Happiness is many things for people. For some, it is a significant other. For others, it’s one achievement, after another. For me, it is food. In every way, in every flavour and in every form. Breakfast usually takes the cake, but a good lunch and a heavenly dinner are good bargains too!
The motto of my life begins and ends with ‘feeling good’, whether it is me or the people around me. I want everyone to feel good. And the key to me feeling good is a delicious meal, a delicious snack or even a flavourful morsel. I sincerely believe that the quality of food we consume has an effect on our psyche for the day.
When I think of breakfast, I think of my dad. The man that never scolded us, except for when we woke up and ran around the house, instead of sitting down for breakfast. So, naturally, I ended up loving breakfast time, and still do. It is the meal that determines how my day will proceed. Breakfast for me, is merely a muffin with a coffee, or a bowl of cereal; nutrition galore, or the best south-indian, north-indian or continental spread you will find. These are all things that make me the happiest.
Try this. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Stop everything. Close your eyes, and think of the one thing that you relish at any time of the day. Imagine consuming it, and letting it consume you. I can guarantee, it made you smile.
Now think of another thing. When you ask someone why they eat food; their answer, more often than not, is ‘to live’. But this isn’t true. If that’s the case, everyone can function on raw fish for protein, cerelac for calcium and some chillies for taste, right?
No. Eating food goes way beyond just to live. Have you noticed that when you get served a meal, whether it is at home or at a restaurant, your senses come alive? You notice the way the food is presented, the way it smells, the texture it holds and the taste it offers. If it is your favourite food, then it automatically brings a smile to your face. You ‘feel good’.
Science and research aside, there is one truth. If we eat good food, the kind we love, then it automatically raises our mood to a happier level. If not, it affects our mood for the day adversely. The lay man’s explanation of this science is this. Every body part of ours needs nutrition in some or the other way. If we eat food that is nutritious, good, delicious, then our body parts are automatically nourished. They are happy. They are functioning. Just the way you feed your car fuel, and she flies.
Whenever I get to my evening flower tea, I tend to enjoy it with a bar of Palm Jaggery and Honey from my product line. The immense joy from the aroma of freshly infused flowers, and the hint of sweetness and goodness of nutrition that the bar adds to the mix, is a feeling I never forget. It is the feeling I look forward to for the day.
Some mornings, a simple glass of freshly squeezed OJ, a grapefruit eaten with fresh ginger and sugar, and a bowl of millet cereal are the pick-me-up after a heavy night of sleeping. I am charged for the day!
For me, eating is a pleasure. Food is a drug. It is an essential and an experience. Eating good food can be as immersive as you want it to be. It can be the mood-maker or mood-breaker for your day. Nutrition is the better aspect of food. Try eating right for one week, and see your body respond better to its needs.
It doesn’t have to be a fancy meal, it doesn’t have to be made of expensive ingredients. It needs to be fresh, organic, warm, comforting, calming and exciting. All in one. It has to be a meal made from and for your heart. It needs to come from within, that you want to eat well. Eat good. And feel good.
Like Lewis Grizzard says, and I second, “It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato”.
I leave you here with food for thought. Think of the best meal you have had. Dissect its ingredients. Think of which ingredient tasted the best to you. What about this meal was excellent? Recreate it. Feed your soul. Think of how food impacts your day. Trial and error is the way of life.
Written By Gouri Gupta
Week 47, November ’20
