Emotionally Eating Cucumbers

Yes, I have stood in the kitchen and eaten an entire cucumber, not hungry at all. I was out of corn chips; those are even more fun to emotionally eat. Sure the cucumber was not going to harm my body in its purest sense of being a healthy and cleansing food. Yet, when food is going into our body it is taking on our emotions, our feelings.

If we eat while a baby is crying or people are fighting, our digestion and our cells feel that distress. That cucumber eaten while I am hungry and happy is going to please my body and allow it to fully utilize all the good stuff in it. It feels so good to actually eat when we are hungry, because we are satisfying our body. A healthy satisfaction!

There are times when I get so upset with the kids, and then at myself for my lack of patience and inability to redirect the chaos that I go marching right to the rice crackers. They crunch and when I'm mad at myself I like to crunch. I could stand there and eat a whole package if I didn't have to share with my kids! As I eat them I am stuffing down the feelings that have come up. Crunching the cucumber or the crackers, the point is it's not about the food. What am I feeling?

Where am I overwhelmed and how can I find another way? Sometimes the simplest way is just to stop. To let go. To sit down and breathe. To stop talking and stop the little voice in your head from talking. By just listening and being still.

I am trying to do this more often to substitute for the moments when yelling or rice crackers are the first options. It is amazing to be in the middle of fighting kids and just stop. And listen. And disconnect. And allow them to work it out. Remove the extra voice, the frustration. Instead of the crackers, to just sit and let it be.

Today I ate my lunch with chopsticks. A great trick to slow down and really notice your food. The kids love it too. And the plate is one of three thirifted plates I found for $.99. (More on this later, but we are committing as a family to spending much less and consuming less which means some great thrifting is taking place for the Holidays.)

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Healing Chickpeas and Marinated Green Beans

We've been a bit under the weather around here lately and I'm trying to add in lots of garlic and cinnamon (super healers)! This gentle meal does just that. I made the green beans the night before so they are nice and saturated with the marinade. The chickpeas are great hot out of the pan.

Healing Chickpeas

1 can organic chickpeas, rinsed and dried on towel 2 Tb olive oil or coconut oil 1/4 tsp each of dried basil, parsley, garlic powder, cinnamon and salt squeeze of lemon or dash of umeboshi vinegar

Heat oil and spices for a minute or two. Add chickpeas and saute until slightly crispy, about 10 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon or dash of umeboshi and serve.

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Marinated Green Beans

2 handfuls or green beans, stem removed, and broken into 1-2 inch pieces 1Tb olive oil 1 Tb apple cider vinegar 1 garlic clove, finely chopped sea salt

Mix the oil, vinegar, garlic and salt together and dress the green beans. Store in fridge overnight and enjoy.