Stress and Food

It seems that society’s opinion about food in general has changed.  It used to be that food was nourishment for the body, mind and soul. A family would gather around the table, eat wholesome, homemade food and bond over their meal together.  The food was made with love and eaten slowly with gratitude. 

Now it seems food has a different place in our lives.  We prepare food in a hurry, (or maybe we buy it already prepared) and then we cram it down in a hurry, in front of the TV or computer, or with a phone in our hand.  

The body and mind are always making associations between our emotional state and what we are doing with our body. This means that when I am thinking about everything I have to do at work after lunch, or watching the news, or responding to emails, while I am quickly eating, my body is associating my stress levels with what I am eating.  Guess what happens then…my body is not going to process and digest my dinner the way it is supposed to, it is going to store it as fat, I may not feel well after eating, and more than likely, I’m going to be really hungry again in just a short time so that it can start all over again.

What if I closed my laptop, turned off the TV, and put my phone down at mealtime? What if I ate more slowly, took smaller bites, chewed longer, and just payed more attention to what I was eating? What if I ate whatever I wanted, but instead of with a side of stress and guilt, I ate it with satisfaction and gratitude? Just some food for thought.