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Eating to Live!

POSTED:Fri, April 11, 2008 @ 2:34PM

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The importance of eating

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“Think of your body like a car,” a nurse told my husband who was recently hospitalized from what may have been the result of going too long without eating.

“If we forget to put gas in our cars and it runs out, it will stop,” she said. “Our bodies are the same way.”

Eating is in the eye of the beholder.

When I explained the experience to our daughter, she revealed that she often doesn’t like to take the time to eat.

“If I’m busy, it’s more of an annoyance to stop what I’m doing and eat something,” she said.

Our son; however, takes after me. We work diligently on whatever projects we have going, but break-times, in the form of mealtimes, are important to us, not only to refuel our bodies, but also as a mental escape from our work. One is as equally as important as the other.

That is not to say that eating our meals has to be a regimen. Meals have been skipped when deadlines are looming or traveling keeps us from being able to get to a food source in a timely manner. Although I don’t often forget to eat, there have been times when a busy day has taken me well past a mealtime. But just like the directions that come with our prescriptions, when one dose is missed, take it as soon as we remember. But don’t skip it altogether.

In today’s world, many people eat too quickly, in the car, at the computer or in front of the television. We grab a quick bite as we sit at our desks. We squeeze in a fast food meal between taking our children to soccer practice or the dentist office. We skip more meals than we should admit because we feel it is too time consuming to prepare our food and then sit down to eat it. Some people are proud of their ability to go long periods without fueling their bodies.

“I never eat breakfast,” I’ve been told; or “I only eat one meal a day.” Somewhere along the line, our priorities have become misconstrued.

First of all, we must eat to live. There is no getting around that fact. Zero food equals zero life. I would think that something as important as living would take top honors over sleeping that extra half hour (try going to bed a half hour earlier) or trying to cram in more extra-curricular activities than a person, or child, should be doing in a day. Okay, so maybe preparing a home-cooked meal is not as fun as watching late afternoon reruns of Oprah and Dr. Phil, but it should be.

Most healthy meals can be prepared in less than a half-hour’s time. Add to that 20 minutes to sit down and eat and you’ve only used the time it takes to watch back-to-back episodes of Cash Cab. This is why digital video recorders were invented.

In my effort to teach myself to eat healthy, perhaps I have neglected to attempt the same for the person who shares my living space. After his release from the hospital, I went to www.mypyramid.gov and looked up the daily requirements for my husband’s diet, something I probably should have done sooner. But in my defense, would he have paid attention? I doubt it. Our schedules are quite varied and we don’t often get regular mealtimes together throughout the month. He looked interestingly at the food guideline sheet I was holding under his nose.

“I don’t think three cups of vegetables in a week is too much to ask,” he said.

“That’s three cups a day,” I reminded.

His face fell.

Baby steps.

While preparing breakfast Thursday, I forgot to take a photo, so you will have to take my word that I had one egg, one slice of toast, one teaspoon butter and a cup of tea. The rest of my meals are pictured, including a dessert of pie and ice cream at a friend’s house later in the evening.

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