It’s time for New Year’s resolutions again!
This year, I have resolved to take better care of myself, and you can too. Below, I describe some ways to use eating as part of self-care.
Lately, I have been working on finding pleasure in everyday activities. This means stopping to take in a beautiful view (like the sun rising over the river bottom) and truly tasting (and enjoying!) my food. My goal is to put aside distractions such as phone, computer and TV while eating. This helps me to focus on the joy of eating a well-prepared, delicious meal with people I enjoy being around.
I’ll share a secret with you: I don’t always enjoy cooking. Sometimes I enjoy cooking. Then there are times when I wish I never had to cook again.
One suggestion I have found helpful is to have everything prepped, organized and ready to use before beginning to cook. The term for this is mise en place. It involves reading through the entire recipe before starting so you know what is supposed to happen (I’ve been known to cook green bean casserole with the crispy onions on it for the entire time it bakes — hello burnt onions!). Mise en place also involves cutting up vegetables, spices, herbs and meats; measuring and combining spices and sauces; and finding the tools needed to execute the recipe. I find it especially helpful to do this the night before because, at first, trying to do this when you would normally start cooking can lead to spending way more time than usual making a meal. So adequate preparation includes making time to prepare adequately.
I learned about mise en place from an article by Jesse Szewczyk called “The 9 Most Important Things I Learned in Cooking School.” You can read the article at thekitchn.com/culinary-school-cooking-tips-22957596.
So many people get swept up in the idea of eating perfectly. In my opinion, eating well involves eating in a way that provides you the nourishment you need in that moment. To be clear, I mean the nourishment you need for your mental health, as well as your physical health.
While it is important to make sure you eat enough to provide yourself with all the necessary nutrients, eating perfectly and focusing on eating perfect foods, is arguably worse for a person’s health. Eating perfectly often involves thinking a lot (and more than is actually good for a person) about food, planning meals, avoiding social situations that involve food, and avoiding some foods and types of foods.
This last situation, avoiding foods, can lead to eating a lot more than you intended of that food later.
Instead, I propose we focus on listening to our bodies.
What are you craving? How hungry are you? How much food will satisfy your hunger? Are you eating often enough to avoid a low blood sugar? How is what you’re eating making you feel? Does what you eat help you feel good? Does what you’re eating support you doing more things that you enjoy doing, or that you need to do?
It’s time for us to stop focusing on perfecting our health. Instead, let’s focus on taking care of ourselves in ways that motivate us to keep taking care of ourselves. Eating can be part of that. So go out there, live a life you enjoy and take care of yourself. You can do this!
Lynn Eaton R.D., L.D., CDE is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator. She works at Capital Region Medical Center as an inpatient, outpatient and critical care dietitian.