Being grateful for food

stingraycat

This is meant to reflect on how lucky we are to have food, and I also hope that we can reevaluate our relationship with it.

I'll start. I live in the United States, and I have never gone without food. Never in my life have I been so hungry that I could cry, or so hungry that I would eat my cat or garbage or another person or food that should have been thrown away.

Every day people struggle to find enough food to eat, and I have been taking food for granted. When I think about all of the half-eaten entrees and slightly-too-brown bananas I have thrown away, I just cringe because someone somewhere would have wanted to eat it. And then I think about how I eat not just to relieve hunger, but often to soothe myself or because everyone else is doing it or simply because food is there.

I've never gone an entire 24 hours without eating. In fact, I think the longest time I've fasted is when I was having one of those glucose level tests done.

Anyway, I think it's good to contemplate how lucky you are to have access to food, especially healthy food. And I think taking five or ten seconds to think about how food came from the earth and found its way to your mouth can help you develop a healthier relationship with the food that you choose to eat.

I know that when I think about how a cheeseburger is made, soil to corn to cows and "pasteurized process cheese products" and refined grains, I feel stronger in my convictions to eschew such food.

gastankerdriver

Thank you for the thoughtful post. You are right; we should appreciate what we have. In some parts of the world, the struggle for food is a daily struggle for existence. Not only that, the food that we consume is taken from another--a farmer has to grow and harvest the food often with his or her own hands, workers need to process it, workers transport it, animals are sacrificed, plants are obliterated, life is taken. Often there is a certain amount of exploitation and oppression that goes into putting food in our mouths. In some ways, the very act of eating is exploitive. It is taking; we should be more considerate, more appreciative of the sacrifice.

showgirl14

You're so right on so many levels. We should thank and praise God for all he has given us and for all he does for us daily, giving us our daily bread and then some. We take many things for granted everyday. We should think twice before we complain.

THEsnails

Very well said. I often think of how readily available food is for me and how often I simply disregard the significance of it. It is so sad.

redcat17

This is a great post, and a great thought. Not only do people in other countries go hungry, but here in the US many children go to bed hungry every night. As gastankerdriv said, food in the US is in a way exploitative when you think about the food industry as a whole, however, those of us who can afford to eat well should be very thankful that we can.

CynthiasChoice

Thanks for the inspiration. I was just thinking about this today, in fact, that I need to pause before each meal and remember how blessed I am to be able to eat whenever and whatever I want to. If you consider the whole world's population, we are the lucky few - a small percentage of humanity that has food in abundance.

I was struck once by someone who posted that their food budget was $50.00 per month - for two people. I can't even begin to think how I could manage on that little. I guess I'd start with bulk beans and rice, and the cheapest oil I could find. But what if I wanted a salad? Or a piece of fruit. That alone would put me over a dollar a day. I guess I could forage for wild mushrooms, berries and greens, but that would be time consuming and stressful. I have a very hard time imagining how I would handle something like this - but it's worthwhile to think about.

I like to keep a little diary in "food notes" and I think I'll start writing each day about one thing I'm grateful for.

jem33199

I this post. Thank you!

michellegr88

You are exactly right......I feel guilty throwing food out too and to help with that I have a compost bucket but still, I find myself letting food in my fridge go by without eating it. I think your right about your comments on food and to be honest....no one in america knows poor like most people in the world. I feel so lucky to have a car, home, animals to enjoy the company of, internet, and food mostly. One of my professors said to me, "If you have atleast one of the following a car, a home (even a dumpy ****ty trailer), a job that pays you $12,000 a year you are richer than 90% of the world." Its so true we dont realize how lucky we are. I have recently started to reflect on this, and trying to cut back on stuff I dont need for survival.

Tall_E

This is meant to reflect on how lucky we are to have food, and I also hope that we can reevaluate our relationship with it.

I'll start. I live in the United States, and I have never gone without food. Never in my life have I been so hungry that I could cry, or so hungry that I would eat my cat or garbage or another person or food that should have been thrown away.

Every day people struggle to find enough food to eat, and I have been taking food for granted. When I think about all of the half-eaten entrees and slightly-too-brown bananas I have thrown away, I just cringe because someone somewhere would have wanted to eat it. And then I think about how I eat not just to relieve hunger, but often to soothe myself or because everyone else is doing it or simply because food is there.

I've never gone an entire 24 hours without eating. In fact, I think the longest time I've fasted is when I was having one of those glucose level tests done.

Anyway, I think it's good to contemplate how lucky you are to have access to food, especially healthy food. And I think taking five or ten seconds to think about how food came from the earth and found its way to your mouth can help you develop a healthier relationship with the food that you choose to eat.

I know that when I think about how a cheeseburger is made, soil to corn to cows and "pasteurized process cheese products" and refined grains, I feel stronger in my convictions to eschew such food.

Thank you for your humble, honest, thoughtful post and for starting this discussion. You have deeply touched me.

I also live in the USA. I am one of those who grew up often hungry in a family where there was never quite enough to eat or enough of other necessities. We were one of the families that would receive food baskets from the church at Thanksgiving and clothes, food and gifts from the Salvation Army sometimes at Christmas. The rest of the year we got by on Army surplus food (I think it was leftover from World War II) along with whatever my parents could put together, including from my mother's garden or my father sometimes bringing extra food home from the diners or cafes where he cooked. For a short time we were on welfare. I appreciated the kindness of the goodhearted people who provided the help we got and could feel their caring. Some help would come though with patronizing attitudes and racism, especially the welfare, and then it made me feel like my family was worthless. When I grew up and had enough resources to eat as much as I wanted, it amazed me how much and how many different kinds of foods there are and how much most people in our country have. It took a long time for me to be able to relax and count on enough good food. Even now I can't easily throw food away. I find ways to preserve it, if I can, before it goes bad and constantly look for ways to use and reuse it, even if it's to offer it to animals or compost it, so nothing is wasted. When my neighbors have trees full of fruit they are letting rot, I ask permission and pick it and bring it to the local shelters or give it to people I know who live on disability income. I'm always trying to grow something too, even if it's just a couple of tomato plants or a few herbs.

Eventually, I started using food the way many people do - for comfort, for pleasure, for socializing, to numb myself, etc. I also went a long time not knowing what appropriate portions are. I didn't like what all this was doing to me so I decided to learn everything I could about nutrition, how food is produced, and the politics of food. I also learned how important diet is for healing when one is sick. I gave up soda, caffeine, alcohol, and many more toxic things by the time I was twenty and haven't looked back. Soon after I became a vegetarian and am now recently becoming a vegan. I did all this for my personal health and to learn to feed my family well. I also did it to keep my footprint small on the planet and to do my part to end hunger for others because what I eat affects what is available for them to eat.

I heard of a legislator in California a few years back who decided to eat for several months on the same amount of money his poorest constituents had to eat on. He unintentionally lost a lot of weight but gained huge insight into what it's like to be poor and hungry. I expect he's a better legislator now.

I have voluntarily fasted a number of times in a healthy manner for several days to give my digestive system a break and to allow myself to start over eating right when I've been eating wrong too long. Later, I joined a religion that requires healthy, not pregnant adults to annually observe a limited fast just before our New Year. I look forward to these times because, while they can be challenging, I always come out of the fast having better discipline and new spiritual gains. After the fast this year I was led to MFP.

Today I am grateful for the power that knowledge has given me, for the sacred food that nurtures me, and for the pals I have found on MFP.

stingraycat

All of these responses have really helped me gain a lot of perspective.

I was thinking, though, it's also bad to eat when not hungry for the sake of not wasting something. So I guess it's all about figuring out how much you can/will eat of something before buying it or making it or not choosing to preserve it somehow.

For example, a lot of people (my grandparents for example) didn't have a lot of food, like Tall_E. and they would praise me when I cleared my plate or went back for seconds and thirds (both when I was a child and now), and at the same time, if I didn't want to finish it, they'd say something like, "oh, I'll eat it. Better than letting it go to waste." they're both overweight, and I almost feel like it would have been better to throw unfinished food away rather than adding calories to their already large diets.

It's a tough balance to find.

But now that I live on my own, I try not to buy too much of anything or make more than enough for myself.

I'm glad this post got a lot of good feedback.