For the love of food! Part 3
Being a southern bred woman, I believe it is impossible to celebrate any occasion if it doesn’t have food involved. I also love to travel, and one of my favorite things about traveling is learning about the culture of the area I am visiting and enjoying the flavors of the local cuisine. One of the things that initially attracted me to my husband Billy, is that he was from Louisiana, cooks like a Cajun and can eat 24 hours a day! Can I get an Amen?!
In this week’s blog we are going to discuss the when do you eat?
Have you recently tried one of the intermittent fasting diets that restrict your eating times? Do you find that you are not as hungry in the morning hours but the later it gets or the more stressed you are the more you want to eat? The one thing that is true, is one size does not fit all when it comes to the “when” of eating. I think that in our fast paced, microwavable, 24 hour a day eat on the go lifestyle, it has become easy to not focus on the importance of the when. We do not necessarily eat when we need nourishment, we eat out of convenience and honestly out of boredom. Sometimes we eat to fill that emotional void because we are lonely, or depressed, or angry…I can honestly say that I have and find myself doing this quite often.
I believe that just as important as what you put in your mouth can be the thought behind when you decide to eat and your emotional attachment to that food. I hope that I have already made it crystal clear that I am 100% sold into the importance of food being a part of celebrations. There is no price that can be placed on the emotional and psychological value of coming together with family and friends in sharing a meal. I believe that during the pandemic when families were forced to slow down, plan and make home-cooked meals together, we saw a glimpse into the positive side of this. We also saw the negative side as the pandemic continued, holiday and family gatherings were missed, and many were unable to “eat together with friends.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we would take the valuable lessons learned over the past few years and improve our lives?
Food is meant to be life-giving. This is both realistically and metaphorically speaking. I believe that we should eat not only when we are physically hungry and our body needs food for fuel, but also when our spirit and emotional tank is empty and memories along with our sense of taste, and smell need to come alive.
A few weeks ago, our work family all met after 5 pm one evening to celebrate at a local restaurant, in an area known as the alley in Downtown Aiken. We had a great time eating, laughing, talking, and listening to music…just relaxing and enjoying some time with each other. Memories were made over food. Our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health was all fed that evening.
Now I know that every time we sit down, we will not have this experience. I also know that not everyone around the table came with the same need, nor will they leave with the same feelings. I do know that when we make a small effort to make the connection with those we are sharing our meal with, “the when” we eat will become more significant and special.
Enjoy at least one “WHEN” you eat moment this week!
Lynn