TODAY THE WORDS are EAT WITH YOUR MIND AND NOT YOUR HEART. This message may be meant more for me than anyone else. For those of you who have followed my blog have realized some of my powerful memories have been formed from a certain way my Mother or someone else dear to my heart made a dish. I have relished in the love one expends when they make a special meal. I have incorporated this thinking in my own life. I want to spoil others by cooking or making some recipe they have expressed this was one of their favorites. This kind of thinking, even though it is meant with love is somewhat destructive to healthy eating.
I believe we need an occasional “fix” of food and this is when I should feed with the heart and not the mind. If we eat 90% with our minds and 10% with our hearts, we would experience better health. Of course, all of the health gurus will contradict this with a statement for the need of 100% healthy eating. I will say in return, That is impossible for all of us who struggle with eating healthy. We want to “eat with the heart” once in a while. If we don’t recognize this internal struggle with the memories of attachment eating, and allow a cheat meal or reward once in a while; we will never become serious about maintaining the 90% of healthy eating.
I googled, “Is it okay to occasionally splurge?” This is one of the responses (link is included by clicking on Margaret Floyd’s name) I found and once you read it, there is a profound thought we should come away from her message and I will discuss it at the end.
Margaret Floyd , Nutrition & Dietetics, answered
Now here’s the only rule I will ever strictly enforce with myself and with others. If you are going to have that treat, if you’re going to indulge in some guilty pleasure, then the absolute most important thing is that you truly, fully enjoy it. Eating something you think you shouldn’t and beating yourself up about it the whole time — something that I see people do every single day — is far, far more damaging to your body than eating that very same food and delighting in it.
How you feel when you eat your dinner has about as much impact on how your body uses that food as what it is you’re eating. Stress compromises digestion, and guilt is most definitely stress inducing.I was once asked at a workshop about what on earth I order from a restaurant menu. My response: “Whatever I want, and I enjoy it.” And that’s exactly what I do. I check in with myself and see what I feel like eating. I don’t overthink it, and I don’t analyze the nutritional pros and cons of the various options. I just eat what I feel like eating. And, most importantly, I enjoy every little mouthful of it.
So, when I do eat the mac and cheese, or I pick something off a menu that’s clearly not healthy, I eat it with delight, not guilt. And I encourage you to do the same.
Thanks Margaret and now for my personal thought: I agree with Ms. Floyd 100%. Her words of “Eating something you think you shouldn’t and beating yourself up about it the whole time–something that I see people do every single day–is far, far more damaging to your body than eating that very same food and delighting in it.“
If you are doing what most of us do and splurging or cheating (whatever you call it), do it as a reward and enjoy the fool out of it while treating it as a treat and not a mainstay. When we begin to think, reward instead of regular eating; we begin to eat with the mind most of the time and occasionally eat with the heart. This is how I see more ability to stay healthy and nourished both in the mind and the heart. Happy Healthy Eating! Until we eat and read again…….Arline Miller
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