veggies from my friend marcus’s organic farm
Growing up I couldn’t leave the table unless I ate all my vegetables. This set up a dynamic where I had to abandon my body and its knowing in order to maintain a comfortable connection with my parents. If I listened to my body, things didn’t go well relationally. So, to do it very differently and trust my children around food is awesome, and it’s also hard.
Sometimes, I think they need more of something or less of something and I notice how I’ll try to control them. I then catch myself and come back to the question “what if trusted their little bodies?” And, since my kids are actually in their bodies, it’s easier. When kids are living in a trauma state or unsafe environment, they are not in their bodies, therefore they don’t trust their bodies.
Our kids are now eating greens more than ever not because we told them they “should” or “have to” but because my wife and I eat them all the time and our bodies like them. I continue to aspire to have my kids to trust themselves in an over-sugarized, over-processed-food culture. The irony, is that nearly 40 years later, I’m still learning to trust my own body around food.
So, once again, my kids are giving me the opportunity to heal my relationship to food and nourishment at a deeper level.
Me = student.
When it comes to food, we are all listening.
Leave A Response