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