The Healing Power of Food
The link between psyche and food is increasingly evident. Dr. Leonardo Mendolicchio, psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and founder of Food For Mind, makes us understand that eating habits are a mirror of deep emotional movements that every human being has. We know that when we are emotional we eat more or less, or depending on particular emotions, we change our way of eating, cooking, and even our food choices.
This premise is even more valid in this time of Covid, in which the superficial and deep emotional movements of our existence have been disrupted by the emergence of the virus. But the discourse is not only to be considered on an individual scale but also on a social one.
It is precisely around these issues that revolves the book “Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning,” written by Eve Turow-Paul, Founder of the Food for Climate League and food culture expert. We recently had the honor of hosting Eve and expert psychologists and researchers on our channels for three meetings to discuss these themes.
The sense of control is very much present in our lives and manifests itself through food and our use of it. The emergence of specific diets and management of what we ingest is a strong indicator of control, and in some cases, the medicalization of food, as the sociologist Jean-Pierre Poulain says. But having more information also means being exposed to more stimuli that we find difficult to process deeply and all at the same time.
Eve-Turow Paul’s research is clear in this regard: people who are more connected (and therefore subjected to more information) are also those who suffer from greater anxiety. One may therefore wonder if exposure and the unlimited growth of awareness, is the solution to problems such as climate change. Is the problem of climate change or obesity one of insufficient self-knowledge or personal responsibility?
The increasing rate of anxiety as a result of too much choice brings with it what experts call “Decision fatigue.” Dr. Levitin, author of “The Impact of the Digital Age on Productivity, Overwhelm, and Anxiety Prior, During, and After the COVID-19 Crisis,” and present at our seminars, tells us that attention is like a bottleneck and the moment we are overexposed to information we encounter an information overload that can cause anxiety or feelings of overwhelmed.
But food also has a community and social dimension. It is, par excellence, a catalyst of moments to spend together, a vector of identity and a means to bind us to others. In her book, Eve Turow-Paul wonders why so many young people spend their time and money on food. We discover that behind this phenomenon lies a strong sense of wanting to belong, which contrasts with the feeling of loneliness. We were already lonely prior to the pandemic, factors like moving away from family, lack of a Religion or spiritual approach, a meritocracy approach, or having a neighborhood-less attachment, exacerbates the feelings of loneliness. The sense of community is often sought, and now in the midst of pandemic even more so and forced, in online communities. This brings with it both positive and negative aspects.
In the book “Hungry,” research is reported that people who spend more time online and are connected to more people, such as influencers, feel more alone. This is interesting because it leads us to see how social media gives us what we don’t really want. It’s like you are looking for apples but you get Apple Jacks instead. Being connected with so many people is not achieving the core of what we are looking for, approval, sense of belonging, and purpose that is usually found in friendship relationships. The number of followers online does not have the true benefit of friendship that we really need.
As stated by Dr. Primack, a higher education administrator and medical researcher with expertise on the interrelationships between media, technology, and health, the use of social media is closely linked to anxiogenic behavior or depression. What relationship is there between social media and depression? In a study conducted by the Doctor, then published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, it was seen that an increase in social media use leads to an increase in depression. “It’s a straight line,” he tells us.
However, let’s not forget the positive aspects related to social media and the sense of community. In South Korea, the phenomenon of Mukbang eating, where YouTubers eat huge amounts of food in front of the camera while producing sound, also provides feelings of closeness for those who feel alone. “With the pandemic,” Eve Turow-Paul further points out, “I have the feeling that social media became a much more ‘friendlier’ space, in which people started giving tips or telling what they were coping with during the crisis.”
To combat this sense of being overwhelmed linked to the world of social media, Dr. Primak advises us to focus you social media world on people who are already close, those we have met face to face. Think about your personality — if you are scared by heights you’re not going to become a skydiver, and finally media literacy: standard media. Let’s teach kids as we do with literature and also towards social media.
How, in the era of screen time, do we develop a sense of fulfillment in life? How is a disconnect from nature related to the popularity of ASMR videos, the DIY movement, and gardening? And how can we find a true sense of meaning in life — through food culture and beyond? Learn about the impact of time outdoors, awe, and gratitude on emotional well-being. Food also plays an important role here. When we know what we ingest, we give it a purpose.
The distance we have put between us and food, with extremely long production systems including a chain that distances the producer from the consumer, has taken away this aspect of feeling at one with what we eat. This is where the sense of purpose we attach to our actions comes in. Dr. Keltner, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the of California, Berkeley, emphasizes the fact that a sense of meaning and purpose is linked to our ability to perceive beauty in things. We cultivate a sense of beauty that can also be translated by the phrase “I’m just a little part of this big gift.”
With its studies on the sense of awe, Dr. Keltner found out that people have this awe feeling in different contexts such as a sense of spirituality, finding goodness in people, collective movements, music, visuals, spirituality, epiphany, life/death, and nature. Yes, Nature. The connection with nature is vital in this. Nature makes us feel smaller (the world isn’t just me, people start getting the feeling of being part of something bigger).
This is the opposite of the way we use social media because it enhances an obsessive focus on things. We do not look at things in a natural way but rather with purpose which if it becomes excessive can turn into an obsession. In studying the sense of awe, says Dr. Keltner, nobody reported that smartphones triggered this feeling.
Technology is a pathway to connectedness: “The only instance that social media seems to achieve our well-being is when it aids our ability to connect with others,” states Eve Turow-Paul. Dr. Kelnter encourages us to go someplace where we are going to find something new or a place that we know already but will make us feel this sense of awe. And we can also find it in food.
Sense of control, community, and purpose are all reflected through food. Let’s start here to begin thinking about new food systems that take all of these aspects into account so that no one is left behind and the health and well-being of all of us are valued.
The Future Food Institute is an international ecosystem that believes climate change is at the end of your fork. By harnessing the power of its global ecosystem of partners, innovators, researchers, educators, and entrepreneurs, FFI aims to sustainably improve life on Earth through transformation of global food systems.
FFI catalyzes progress towards the UN Agenda 2030 of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by training the next generation of changemakers, empowering communities, and engaging government and industry in actionable impact-driven innovation.
Learn more at www.futurefoodinsitute.org, join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube. Or attend a program through the FutureFood.Academy!
