PRACTICE: Take time to prepare/buy your childhood meal. What do you remember most about it?
I love Italian food. A well-made Italian meal of pasta, with/without protein, good bread and well-seasoned olive oil with balsamic vinegar, salad and a good glass of red wine is comfort to me. Love of an Italian meal is an adult acquired taste. Growing up, the closest my mother came to anything Italian was spaghetti from a can. My growing up comfort meal was dried black-eyed peas seasoned with cured meat and served with a piece of hot cornbread…don’t knock it until you have tried it. The thought of my mother making this simple meal still evokes a feeling of love and homey comfort. Preparing an Italian meal is a way that I love and comfort myself and others.
Food in its simplest form should be about nourishment of the body and soul. So often it becomes so much more…some good and some less favorable. Like anything- over indulgence poses a problem.
From an emotional point of view – pasta as nourishment works well for me. It is my default comforter. (my husband’s default is fried chicken) A nutritionist most likely would have an issue with our choices as anything other than an occasional treat. It should not – nor is it, my daily supplier of nourishment.
My main supply of physical nourishment is met by consuming colorful foods – kale and other greens, peppers, carrot, lean protein and healthy wholesome grains. The taste may not always measure up to the pasta dish but the nutritional value more than makes up for that. What I have observed is time changes my cravings… my brain may be screaming lasagna, but the body is crying out for kale.
I had a personal a-ha moment a few years ago. It dawned on me that food is never a good choice to fulfill my emotional nourishment needs. Food in this arena is the ultimate deceiver. It makes me feel good in the moment. As soon as the taste leaves my mouth and most certainly before the by-products exit my body, I am feeling malnourished.
Emotional nourishment comes from my faith, good friends, and a supportive family…these 3 fortify me for the journey toward a life of health and wholeness.
By the way, proper nourishment is almost never sustainable by consuming only the things that you like or stroke your ego.
Exodus 16:31
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---The comfort food of my youth no longer meets my adult needs.
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