Eating For Fun and Still Be Healthy

I am sometimes concerned that blogs like this are responsible for taking a lot of the fun out of eating food. We go on and on about the healthy types of foods and nutrients to consume on a regular basis in order to support our bodies. “Good” carbohydrates, “healthy” fats, and don’t forget the latest fad “miracle” foodstuffs that are guaranteed to turn your life around.

Is it any wonder that this firehose of information directed at the reader starts sounding like just so much noise after a while? We want to eat healthier to be healthier but where to start?

Let’s keep it simple.

For Starters

Food is about nutrition, yes. Eating carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in healthy proportions to each other is important. While technically correct, it is also a boring way to approach your food.

Eating food provides us with pleasure that, if you want to dig into the reasons why, relates to the nutrients in food that build chemicals in our brain (neurotransmitters) that tell us we are having a good time. So, one of the more immediate effects of eating is that it makes us feel good.

This is a great place to start.

If we are self-aware of foods making us feel good, then let’s move with that idea out to where different foods can be used to create different feelings. The aromas of fresh baked bread, an old family recipe, or a holiday meal are all different food aromas that once consumed, create particular moods in each of us. The smell of the food entices us. The eating of the food completes the experience.

The Difference in Eating for Health

In this scenario of being teased by the smell and the eventual consumption of the food, there is a unique flavor (if you will pardon the pun) to the experiences. Family and culture heavily influence the foods with which we associate pleasant sensations. The foods that are pleasing to one culture may not be a part of another’s cuisine. Think: haggis or tripe.

We are all different.

Then we get down to some individual Biology. Not everyone experiences food in the same way. We all have favorite foods, right? Foods that just make our day whenever we eat them. We just feel good about them. (Mine’s peanut butter.)

We probably also have foods that we’d be happy to never see on our plate again too, I reckon. Some undesirable food choices come from the circumstances surrounding a meal. (“Eat your broccoli Hal or there will be no dessert.”) Sometimes our bodies just don’t digest certain foods well at all due to unusual anatomy or missing chemicals that aid digestion. (People with a condition called lactose intolerance lack an enzyme that breaks down dairy products. If they do eat dairy, the resulting digestive experience is extremely unpleasant.)

We are all different.

Putting It Together

As you peruse information about Health and eating, look for foods that work for you. Be honest with yourself in this process. Did that last drive-thru meal really satisfy of did it just make you not hungry?

We all need a balanced consumption of the basic components of food (called macromolecules) but there is a tremendous diversity in the sources of these nutrients.

Fats are available in a wide variety of chemical forms, so there are lots of different flavors available. Meats provide certain types of fats and some vegetables offer others types.

Proteins also arrive at the table from a great number of animal and vegetable sources. All different flavors and textures but all broken down into amino acids which our bodies use to build muscles and organs.

Lastly and definitely not least, carbohydrates are readily available in a multitude of forms. From extremely processed as to provide little nutritional value, to the original wrapper versions (raw fruits and vegetables) that connect so well with our sense of feeling well (I’m thinking fresh strawberries as I write this.)

Digest eating and health information regularly – it is important to be an educated eater, but don’t let the latest fad diet or product derail your conscious approach to your Health. Thinking skills are always useful! Celebrate the uniqueness of our bodies and find the things that are fun and healthy to eat!

“I don’t know what it is about food your mother makes for you, especially when it’s something that anyone can make – pancakes, meat loaf, tuna salad – but it carries a certain taste of memory.”
― Mitch Albom