Reading Time: 3 minutesEating represents a lot in human culture. The practices and traditions we have around food can do everything from give us energy, make us happy, connect us to our community, even define who we are. It’s no wonder that the food part of the Whole Life Challenge brings up so much emotion in people, both anxiety and excitement for what’s possible.
Given just how important eating is, it’s amazing what short shrift it gets in modern life. We do it standing up, settle for fast food, “grab a bite” when we have time, and answer emails while we eat. It’s never a surprise to see someone triple-tasking – eating, while trying to be with someone at the table, all the while texting someone else between bites and live conversation.
It can’t come as a surprise, our state of health. As a culture of “progress” we’ve largely disconnected from that which nourishes our body and our soul. We make time for it, do it in passing, sometimes even as an afterthought. And we’re paying the price.
It’s time to pay more attention to eating. Not just what we eat, but how we eat. How we choose, what we choose, and how our choices affect not just us, but the world around us. Because it’s become impossible to ignore how our choices have a direct impact on the world around us – our productivity, our bodies, our spirit, and our planet.
During this Challenge you will not simply change your “diet.” You will explore your whole relationship with food, with your community, and with yourself. You will change what you eat not because someone told you or because it’s a fad, but because it fits your life. It fits all of your needs, big and small.
It’s time to start gathering around food again to connect, to nourish, and to celebrate.
Your Lifestyle Practice Is Practicing Conscious Meals
Leave your cell phones, tablets and computers off during all meals.
Every day, you will earn your Lifestyle Practice points for not using your cellphone or computer during means.
- You must complete the challenge for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to get credit for the day (or for any of these 3 main meals you eat)
- No matter the length of the meal (even a 10 minute lunch), you must leave those pieces of technology out of it
- This means phone calls, texts, email, google, videos, and social media – for work or for play
- This does not apply to snacks or eating food between meals (e.g., you can snack on nuts while you are on a phone call or surfing the web)
Enjoy your meals! Enjoy the people you are eating with! Use this time to connect with yourself, your food, and your world.
“Technology made it easy for us to stay in touch while keeping a distance, ’til we just stayed distant and never touched.” – Sage Francis
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
