I love food! It brings me joy, health, and vitality.
But it wasn't always that way for me. There was a time when I was disconnected from my experience of eating. I ate out of habit, and for convenience. Breakfast shakes and cheese and crackers were the bulk of my diet, with the occasional glass of chocolate milk for good measure! Yikes!
I was never overweight, but I did suffer from a chronic stomach ache, brain fog, lack of energy, and lack of enthusiasm for life.
And then I discovered REAL food - whole foods, filled with life, color, and flavor; food with a story to tell.
And so began my pleasurable eating journey. There have been a few twists and turns - a brief stint as a vegan, a little while as an almost vegetarian, several years lactose free - but what time and experience have revealed to me, is that consciously and joyfully eating REAL food serves me, my body, my health, my environment, my community, and my life best.
I am not a doctor, nutritionist, or any other kind of "-ist". (Please use your common sense - if you have a serious health concern, or a troubled relationship with food, seek the advice of a professional.)
What I am is someone who has learned to enjoy life more fully all the time, and improve my own health and vitality, by actively pursuing the pleasure of eating.
It's my desire to inspire you to do the same!
And, so, it is my honor to share with you my personal guidelines for vibrant and pleasurable eating!
Enjoy!
1. Focus on consuming REAL food
REAL food is grown and tended. We can look at it, and imagine it, or its few ingredients, growing or grazing in nature. It's not created in a lab, and usually doesn't have catchy labels that say things like "sugar-free", "diet", or "fat-free." It's minimally processed and preserved.
REAL food is full of flavor, texture, color, beauty, and life. It is a gift to all the senses, and is meant to be savored. It nourishes the body, mind, and soul, and is the foundation of vibrant and pleasurable eating.
One of the things I truly love about REAL food is that it has a story to tell. When we take the time to listen with all of our senses, we'll get a sense of the land it came from, the people who tended it, how to best enjoy it, and much more.
Does consuming REAL food mean never buying packaged food? No. Does it mean only going to farmer's markets and health food stores, or paying a lot of money? No, again. What it does mean is shopping consciously, reading labels, and using your senses to choose foods that are as close to how they are in nature as possible.
Whenever possible, seek foods in their most whole and natural state.
2. Focus on the good, rather than the bad
I believe our focus should on adding in lots of quality, healthy, REAL foods that we love, as opposed to focusing on eliminating the things we "shouldn't" eat.
It's easy for us to fall into the food deprivation trap. We deprive ourselves of foods we crave, and limit ourselves to foods that offer no satisfaction - like diet foods, bland salads, and chemical laden "meal replacements." This not only leads to boring, unsatisfying eating, but more often than not, leads to overindulgence. We are created for wholesome pleasure, and when we live in a state of deprivation, it's easy for us to overcompensate, and consume even more of the things we've been trying to avoid.
Rather than focusing on getting rid of stuff from our diets, I propose that we focus on adding in lots of yummy, healthy, REAL food goodness. As we fill our diets with gorgeous, flavorful, satisfying, healthy foods, our taste and craving for sub-standard, fake food will diminish.
The same goes for REAL foods that are easy to over indulge in - like quality cheeses, fine wines, and good breads. Rather than trying to limit or eliminate these delicious foods from our tables, why not instead first fill our plates with flavorful fruits, vegetables, and high quality proteins, saving only a bit of room for the more decadent options?
For example, nothing quite beats the pleasure of a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold Autumn day. But rather than slathering some white bread with a bunch of margarine, and stuffing it with flavorless cheese, why not instead choose some delicious, hearty bread, spread with fresh butter or drizzled with olive oil, filled with a few slices of flavorful sharp cheddar, aged fontina, or gruyere, and some beautiful slices of roasted peppers and onion, a few sliced olives, some thinly sliced Roma tomatoes, and a handful of fresh spinach?
Both sandwiches will provide the warm, gooey delight of the grilled cheese, but the first will fill you with extra calories and chemicals, and the second will nourish all parts of your being.
Aim for filling 80% of your diet with quality, healthy, REAL food, with 80% of that being primarily yummy veggies and fruits.
3. Eat consciously
Pleasurable eating begins with conscious eating. Eat slowly, and with awareness of everything you are experiencing. Engage your senses - what do you see, smell, feel, taste, and even hear.
When we eat consciously, we naturally learn how to connect more deeply with ourselves. We learn how to live in the moment, how to connect with our body and senses, how to enjoy life to the fullest, and (key for many people) how to listen to our bodies and know when it is time to be finished. By eating with awareness, we come to understand that wholesome pleasures are meant to be enjoyed for a time, and not hoarded or overindulged in.
As we grow in awareness, we begin to notice what we really enjoy, as well as what doesn't work for us and our bodies.
For example, if you're like me, you might start to notice that you can enjoy a bit of high quality cheese, but too much and your ability to think clearly will diminish. Or maybe, again like me, you'll find that when you eat too many carbohydrate heavy foods, your heart rate increases.
The possibilities are endless. Every body is different, and it's only by paying attention to what you are experiencing that you can determine what truly brings you health, vitality, and pleasure - and allow yourself to enjoy more of it!
4. Play with your food
This is more of an invitation than a guideline.
It's my opinion that the best way to truly connect with your food, and gain the most pleasure from your culinary journey, is to prepare your own food often.
I find it deeply satisfying, for example, to transform, a few simple vegetables into a bowl of steaming, hardy soup. The knowledge I've gained in my own kitchen even enhances my pleasure when dining out. I can appreciate more subtle flavors, textures, and techniques as a result of my own experience.
My invitation for you is to start cooking. It's time to start playing with your food! Have fun, try things out, and experiment.
The beauty of REAL food is that it doesn't require a lot of work to make it delicious. Choose a few fruits or veggies that you like. Smell them and taste them, and imagine what sort of simple preparations might make them even better. What one or two additional flavors would complement them? Then try it out. Chances are, it will taste amazing! And if it doesn't - now you know, and can adjust next time. Simply engage your senses, and let the food tell its own story. Before long, you will be creating meals that you absolutely love!
http://www.tasteoftheplace.com/21-day-real-food-challenge/
Are you ready to dig in to some REAL food yumminess? Join me for the 21 day REAL food challenge! 21 days of eating REAL, yummy, and healthy food. You'll get ideas, inspiration, and recipes, as well as tips for living a more pleasurable life.
Visit tasteoftheplace.com/21-day-real-food-challenge to learn more and join for free!
I am on a mission to bring the joy of cooking and eating REAL food back into the kitchen! Join the movement at TasteOfThePlace.com!
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