Monday, August 30, 2010

Food for Thought


Food is fundamental part of our life and for most of us food is about pleasure, happiness, comfort, excitement, fun and fundamentally speaking survival. Food is also involved in our friendships, love and social interactions. I’ve been thinking recently about the food I eat and my state of happiness. I say state of happiness because I believe it is on a continuum or metaphorically speaking a roller coaster. I have ups and downs to my happiness and sometimes the ride stops all together and I get on the sad train. For me the sad train is also known as the SAD (Standard American Diet) train. I have definitely seen a correlation to my happiness when I’m eating high amounts of fresh vegetables, nuts, fruits and grain. My body feels healthy; my digestion is routine and painless. My state of mind is happy, my moods are enhanced and I feel good about being in my body. I can go for a long time without feelings of sadness, frustration, self-loathing or doubt. It’s usually when something effects my environment in a certain way that I find myself feeling upset. When I find myself eating foods that are processed within the day I am feeling tired, sluggish, and soon enough unhappy. Unhappy with how my body feels, unhappy with the pain in my joints and organs, and unhappy that I feel miserable.
From theses experiences, I believe the foods I eat give me short term or long term happiness. Short term happiness is usually from foods that release sugar in to the blood stream quickly meaning candy, fast food, foods laced with preservatives, soda, bottled juices, etc... Long term happiness comes from eating foods that are grown from the earth and sun meaning vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc...I’ve realized that I need to consume the best quality foods to have the best quality days. Since our bodies are in a continual state of repair as we age, we need the best possible energy to aid this process. The food we eat and the environment we live in are both essential in giving our bodies energy. Since I’m the owner and caretaker of my body I am going to without a doubt try to provide myself with foods that aid in replenishing and repairing my body.

Do certain foods make you happy? Have you seen a difference in the way your body and mind feel when you eat certain foods?

Here are some funny food quotes I’d thought I’d share:

High-tech tomatoes. Mysterious milk. Supersquash. Are we supposed to eat this stuff? Or is it going to eat us? ~Annita Manning

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. They probably get jet-lagged, just like people. ~Elizabeth Berry

Plant a radish, get a radish, never any doubt. That's why I love vegetables, you know what they're about! ~Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Elle @ http://thewaybyelle.blogspot.com/ says...

Great pictures! I really understand what you mean about how my whole body feels when I give it proper fuel. I just did a book review about Dr. David A. Kessler's book, The End of Overeating. In it he describes how processed food drugs us and how the food industry does this intentionally. Sugar-fat-salt combinations are what I think make me feel good, but I end up feeling awful, emotionally and physically. I wonder if this is why so many people are depressed and suffering from psychological issues?

Maggie said...

I agree with you Elle :) I believe what we eat does affect our mental health. Some probably more so, but it also might have to do with environment, genetics, other illnesses or addictions. I will have to check out the book you read it sounds really informative :) Thanks for commenting!

Anonymous said...

Lori @ http://www.whatrunslori.com/ says...

You know what, I totally agree with you! I do really feel better when I eat a lot of raw fruits and veggies, no alcohol or caffeine, and plenty of water. I have an overall good feeling. Happy. And the opposite when I've been not so kind to my body.

Really, food can heal all. :)

Great post! Love the first picture of the food spelling. Did you take that?

Maggie said...

Thanks Lori :) Food can heal all, I like that phrase! I was the one who took the food pics. I got bored and creative with veggies that day. They are all from the garden too!

Anonymous said...

Mary @ http://bitesandbliss.com/ says...

Veggies- veggies make me happy. Cookies and Nutter Butter (ohhh my gosh good) used to make me happy, but definitely not anymore. At least not like veggies do. Specifically roasted ones :) Yum!

Loved this post. :) Food's definitely a great way to bring on happiness. As it should be since it's such a huge part of our lives.

Maggie said...

Hi Mary :) oooh yes cookies and nut butter I hear ya, been there too :) My lil one and I LOVE homemade almond butter with apples and carrot sticks. YUM!
I love having roasted vegetables too! My hubby introduced me a long time ago to a mixture of roasted sweet potato, squashes, and carrots...oh my it is total comfort food on a cold, rainy night :)

Anonymous said...

Utah chiropractor says...

yum yum yum! that is indeed really nutritious and uber healthy!

Maggie said...

Thanks :) I was so lucky to have the veggies in these pictures straight from the garden, that alone made me so happy!

Anonymous said...

Bitt @ http://www.bittofraw.com/ says...

Real foods are the best!

Love the first pic.

Maggie said...

Thanks Bitt! :) I was literally playing with my food. My lil one was giggling so much while we made words out of veggies! Too cute and something I need to do more often :)