Note: This is the twenty-sixth in a month-long exercise called Reverb10, where bloggers reflect on the year before and think towards the year ahead. The idea is to post daily, based on the day’s prompts; let’s see how well I do.
Prompt: Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?
On some level, food always touches my soul – as well it should. Whether we eat for pleasure or eat for fuel, what we eat is an important part of who we are and how we exist in the world.
In years of dealing with weight issues and depression (interesting to admit both of these things in such a public forum), I’ve spent decades observing my relationship with food. When the depression and stress gets worse, I eat worse – cookies, cake, lots of meat and fatty food. When I’m not eating those things, I don’t feel as depressed. There’s no instant prescription for it; it’s something that I have to manage day to day.
What I can say is that the typical prescriptions – “lean protein, whole grains, fresh veggies” – are actually far too simple and limiting to really work. For one thing, those prescriptions often leave out things like bread and pasta – and life without those things just isn’t happening. For me, it’s more about finding balance. Do I eat chocolate, bread and potatoes? Hell yes. Do I eat lots of fresh veggies, and brown rice and things? Hell yes. It’s about figuring out what works today, and making sure that I’m not falling into bad habits – like eating an entire batch of Christmas cookies in one sitting.