Ahna,
Thanks for words!
Couple questions: Why do you eat at all?
What does food do for you?
is it to just sustain existence or help you live a more meaningful one?
And first off, I empathize about the apathetic eating. I'm not a consistent eater at times. I can go 13 hours straight without eating and then feel woozy when I move my body or workout or try to get myself going in the work flow of life.
The moment to moment awareness of why eating nutritious and healthy aligns with my values *(I'm 80/20 plant-based), I eat with an awareness that whatever I eat must not have suffered in an undignified way is how I've transitioned to caring about eating more.
That said, I accidentally fast without even trying... lol when I get carried away working or typing or living.
Awareness of building healthier eating habits allows me to live in accordance with my values because without habits and discipline, I cannot begin to stop the suffering that not eating creates.
Does that make sense?
In some ways, spending time preparing and eating seems like a waste of time but then when I sit down and look at my core values (some of mine are joy, compassion, humor, competitiveness- in a push myself to grow by competing against my former self kind of way- and curiosity) I realize that food is integral to how I live out these core values.
If I'm not aware of how food sustains these core values, I suffer.
Then I go down a rabbit hole:
Do I want my mind and body to suffer for a lack of nutrition and sustenance? Is the suffering improving the quality of my life or am I mindlessly suffering because I refuse to live in accordance with North Stars of values and habits?
If I'm hangry, I'm not living in joy. If I'm dizzy or low in energy, I can't be curious or push my body to grow and be healthy as I get older. If I eat animals that have suffered greatly, is there compassion there?
If we treat food or nutrition as way to exist more meaningfully (in the meantime) by living with our most meaningful values, it is no doubt a better version of me.
