Nourishment

Do you do Paleo? Gluten-free? Vegetarian, vegan, flexetarian . . . flummoxed?

I remember our neighbor Mrs. E being on Weight Watchers when I was a kid. She weighed her canned salmon and cottage cheese on the most cunning little scale, which I coveted. Then came the day, some fifteen or so years later, when I purchased my own little scale bearing the WW logo. Not so cunning any more.

We scramble to feed ourselves in a way that keeps us slim. But healthy? I’m not so sure. Low fat doesn’t serve our need for supple skin and joints. No sugar keeps us from satisfying that innate desire for sweetness. Michael Pollan says, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” We all know this intellectually; now we need to digest it intuitively. We need to to eat for nourishment*, and consider comfort food to be something that makes us feel good emotionally AND physically. (Yeah, I love meatloaf and mashed potatoes too, but if a meal makes you need a nap, it’s time to rethink the menu!)

Like biting your fingernails or always putting your right sock and shoe on before turning to the left foot, food is habit. We think we want the “treat” but afterward find it didn’t satisfy. Maybe it’s because our habitual treats are not what we truly want.

Watermelon, anyone?

*Nourishment – from the OmMinute Dictionary:  n. 1. that which feeds your body, mind, soul, spirit for the highest good of your whole self. 2. something delicious that tastes as good in your mouth as it later feels in your body. 3. a thing that makes you joyful, content, filled and energetic.

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