I’ve actually been eating again for 15 days now. I neglected to post right after the cleanse ended, but I wanted to take some time to see how my body re-acclimated to food. It’s done quite well. While on the cleanse I lost over 20 lbs. I expected to put some of that back on, but it ended up being only about 2 lbs (which part of could just be the actual food in my system).
I felt pretty good the whole time, but really just wanted something to eat. I wouldn’t say I was hungry, I just felt the need to taste something – for some texture! In the wake of all that, too, I’ve learned what other roles food really plays in my life and the lives of people close to me. I’ve also learned that I’m OK with that as long as it’s handled healthfully.
By its very definition food is any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc. I would argue that the aforementioned life, energy, and growth refer to not only to the physical but rather to one’s very being or soul. Food is a way for people to show love, extend hospitality and care for others. It’s a binding tie that holds even closer those who are already close. Our connection to food may even hold even hold in it a spark of the divine nature to create.
Someone very dear to me wrote:
The components of creation.
Food keeps more than my body alive and my stomach full. From raw material to finished meal part of my soul is filled – spirit refreshed; knowing that in the trials of our days and the angst of urban dwelling I can somehow connect to the earth, to the creation of my God. When I am daily surrounded by nothing more than man-made furniture and things, at least we can gather our family at the table around these meals.
My labor to encourage these foods into a cohesive meal is declared a success as we praise the Lord with our happy tongues and receptive bellies. It is, besides birth, my only connection now with such instinctual creation. There is sustenance but also something holy in cooking, farming, and birth – to inspire, conceive, grow, harvest, encourage, fix, serve, and praise; always turning back to the One who creates. For who am I to fill my own womb, my own stomach, my own spirit?
Food Before Thought 