Why It's Ok To Eat Emotionally

Our relationship to food is just that - a relationship. All relationships have strengths and weaknesses. It’s not about removing the emotion from our eating, it’s about knowing what those emotions are and what they can teach us about ourselves.

I am an emotional eater. You are an emotional eater. Don’t think so? Keep reading.

The term “emotional eating” is loaded and a hot topic in the health world. People are starting to piece together that a healthy lifestyle is not just about counting calories, perfectly following a meal plan and hitting the gym 5-6 days a week. If it were that simple we would all have the body of an Olympian, but we don’t. So what gives? Nutritionist and trainers tell us the “food is fuel” and we should look at it as such. I don’t disagree. Food does fuel our bodies and the higher quality of fuel the better our bodies will operate. But our relationship with food is not that simple and it begins from the moment we are born.

Last night I was feeding my son before he went to sleep. It was his first birthday and as I nursed him, I reflected on the past year and the ups and downs I had gone through to nurse this long. It has not been easy, but well worth the challenges and sacrifices.

And then it hit me-like a gong over my head!

When I feed Henry, it is an emotional experience for him. Whether I’m nursing, giving a bottle or Charlie is feeding him a banana, Henry has an emotional reaction to the food. He feels satisfied, taken care of, loved. And let me tell you this boy gets Hangry too! If the food isn’t coming fast enough the neighbors in the building next door know. He is too little to have any reservations to his emotions. There is no magazine or dietician telling him “Now Henry, only eat when you need to, food is fuel and you should treat it as such”. No! When he is feed he feels loved and joyful. If our earliest experiences with food as babies is emotional why as adults are we trying to remove the emotion? It doesn’t make sense and it’s not the way we were designed to relate to our food.

When and what we eat is meant to evoke emotion in us and remind us of wonderful memories associated with that food and the people we shared it with.

On Saturday our family was doing some furniture shopping for our new apartment and we walked past a market that was selling fresh cut fruit. It was beautiful. Watermelon, cherries, mango, papaya-hmmmmm we went for the papaya.

As the three of us shared the sweet treat, Charlie and I began to reminisce of the papaya we ate on our honeymoon every morning for breakfast. For 10 days in St. Lucia we awoke to a knock at the door. A maid greeted us with a breakfast basket; fresh coffee, eggs, homemade baked bread with butter and fresh papaya. We loved the simple breakfast each morning as we overlooked the Piton mountains and the ocean and talked about what we would do that day. The taste of the papaya we ate walking down the street in Queens took us back 6 years to that sweet place in the Caribbean.

When I see pancakes I think of our Babymoon and the anticipation we had awaiting our son. Ukrainian Pierogies transport me to my Aunt’s dining room on a joyful Christmas Eve with my cousins and family. Show me some Ceviche and I’m relaxing in Costa Rica with a good book. Just mention the words Maple Bacon Biscuit and I’m sharing a laugh with friends in Sunnyside.

Now I want to hear from you? What foods evoke wonderful memories and emotions in you and why?