FOOD x SELF-CARE

USING FOOD AS SELF-CARE

2020 has been hard on all of us. It seems like we can’t catch a break when it comes to bad news. It’s easy to get caught up in all that has gone wrong throughout the last 7 months. Last month, I decided to take extra care of myself by being intentional with what I consume in media, conversations, and of course with what I eat.

The foods you eat are a direct reflection of how you care for yourself and is often an overlooked form of self-care. Your diet can affect your mood, your performance, and your health. What better way to replenish and restore yourself than fueling your body with nourishing food choices.

Self-care is really simple, although the $10 billion dollar self-care industry doesn’t want us to think so. Social media has painted pictures of self-care to look like a spa day, luxury vacation, shopping spree or Netflix binge. These things are great, but they aren’t really self-care. We do these things for temporary pleasure, but they do not actually restore us.

So what is self-care and how do we practice it?

The Oxford Dictionary provides two definitions:

SELF-CARE, noun:

-the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health.

-the practice of taking an active role in protecting one's own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.

After reading this, I hope that you can be inspired to take some steps towards making caring food choices for yourself. Here are four ways I’ve been practicing self care with food.

I’m using the word PREP to outline these tips to help make them easy to remember.

P-R-E-P, means to make ready.

Which is perfect as the goal is to inspire you to “make ready” for better food choices and eat in way that restores us so we can be our best selves!

P is for PLAN

Planning to eat healthy in advance removes stress, last minute bad decision making, and saves money.

There are a lot of things in this world that are out of our control. We don’t know what the world will look like in the next few months. But one thing we can control is preplanning what you eat.

Planning what you eat can look different for each person based on their lifestyle.  Whether you want to full out meal prep for the week or cook ahead for a few days at a time, either way you are more likely to make better food choices if you have healthy, preplanned, easy to access food options in reach. Pre-planned meals and snacks allow you to plan to make the best decisions, with the most nutritious choices. This also causes less stress, brings more peace and gives you more time in your day to do things you love!

R is for RESTAURANT FOR YOURSELF

I was going to call this section “Cook for Yourself” but it is so much more than that. When you restaurant for yourself you are creating an experience that is catered to you. Starting with cooking for yourself, which allows to put love into the dish and know exactly what you are eating. I can always tell when something is made or given to you with love, especially gifts. I can tell if the giver thought about me, if the gift itself and the packaging was intentional. The same is true when you cook for yourself. When you take the time to nourish yourself and fuel your life it can be a great opportunity for self-love and care.  

I encourage you to cook with love and with the intention to nourish your best self. You can’t be your best self and feed yourself the worst food. We often expect the best from everyone around us, but we should do the same for ourselves. Start with you!

I obviously love cooking. The kitchen serves as my therapy session, my church, and my art class. Cooking for yourself, especially trying new recipes, can spark creativity and mindfulness. Creativity helps focus the mind and has been compared to meditation. It also releases dopamine, reduces anxiety, depression, and stress.

When you restaurant for yourself, you have to consider your entire atmosphere. I like to have fun with setting my own customized ambiance. You can play your favorite music, put your favorite flowers on the table, even facetime and cook/have dinner with a friend. All of these things can be catered to you and are a celebration of the goodness you are restoring yourself with.

 E is for EAT MORE COLOR

Eating more color just means bring more plants into your diet. Plant based eating boosts your nutrition, improves energy levels, and prevents chronic diseases.

Health is wealth. Period. Usually people make this statement and stop, with no further thought or action put to it. We should consider generating health very similarly to the way we consider generating wealth. Simply put, the foods you eat are either depositing into your life “bank account” or withdrawing from it. Consider your body as a bank account. I want to be wealthy so I plan to fill it with healthy choices. Think of unhealthy choices as withdrawals from your account. If you have plenty of healthy choices saved, your few withdrawals will have minimal impact. On the other hand if you are constantly withdrawing from your account by making unhealthy choices, you may face overdraft fees. For your personal bank an overdraft fee would equate to an automatic account deduction of around $35. In life if you overdraft on your health it could result in serious conditions, disease, and medication.

 It has been shown that eating plant based can improve your life, and transform your health. Evidence shows patients with chronic illness have been able come off their medicines or lower their dosages from healthy changes in their diets.

Plants are mood boosters, they can improve your memory, energy, and feelings of calmness. Consider the following if you need a healthy boost!

-Kale, honey and berries for energy

-Oranges, mushrooms, quinoa and grapes for happiness

-Bananas, almonds and whole grains for calmness

P is for PRIMARY FOODS

Primary Foods are what feeds your life as a whole. We are more than just a body that has to run healthily; we have a mind and spirit that we also have to fill.  There are things beyond what’s on our plates that we have to get “fuel” from including relationships, career, physical activity, and spirituality. Primary Foods satisfy your overall hunger for life. When your Primary Foods are balanced your life feeds you, making what you eat secondary. It is important to have the other areas in your life balanced, otherwise you may find yourself eating to feed the lack or disconnect in your relationships, career, physical activity and spirituality. When you find yourself gravitating towards unhealthy options its key to self-reflect and ask “what am I feeding?”  This may help uncover why you make the choices you do regarding food.

Those are my 4 tips for using food as self-care. I’ll share more tips as I continue on my own journey and uncover more. Let’s work towards fueling our best lives by making the best food choices for ourselves.

I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share or leave a comment!