Unadulterated Pleasure …

Watching my young god-daughter last night eating an Easter egg really brought to my attention how much our relationships with food and eating change throughout our life.

As babies and young children we eat when we’re hungry.  We demand to be fed, and if we’re lucky enough to live in the Western world where food is in plentiful supply, and if we have caregivers who respond adequately to our needs, we’re given food.  And we consume it, and we stop eating when our body is satisfied.  Babies and young children aren’t aware of the pressures yet to come to them from our Western culture that demands that they look a certain way and that they manipulate their body into a prescribed ideal.

When I showed my god-daughter the egg, her face lit up with unadulterated pleasure.  There was pure excitement in her eyes as we unwrapped it together.  And as you can see from this picture, she consumed it with passion and pure enjoyment …

How many people as adults are able to consume food, and especially chocolate and other ‘treats’ with the unadulterated pleasure of a child?  So many adults have their pleasure of food spoiled by inner voices telling them they shouldn’t be eating it, they’ll get fat, it’s wrong to enjoy food, etc., etc.  And even people who’ve never struggled with eating disorders, so often worry about putting on weight, losing weight, the number of calories, the fat content, and more.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all eat with the unadulterated pleasure of a young child?  If we could all simply eat to satisfy our body’s physiological hunger needs?  But food and eating are inextricably tied up with emotional needs and hungers … and for the majority of adults, food and eating is often used as a substitute means of satisfying those other needs.  We all use food in ways other than satisfying bodily hunger … have a think about how you use food and what food means to you, and for you …

Wishing you too, the unadulterated pleasure of chocolatey abandonment ...