July: Intentional Eating

One of my consistent and daily prayers for my sweet Eden is that she will have a healthy relationship with food, and as I have thought about what that means I continue to come back to the foundational concept that the primary purpose of food is to nourish our bodies.

End of sentence.

Not to create an emotional experience.  Not for pleasure nor creativity nor comfort nor fellowship, although cooking and enjoying an incredible meal can certainly create those wonderful and good experiences.  But in the end, food is primarily for nourishment.  It was literally life-changing when I took on the challenge of buying all of our groceries at Trader Joe's.  This cut out so many of the chemical-filled, unnecessary, unhealthy, emotional-eating snacks my family and I had come to crave.

So this month I am going to continue to engage in intentional, purposeful, mindful eating in a format that will build on some of the habits I have already established.  This could also be called a maintenance month as much of this will be review.  Sometimes maintenance can be a bit boring because it is literally putting one foot in front of the other again and again and again and again... and again and again and again and again.  As mundane as this may seem, the ability to consistently maintain a habit long-term is literally the line that divides the people that like to try new things from those who actually bear fruit.

Habit: While I began this intellectual experience in May with Make Eating Sacred, much of what I am going to do this month will be a continuation of this idea as I seek to be present as I eat, slow down, and listen to my body for signals of fullness.  I will be especially in tune to how my body feels AFTER eating a certain item as I seek nourishment rather than the pleasure that often is only present during the initial eating experience.  I will also be more intentional in my menu planning, looking for foods that will nourish my family.

Challenge: I will continue eating 5-6 small meals a day, as I began in March in hopes of Increasing my Energy.  Specifically, one of my five small meals each day will consist of a protein shake.  This will not only provide my body with an incredibly nutritious and consistent meal, but also help eliminate some of the mindless and emotional snacking along the way.

This will also give me an opportunity to share about these shakes that I have come to crave as they offer so much more than just a nutritious and satisfying meal.