Rant of the Week

When I work, I work. When I eat, I eat. It isn't too often that I work and eat simultaneously. I once commented to a former co-worker that when I eat, I really take the time to enjoy my food and that I make it a point not to work while eating or do activities that distract me from eating. Eating time is eating time. She laughed at me and said, "You must cook really interesting foods." She missed the point but to be fair, I couldn't articulate what I feel about food which is that it gives me such immense joy. I like the smells, flavors, and looks to name a few.

For example, in the mornings I like to eat oatmeal with milk, a little brown sugar, and flax meal. Sometimes I throw in a banana or blueberries. When I wake up, I can't wait to eat this breakfast. I try to motivate myself to get up, get my work out out of the way, in anticipation of the first bite. Sometimes I skip my work out.

The 2.5 minutes that it takes for my oats to cook in the microwave can't go by fast enough for me. I'm a like a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse but with infinitely less patience. I stir in my flax meal and brown sugar, and seat myself at the table. I close my eyes, place my hands around the bowl, taking in its warmth, while my face becomes little dewy from the steam of the milk. I open my eyes to see those nutty little oats poking through the frothy white surface. The mild scent of brown sugar tingles my nose while the hairs on the back of my neck stand as the the sun lightly beats down on my back. And then I dig in and I relish every moment. I scrape down my bowl and lick the last tender morsel off my spoon. I am immensely satisfied but a little sad when I see the bottom of my bowl.

Ok, so I really love eating but this breakfast experience I've described is a 15 minute endeavor (including microwave time!). These few precious minutes set the tone for my day and my frame of mind. I won't give them up.

I wouldn't give them up at work either. I would get so irritated (for those that know me, also imagine lots of eye brow action) when co-workers brought their cell phones into the lunch room so that they could continue their work. I wanted to chuck those darn things out the window, not to mention the wall phone (in a kitchen?)! Do people talk while they're in the shower? When is work so important that you can't take 15-20 minutes to just sit, eat, and not talk shop?

I was so excited when I came across a passage (p. 8) in Natural Health, Natural Medicine that articulates my feelings toward eating. Andrew Weil says that our state of mind while eating dictates how well our bodies digest food. But he also talks about giving eating the attention it deserves, just as we do with any other activity.

Thoughts on this?

I'm a bit miffed at myself as I just realized that tomorrow morning I will not be having my delightful breakfast -- I ran out of milk today!