Eating, Drinking, Overthinking
from depleted to calm • my little blue notebook • 4th of July recipes
Eating, Drinking, Overthinking
Our food relationship reflects what’s going on inside—calm or chaotic, mindful or mind-less, kind and loving or the opposite. It should come as no surprise that an out of balance life leads to out of balance behaviors, eating for example.
Early in my recovery I spent a lot of time reading books at libraries and there was one that almost did jump off the shelf, Eating, Drinking, Overthinking; The Toxic Triangle of Food, Alcohol, and Depression by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, who has sadly passed away or we surely would have spoken. The title was even longer, the end after a big dash being, How Women Can Break Free, but the book wasn’t effective at that bit or I would have been cured back in 2006. Nevertheless, she clarified the connection between disordered eating, alcohol use, OVER THINKING, and less than ideal mental health. You mean my never-good-enough overdrive might not be permanent? I took it with hope and kept moving forward.
From Depleted to Calm
Meditation was not for me. Who has the time? I’m sure was my first thought. I couldn’t see getting up any earlier than I already had to in order to get the kids ready for day care and hop on that first call by 9 a.m. usually from the car, continued while walking into the office, phone by my ear.
About 10 years after those days, I did start, but I didn’t call it meditation. A friend had given me The Artist’s Way when I moved to Montana and a few years later I decided to give it a try. I got up at 6 and began doing “morning pages.” I wrote about it awhile ago and to this day (10 years!) I jump out of bed early in the morning to get my double cappuccino with half and half (Nespresso, nothing fancy), my candle, journal, and fountain pen.
This time evolved from primarily self-reflection to more nourishment, reading beautiful words (Henri Nouwen, Mary Oliver, Makoto Fujimura, John O’Donohue (thank you, Shannon
!), stuff like that) which has added another level of beauty and peacefulness to my life. All of it has helped me move from an overwhelmed and anxious state to near calm (I am still me after all—ha! As my husband teases, “it’s just your personality.”)My Little Blue Notebook
I’m a tracker. I like writing things down. But I gave it up when I started not dieting, because of all the Weight Watcher tracker sheets in my past with their little boxes to check as you used up your breads, milk, fruit, protein, and “20 bonus points” for the week (weee! that’s about 3 glasses of wine and a whole banana instead of half—not that I ever spent bonus points on a banana, let’s get real.) But a few years in I realized that I missed the practice of having a goal, setting my intention, tracking, that kind of thing. So when I entered what I call the “feel better in my body phase” of all this, I decided to track, but differently:
Somehow I learned of Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) losing 50 pounds which made me kind of envious. Since she was so sensible about it, I took a few notes and didn’t change a thing but my perspective.
Happy Fourth of July
Here are my favorite July 4th recipes on RiPE in the Holiday Collection. I've got recipes for potato salads, kale salads, watermelon salads, ice creams, pies, galettes, hand pies, and cobblers. (Not many main dishes, because, aren’t you having brats or hot dogs??)
What are you making? Might I suggest the cherry galette pictured above? Or go all in and make a peach and blueberry pie like I’m planning to do on Thursday. Here’s the fior di latte gelato you definitely need.
Fix Your Food Relationship in 2025!
Do you want to learn to live—and eat— like someone who can “just enjoy it” and not have to think about it all the time? Like that fantasy French woman with her wine and her chocolate? I have good news for you! It’s possible!
The thing is, how we are with food isn’t really about the food. Nor is it the eating or not eating or being weird with food in some secret way. How we are with food is a reflection of something deeper—how we live our lives, the choices we make on a daily basis…and the consequences of those choices. Here at About Love & Cookies I share everything about my food relationship, the good, the bad, and the course correction I’ve been on for the past 22 years. Why do I do it? Love. And because we’re so confused about what’s “healthy.”
Join me each Monday as we learn to nourish ourselves well and live more real, true, and connected lives.
Today we’re at week 25; if you’re new here or have some catching up to do, check out the About Love & Cookies archive. Jump around to what interests you, there’s nothing linear other than the first few weeks where I reviewed the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating.
Thank you so much for being here. Be kind. Eat well.
