meaning. This simple prayer reminds us of the interconnectedness of all life on Earth, an awareness that enhances food’s ability to nourish. Try to eat only when hungry and only as much as you need. Such mindful practices reconnect us to our hunger, make us more aware of what we consume, and deepen our gratitude for the food before us.
Understanding the nutritional value of food helps us make choices that better serve us. The less processed the food, the more goodness it gives. Produce fresh from the farm or garden is especially nourishing, and gives good reason to experiment with growing our own. If you have never tried, starting small, such as with herbs on a windowsill, can teach you how to attend to and care for plants; this, in turn, can teach us how to care for ourselves.
While it is difficult to give general advice about food because of our unique bodily needs, it is reasonable to offer this: eat more vegetables and less meat, reduce sugar and refined carbohydrates that become sugar, limit caffeine and alcohol, drink more water and favour fresh foods. These guidelines support your body’s natural processes of intake, nutrient absorption, and detoxification, all of which it does with very little assistance from us, but with the help of an abundance of good gut bacteria. The body is adept at maintaining itself if not inhibited by empty calories, stodgy carbs, hard-to-digest meat, and preservative-laden chemicals. But since nourishing foods are not equally accessible to all, we may need to connect and collaborate with others to enable this. Socio-economic geographies often keep marginalised and minoritised communities in food deserts. Such inequalities, and the barriers to well-being they pose, need to be systematically dismantled.
Of course, food is not only a source of nourishment, but also a source of pleasure. Denying yourself a taste of something your body craves can also be damaging. Eating is a social activity, so the joy of shared snacks, drinks, or birthday cakes should not be lost simply because we have decided to live in service to self-denial. A little of something indulgent is often better than an excess of chemically altered ‘free-from’ products. Except where medical needs take precedence, no self-imposed ‘diet’ should override your intuition. Learning to listen to your gut and striving for balance allows food to fulfil its dual role as both sustenance and delight.
Further Reading
Enders, G. (2016) Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ. London: Scribe Publications.
Hamblin, J. (2013). What We Eat Affects Everything. The Atlantic [online] Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/what-we-eat-affects-everything/279922/