I wrote last week about food as medicine, and how we should eat for nourishment. The next day, I got a phone call from my mother.
“I love that word, nourish. It’s one of those words that sounds like what it is. You just feel warm and comfortable when you say it.”
She’s right. I’ve been playing with the concept of nourishment myself over the past year, but couldn’t quite clarify what it was that I loved so much about the concept.
Nourish.
It sounds like home. It sounds like healing, like comfort, like warmth. Like a cozy sweater. Like something that makes you feel better – be better – live better – after you do it. Something can nourish your body, nourish your mind, nourish your spirit. Nourishment seems to be the essence of healing.
I love this concept of nourishment, and want to weave it into all the elements of my life this year.
Can you see a difference between eating something “healthy” and eating something “nourishing”? Which seems more appealing?
Are there activities that you do in your daily life which are “healthy”, and others which “nourish” you?
I’m not saying that something has to be either healthy OR nourishing. In fact, most if not all truly nourishing things are healthy for us.
But perhaps everything we do because we think it’s healthy, is not actually nourishing?
Would love to hear your thoughts on this concept. How do you incorporate nourishment into your life?
To me, the word nourish encapsulates the feeding of the soul, not just the body. That’s why eating just a tarte citron for lunch, with a capuccino, as I did today, is fine because that’s what I craved and I felt better for it. Tomorrow I may have a salad for lunch and I’ll feel nourished for that too.
Thanks Thursday, it’s great that you’re in tune with what your body wants, I think that’s such an important part of feeling nourished! So many people are just on auto-pilot…
I love this post, and the distinction between “nourishing” and “healthy”…somehow “healthy” has a connotation that it must also be unenjoyable, whereas nourish is such a positive word! I like the idea that a salad and a delicious dessert can both be nourishing, since I fully believe that they both have important roles in our lives. Thanks for writing this – it’s good food for thought
Alissa, I totally agree – when I describe something as ‘healthy’ so many people are turned off – so maybe we need to change our language!
Wow. My great-grandmother had that exact same silverware. What a warm and fuzzy feeling your picture gave me, even before I read the post! Completely agree with your mother’s analysis of the word nourish, it’s a great one. Very whole in the mouth and comforting.