Food and Nothin’ but Food
Today I’d like to add to Gloria’s insightful blog of
November 5. She encouraged us to focus
on our food, to really taste it by eating slowly. I read once that we should put down our
utensil after each bite and chew 30 times!
The times I have sat down to a holiday meal, eaten quickly
and then eaten seconds are many. Of
course, I could have seconds. Twenty
minutes had not yet passed for my brain to realize my belly was full. That’s how long it takes for our mind to tell
us, “Okay, you’re full. You need to stop
eating now.”
Since reading that article, I have slowed down my eating,
and it has helped me with the amount of food I eat. BUT (seems like there’s always a “but,”
doesn’t it) I’m still not focusing on my food.
When my husband died twenty years ago, I determined I was
not going to watch TV when I ate but was going to sit at table. I’ve done well with that, BUT (yep, here
comes another one). . .
I began to read while I was eating. Then I progressed to playing “Words with
Friends” on my phone--DISASTER. I can
finish a whole meal without having tasted a bite.
Admittedly, it’s hard to sit at table alone to eat a meal,
yet God has blessed me with food to eat so that I can nourish my body. A healthy body enables me to serve the Holy
One.
I’ve pretty much let go of reading at table, and I’m trying
to wean myself off “Words.” I find
being present to my food, eating slowly makes a difference in the amount of
food I eat and in my enjoyment of my food.
We know that God gives us “good gifts” (Mt. 7:11, Life
Application). I need to be grateful
during this Thanksgiving time for God’s gifts to me, one of them being
food. Perhaps one of the ways I can show
God my gratitude is to be aware of my food by eating slowly and focusing on my
food and nothing else.
Gloria and I pray each of you readers a Blessed, Safe
Thanksgiving.
Sharon Witty
