„Eating according to measure and in holiness sanctifies the person and…”
„Eating according to measure and in holiness sanctifies the person and the world, and gladdens life. But sadness leads one to eat beyond measure, and the eating turns into heaviness, into irritability and despair, and the clarifications fall into a depth of abyss darker than they were before, and the soul becomes saddened.”From Pinkas HaDapim III, 31
About a hundred years ago, Rav Kook wrote about what is today called emotional eating. Alongside the healthy and unhealthy food that we put into our body, there is also the approach to food that turns the food we eat into life or into death within our body.
When we eat in measure, and relate to food with holiness and respect—preparing ourselves for the meal, for the blessing, for thanksgiving over the good, and eating in tranquility—it adds good to our life, satisfies us, and heals us. But when we eat from an unhealthy place, out of distress, out of sadness, out of frustration—the food we eat turns into an enemy.
Studies of recent years have discovered that in emotional eating there is a high secretion of insulin, which at the end of the process causes fat to accumulate in our body. Alongside bad food, the negative emotions are enemies of the body.
Toward your next diet, it is worth preparing a supply of good mood, tranquility, and eating in holiness...
***
Special update: Mishpetei HaRav Kook—now on WhatsApp too. To receive a daily message, click here:
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.