Living Life Deliciously

Self-Care Through Food

BY BEATRICE A. TATEM, PH.D., LPC-S, NCC, ACS

SELF-CARE IS ALL THE BUZZ THESE DAYS AND I AM ALL about the buzz. I discuss self-care frequently with my clients, I suggest it to my friends, recommended it when consulting and try very hard to carry it out in my own life. In fact, I sometimes urge individuals to be intentional about self-care as though they are pouring into themselves all that is good for their mental, emotional, and physical health. What is self-care and what is the buzz about?

Today, self-care is one of the most important things we can all do for ourselves and yet it is not implemented enough. Some attribute the increased discussion of self-care as a result of those going outward to care for others at the expense of going inward to take care of themselves. In my opinion self-care is when the care for self is more than a commercialized or material purchase addressing outer surface needs. Self-care is internalized care that goes deep within touching the inner depths of our being. The concept of self-care, I believe should be more than a passing fad of what we put on our bodies but a lifestyle that includes what we put in our bodies. Self-care has been described as an intentional effort to create your own, physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual health. As I have indicated in previously written articles, I am a “foodie” or a person who loves good food. I enjoy all aspects of food, shopping for it, preparing it, creating dishes, and of course eating it. How and what we eat is significant to our overall wellness. A favorite, savored, well-cooked, nutritious dish has the power to connect with all of our senses while providing nourishment. Food as self care, put us in the mood of savoring life with the practice of self-care through what we eat, when connecting with others and how we relax. When we think of savoring-we think of food. We must savor every aspect of our lives …our mind, body and soul. I grew up in a family where food was important and often the center of family gatherings, celebratory times, and meaningful experiences. Measures were taken so as not to use food as a coping mechanism to deal with stress and anxiety nor as rewards or comfort. I had an aunt whose doctoral research and administrative leadership was in food and nutrition. As a youngster I traveled to areas of the country with her to deliver research findings on healthy eating particularly for children and those battling health issues. I developed an awareness of the benefits of nutrition as it related to physical health and appearance. It would be later in life through my own academic training that I would consider the relationship between nutrition and our mental and emotional health. It is to be noted I wrote this article from a personal place of interest and not as a nutritionist or one who has professional expertise and knowledge in this area. Considering what you eat and how it can affect your life is a personal choice that can make a big difference in your well-being, the way you approach your self-care and all your other cares. I encourage all to consider their nutritional health, to seek nutritional guidance and to take a trip to a local health store, I did recently and was like “Wow, I am coming back for a reset, to recharge, to rejuvenate and whenever I have the need to stop, focus and pour into myself.” Many of us have heard the adages “You are what you eat or an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” These are sayings that take in more than the physical body. In fact, research has shown the foods we intake affects mood, our memory, and our cognitive functioning. A balanced, varied diet can be an essential part of self-care as the food you eat impacts your overall health and well-being. Proper nutrition can play an important role in the management of daily stress and the long-term effects that stress can cause. It has been my experience when pouring into others, one must first fill themselves …it is hard to pour into others when your spirit is empty. My suggestion, fill yourself with happiness, feed your mind, body, and soul with nutritional eating such as fresh fruits and vegetables (green grapes are a personal favorite of mine), invest in good mental health care. You’re worth it. Boost your mood and energy levels with proper rest, adequate sleep, exercise, balanced meals, and meditation.

Time waits for no one. In this day when time seems to be going so fast, in situations that can feel stressful and are anxiety provoking it is helpful to slowdown, to take focus, to let go of challenges that serve as distractions from healthy relationships and moments to savor the goodness in life. I suspect if not all of us, most of us are guilty of failing to give ourselves that needed break or respite. With food as self-care may each us of us be mindful of what it means to really live. Let us live a deliciously healthy and happy life through self-care.

For more information on counseling and outreach services contact Dr. Beatrice Tatem at Wellness Initiatives, LLC, 2485 Tower Drive, Suite 10 Monroe, La 71201, 318-410-1555 or at btatem.bt@gmail.com.

by Natasha Trethewey

When we think of Hurricane Katrina, we think of New Orleans. The media’s fascination with the Big Easy resonated across our screens as we watched people stranded on rooftops, wading through rising water, drifting through the rubble of former homes. In this book, Natasha Trethewey pays homage to her hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi, another site ravaged by the same storm. Through a collection of voices blended with her own family testimony, Trethewey picks up the pieces of the lives affected by the wreckage, the people who nurtured her during childhood, the community that gives her strength. In a beautiful collection of interviews, city history, family pictures, letters, and her beloved poetry, Trethewey reassembles the pieces of the lives and history the flood waters came to wash away.

In one of the included poems, Trethewey writes:

“You can get there from here, though there’s no going home.

Everywhere you go will be somewhere you’ve never been.”

In returning home after the waters receded, Trethewey finds a community trying against all financial obstacles, to rebuild, to recover what had been lost, to put the pieces back together that don’t quite fit the same. In her community’s stories, she finds glimpses of hope, but also a harsh awareness of reality. She writes, “A preferred narrative is one of the common bonds between people in a time of crisis.” We see this locally, as after any natural disaster, T-shirts are printed with “Ruston Strong” or “Monroe Proud.” We focus on the positive, the way a community comes together in times of crisis, bonded by a shared experience that ruffles the edges of difference. But in those uplifting messages, struggle still remains. Trethewey’s mediation on the Gulf Coast is a testament to the power of community and the reality of recovery. As shown in the people’s testimonies, the memory of before and after can span decades or just until the next storm comes.

This mediation is intimate, heartbreaking, informative, and shows the resilience and spirit of the people who still call the Gulf Coast home. Trethewey was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Native Guard. A former Poet Laureate of Mississippi, Trethewey was named United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and 2013.

“Perhaps this is the most we can hope for: that as the memory of the hurricane fades into the background of our collective imagination, the worst experiences of it receding into the distance, Katrina may become, like Camille before it, a cautionary tale and marker of time - a way to link the narratives of our past to our ever-evolving future: Before and After.”

REVIEW BY MEREDITH MCKINNIE