11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
Why am I writing about this topic? I learned that when we grieve we gravitate to the junk food we grew use to eating as a child when we were sad. Remember those times when you came in door crying because of a scrape and your mom would wipe those sad eyes before giving you a cookie to make you feel better? You learned that feeling good was only a cookie away. The problem with this logic is that every time you hurt you eat something sweet which spirals into a weight problem. As we enter our season of mourning there is the real possibility that unless we are consciously aware of it our weight will go up and as it goes up the more lethargic we will become and the less productive our lives will be and the more depressed we will be.
Shortly after losing our daughter one of the first things the Chaplain told us was to make sure we continue drinking water. At first, I thought this was a strange thing for him to say. I mean he could have said to seek help and support when we hurt, but to say we should drink a lot of water seemed odd. As I reflected on that statement I soon learn that water is a essential life giving ingredient that keeps our bodies healthy. The Chaplain understood that we still had a family to raise, careers to maintain, and bills to pay and he understood that any breakdown in our daily intake of water could jeopardize those things.
I found that it is in the initial period of the shock of our loss that we want to just give up. We sleep way too much because its the only thing that allows us to escape the pain we are in. Sleep allows us to travel back in time to a period when our loved one was alive. Sleep becomes our solace and we want that in our lives. When we are awake we eat for comfort.
We are drawn to the sweet cookies, pastries, high sodium chips, pizzas or any other thing we remember eating as a kid when overwhelming feelings of sadness consumed us
There were three things this speaker said in his presentation on food: (1) people who lived a long time ago would never recognize what we are eating as food, (2) When a Swiss born pastry chef moved to America she was told to add more sugar to her recipes because 'American's like their pastries sweet. Lastly, he said that when Japanese tourists come to America and sit down to American size meal portion sizes their eyes light up because they were never use to these sizes in Japan.
From this video you soon see that there is a relationship between what our bodies consume and our ability to feel healthy. The better you are able to feel from a health stand point the better you will be able to process the painful feelings of grief that are consuming you. Everyone should maintain a pattern of exercise, whether it is a simple walk around the block, or working out at a health club. It doesn't really matter because as long as you keep moving you will be consuming calories.
Finally, please remember that the feelings that are presently consuming you following your loss are your normal feelings for the love you felt for the person you lost. Those feelings are temporary. Things will get better, but on a timetable that is as unique as the love you had for the person who died.
In the meanwhile, continue your daily requirements of water, make healthier food choices, and include a daily dose of exercise to your regimen. Lastly, tell your story over and over to trusted listeners as often as you need to because it will allow you to process those emotions that are bottling up inside you.
Water will sustain you. Proper food choices will maintain you. Exercise and talking about your loss will allow you to expel the stress hormones that are trapped inside.
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