Why is your skin so nice?”
A woman I work with asked me this recently.
The question caught me off guard. I couldn’t think of anything special I did that would explain it.
Later, her words came back to me. I had noticed that she sometimes struggled with breakouts. Perhaps she was asking out of concern about her own skin. I couldn’t know, but her question stayed with me.
Then another thought followed.
Could what I eat and drink have something to do with it?
Of course, food alone couldn’t explain the differences between our skin. I wasn’t about to conclude that my meals were responsible for mine, or that she had been eating the wrong things.
Still, her question made me look more closely at my everyday meals.
What Have I Been Eating?
Ask me what I had for lunch yesterday, and I might need a moment.
On busy days, I remember eating, but barely remember the meal. Coffee gets me through the morning. Lunch is whatever is convenient. By evening, I’m hungry enough to reach for whatever is nearby.
Yet I can spend quite a while choosing something to put on my skin.
Have I given the things I eat every day the same attention?
It seemed like a fair question to ask myself.
I Still Want to Enjoy My Food
I love food.
I enjoy crusty bread dipped in olive oil and the comfort of a warm bowl of soup. Sometimes, something sweet is exactly what I want.
That’s where eating well starts to feel complicated.
Cut back on sugar. Use less salt. One day, a food is praised; another day, someone tells you to avoid it. Sometimes I leave the grocery store with more questions than I brought in.
I don’t want every meal to feel like a test. I want to enjoy what I eat and feel comfortable with my choices afterward.
To do that, I need a better sense of what matters to me.
First, I Want to Notice My Habits
Before planning a whole new diet, I want to pay attention to what I already do.
Do I want coffee, or am I craving something sweet? Am I hungry, or looking for something to snack on because work has been frustrating? Am I still enjoying the food, or finishing it because I hate to waste it?
There may be reasons behind habits I’ve never stopped to question.
I want to bring that curiosity to the grocery store, too. What goes into the sauce I always buy? What ingredients are behind the packaging that looks so wholesome?
I might read the label and choose the same product anyway.
But I’d like to understand why I chose it.
The Answer I Didn’t Have
If my coworker asked me again, I still wouldn’t have a clear explanation.
But I could tell her this:
“Your question made me think about what I eat.”
I hadn’t found an answer for her. Instead, I’d found a question for myself.
How well do I know my body, and how much attention do I give it?
Today, I’ll probably choose something familiar for lunch.
Before I eat, though, I’d like to pause for a moment. What am I in the mood for? And what would help me take care of myself today?
That’s where my thoughts about food begin.
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