There are many articles about our shared history of eating, whether it’s sharing food together or eating alone, and the many emotions it brings up. At its core, there is a humbleness in sharing food and fueling your body. You consciously put time aside to eat, which means that you consciously put aside your obligations, the work of the day, to take care of your body.
Taking the time to fuel your body is an opportunity for psychological well-being. Eating is a collective experience that is one of the most common experiences of life. Every single one of us has memories around food. Some of them are joyful, invoking memories of love and fun. Perhaps they are expressions of kindness and care while gathered around food with family or friends, laughter in the kitchen while cooking meals together, a child’s joy when parents are making a favorite meal, or feelings of togetherness and belonging.
And you may also have uncomfortable memories. They can range from hunger, when there may not have been enough money or resources to cook a meal that satisfied your body, hearing or thinking shame infused comments about what or how much we ate, or the discomfort of eating disorder thoughts as we are eating our challenge meal.
It is normal to have a variety of emotional experiences around food and eating. In this, you are part of a shared human experience. In a way, it is empowering and very human to begin to understand that your experiences and patterns with food can affect how to care for your body over time.
Our experiences of joy, togetherness, uniqueness and belonging may lead us towards our inner wisdom and intuition to fuel our bodies with care, love, kindness, and compassion. Just as other experiences of hunger, shame, discomfort, struggle, and loss may lead us to distrust our internal wisdom and intuition.
By embracing your memories and experiences, you will learn to change your psychological patterns and nutrition behaviors. When you are ready to heal and explore your relationships with fueling your body, we are here to help you empower your healing by helping to improve your relationship with nourishment. Knowing that you are not alone in struggling with nutrition can be empowering.
Nourishing your body is not a perfect path but a road of knowledge, courage, and kindness. We are here to support you when you are ready to explore, or need help with, nutrition.