10. The power of nourishment
What’s your relationship to the food you consume? Are you an indifferent eater, grabbing a handful of whatever is around to stave off hunger, or are you a “foodie,” always in search of more exotic taste sensations? Do you binge or do you somedays forget to eat? Do you count calories or read food labels to limit artificial ingredients? Do you eat in your car, standing over the kitchen sink, or at your desk, or do you insist on sitting at a table with friends or loved ones to share a meal? Are there times when you don’t have enough to eat?
Our relationship to food is shaped by our lifestyles, where we live, our family traditions and our economic circumstance, but that relationship is also influenced by an advertising culture that on the one hand is always trying to sell us foods (usually artificially processed and flavored) and on the other is always trying to tell us we should lose weight. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the primary purpose for eating is to nourish the body and the mind, to convert food into energy that keeps our physical and mental processes functioning.
Although I am grateful that we never had to go hungry in my family, that did not mean our food was nutritious. My stepfather had known hunger as a child; he took pride in ensuring there was meat at every meal. Because both he and my mother worked outside the home, convenience was of primary…
