from the EDITOR
Ihave a friend, we’ll call her Zelda. In addition to being friends, we also work together occasionally, not on this magazine, and have irregular meetings over coffee when the need arises. To give you a bit of background without describing her too recognisably, Zelda is quite fit, without being particularly muscular. She cycles a lot and also graces the stage in amateur dramatics at the same time as being mum to two active boys. Whatever she does, Zelda does with easy humour and is very easy to be around. That is not to say, of course, that she is without imperfections. I happen to know firsthand, for instance, that her forehand volley is a touch erratic. However, the reason I am mentioning Zelda here is not about her need to put in some practice at the net, but in relation to one of her quirks when we are sharing a coffee.
When we are working in a cafe and she asks for her soy latté, Zelda will have scanned the fare on offer and will add a muffin, or perhaps a biscotti if she is feeling continental, to her order. There’s nothing exceptional in that, but what is noteworthy is that without fail, after finishing her sweet treat, she will sigh ruefully and say, “That’s another five minutes on the treadmill.”
There is a flippancy in the remark, but it also points to the vexed relationship that we often have with food. Zelda clearly enjoys her sweets when she has a coffee, but simultaneously, she feels guilty about it. That is a problematic dynamic and it is very relevant to the Christmas season.
At Christmas we gather together with friends and family over food. Usually someone has cooked a sizeable meal, or everyone has contributed a dish and everybody tucks in, buoyed by the goodwill and the knowledge that they won’t have to squeeze into work pants the next day. But just as Zelda is conflicted about her biscotti, many of us feel guilt, shame and even distress that we have eaten too much after Christmas feasting.
On a biological level, that is a real issue. When you stress or worry, you switch on the sympathetic part of your nervous system and you shut down the part that governs your digestion. So your worry over what you have eaten literally makes it more difficult for your body to digest it. It is a psychological issue too, because it reflects the social pressures we feel around body image and the reality that our relationship with food is often imbalanced.
I’m not in any way suggesting we should be thoughtless gluttons when it comes to food. Nor am I implying that we should be eating sweet and fatty foods without conscience. What is important, however, is that you let yourself enjoy your food, because that allows you to get the most nutritionally from it as well as leaving you in a cleaner emotional state. Yes, make smart choices about your food, but occasionally have a food just because you want to and, having made that choice, revel in it.
As with food, so with life. Guilt is an unproductive emotion. Do what you do with a full heart and then deal with the consequences with equal openness and gusto.