With the start of the new year, the talk at the water cooler and the postings on Facebook seems to be focused on food. The new diet. The promise to lose weight and get healthy. Memberships to Weight Watchers or Nutrisystem or one of those food kit companies that send the fixings for meals right to your house. Paleo. Low carb. No carb. Gluten free. Vegan. Cleansing and detox.
For $135 you can even buy a coffee enema kit from the Goop website that is operated by actress and noted health “nut” Gwynneth Paltrow which promises to “supercharge your detox.”
Although I’m limiting my coffee intake to only that which comes in a cup for drinking, I have to admit, I’m among those who are trying to make some changes. I’m two weeks into my 2018 promise to eat healthy. So far so good.
Food in the United States is so much more than just what we eat. Dieting and so-called healthy eating have become not only a booming industry but the fodder for philosophical and political debate as well. Books, documentaries, research studies and pop culture have all put forth theories about how and why we got here and what it is doing to us. Abundance. Overeating and overstuffing ourselves. It’s about the haves and have nots. It is about where we live and what we have access too. It’s about where the food came from and the processes (or not) it went through to get to us.
Everything from the size of our cups, our plates, our portions and our waistlines have gotten bigger although, ironically, there are people in this country who continue to be hungry. We eat too much. We eat too little. Food is wrong or it is right. We attach meaning and judgment to food as being good or bad and then transfer those words to our sense of self.
In his book “The Yoga of Eating,” author Charles Eisenstein suggests we should apply the same thought processes and attitudes about eating that we do to our bodies, minds and spirits in yoga. No judgment. Be intuitive. Give yourself what you need. Be mindful and purposeful. When you fall, get back up again. Nurture and nourish yourself.
The author surprised me as I expected the book to be a lecture and guide to eating sprouts and carrots and about willpower and self-restraint. In fact, it is about self-acceptance and listening to our bodies.
Case in point: Over the holidays which, for many of us is the season of consumption, my daughter and I decided to visit one of those new specialty donut shops. The donuts are smaller in size but they are made right in front of you and then topped with just about every type of sugary confection and icing you can think of. We bought an assorted dozen with the idea that we would share with family when we got home. In the car, I ate a donut with maple icing and real bacon. (Who knew bacon and maple icing went together?). Delicious doesn’t describe it. About 20 minutes after I ate it, I didn’t feel well. Mixed in with the guilt of eating all of that sugar, flour and, of course bacon, was a real upset stomach. Even the glands in my throat seemed to be working overtime. The box with the remaining donuts sat on their counter for the duration of our stay.
Guilt. Saliva. Boiling belly. Regret. It was so much more than just a donut. Multiply that by all of the holiday functions, the excess and the disappointment at the numbers on the scale and things seemed pretty gloomy. I felt, on many levels, like crap.
For 2018, I’ve decided to let myself off the hook and try mind-body-spirit eating.
It means eating when I’m truly hungry – not bored or upset or out of habit. No rules or restrictions. Eating what works. It means listening to my body and what it needs. It means eating what feels right and what works for me. It means that not every day may be the same. It means understanding that nourishment doesn’t usually come in the form of eating at my desk or in front of the TV but taking the time and focus to truly eat and experience my food. It means mindfulness at the table with my fork and spoon. Just like with yoga, we fall sometimes but get back up again.
So far, no donuts in 2018 but I have been craving lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. If that donut comes along and I make a purposeful decision to eat it, so be it.
I’ve done the assorted diet plans over the years and am exhausted by the whole thing. I want to eat healthy, exercise and take care of myself. So far, pausing and taking a breath before making a decision about eating is feeling pretty good. I’m sleeping better and have way more energy. I’m also finding my clothes are fitting better. Intuitive eating? That sounds and feels so right.
