Guest Post by a photographer who has discovered intuitive eating as a part of her creative journey.
Ahhhh, there is nothing like freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese to bring out the flavors of a pasta dish. Nothing like the bold red flavor of Amarone wine, to fill my senses and bring me to savor the moment. For two years I lived and tasted life in Italy: one moment, one dish, one city at a time. The whole experience of living abroad was a feast for the senses, teaching me things I never expected or dreamed.
I’m back in the States now, and I greatly miss living in Italy. I have found myself searching for that time again, through the flavors of the food I eat. I’ve discovered that no matter how hard I try, the smells and tastes are not the same. They may seem to transport me back briefly, but the food only serves as an aid in unearthing the memory. The experience is over and gone, no matter how I might try to recreate it through food.
Food has emotional power. It triggers memories, and we can find ourselves using food to help us tap into a feeling. The feelings could be the comfort of Grandma’s kitchen or the freedom of foreign travel. When we use food this way, we aren’t eating to nourish and energize our bodies. We don’t trigger food memories because we are physically hungry, but because we are hungry in our soul. Is there another way to trigger those memories, those feelings, without turning to food?
I’ve found there is. As a photographer, I’m a visual person. I experience life as much through my eyes as any other sense. For me, a carefully chosen image can trigger the memory and the emotion just as strongly as tasting or smelling food can. The image above is a great example – a compilation of my favorite flavors from Italy, captured in my Italian kitchen. Looking at this photograph brings back the time and the place, the emotion; I don’t need to taste the food to experience it.
If you find yourself turning to food to evoke feelings or memories, see if you can evoke them another way. With my photographs, I’ve found a way to satiate my emotional hunger for Italy, which leaves me free to listen to my body’s real hunger signals and cravings. Which, I must admit, occasionally do include a good Italian cheese or wine.
For more from this intuitive eater visit: kateyestudio.com
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Wonderful post. And seriously, I LOVE THAT IMAGE!!
I say I’m a cerealaholic, I love milk, cheese. Just rediscovered half-and-half, a little (too much) with the skim milk with my cereal. I have made the conscious decision to no longer buy half-and-half for the obvious health reason.
I sometimes wonder if emotional eating or addiction is my problem. I just love to eat, sometimes things I wouldn’t normally eat because that’s all that is available.
This post is an eye opener! I’m going to give it a try.
Good luck giving it a try, let us know how it goes!