Tuesday August 11, 2020
Jeannie MacDonald Stromgren
Nourish
After graduating from college, I lived in a cheap starter apartment in Boston, which had pink appliances from the 1960s. It wasn’t only the stove’s Pepto-Bismol color that acted as a cooking repellent. I just didn’t have time. I was busy living my Mary Richards dream: working as a writer-producer at the CBS affiliate, slaving over a hot IBM Selectric, generating ratings-bait copy to promote our version of Ted Baxter.
Many a night after work, I would step off the trolley and hit the 7-Eleven near home to grab a pint of Haagen Dazs. Not for dessert, mind you. For dinner. That’s if I didn’t grab a can of chocolate frosting instead. Clearly, nutrition was not my #1 priority. Because really, what’s the point of assembling food groups when the only prep ice cream requires is a spoon? (Can I get an “amen”?)
Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I gained 10 pounds on my all-butterfat diet. A few months into it, tired of being sugar-buzzed and cranky, I began craving salad and grilled vegetables. Fresh foods. Whole foods. Actual nourishment, which in my case, became the gateway drug to getting healthier in other ways. I started running. The weight dropped off. I sang in a church choir. My work-life balance improved.
It’s a slippery slope, when you feed the part of you that longs for something real. Soon, you’ll yearn to raise your standards in relationships. You’ll want to do the right thing, instead of defaulting to the easy thing. You’ll demand more of yourself. You’ll pay attention to that little voice that says it’s time to pursue meaning in your life, purpose in your work. When you live an authentic life, your spirit will naturally align with your intentions, because as writer Shawn Hubler puts it, “The soul gravitates to the genuine.”
Eventually, I learned to cook and now I love it. In fact, my favorite thing to do is to invite our family and friends to dinner. I prioritize the time it takes to create homemade meals (and always, a choice of two desserts – that sweet tooth of my youth didn’t vanish completely). I relish the sound of a table of people erupting in laughter, or going quiet as someone shares their story. I am grateful that, in learning how to nourish my body, I discovered how to feed my heart’s deepest desires as well