“The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than discovery of a new star.” Anthelme Brillat-Savarin—

Food is a joyful part of holidays and life’s celebrations. But there are many small ways to find joy and happiness in food every day. All we have to do is take time to savor “food moments” each day.  For example, appreciate everything from creating a new recipe to sharing a cup of warm cocoa with a loved one, to joining friends and family at life’s celebration meals. Food is a source of daily joy that contributes much more to human happiness than we give it credit. To quote a famous foodie, the French epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, “The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.”

Here are five fun and easy ways to find joy in food.

1. Let Go of Expectations

Try a new recipe or add a new ingredient to a recipe that inspires you. Don’t worry whether your recipe ends up looking like the picture on the box or in the magazine. Enjoy the creative process and let it unfold.  Invite a few friends over for brunch and don’t obsess over the souffle. You’ll be amazed at how great the food tastes when you focus on friends, family, and good conversation.

2. Embrace Each Moment

Whether it’s cooking, or pretty much anything else in life, the best results come when we enjoy the moments along the way. Finding pleasure in food means taking the time to enjoy the cooking process and not just the end result. When you focus on the joy of each step of preparing food, the dish always tastes better in the end.

3. Keep It Simple

Sometimes the best dishes are those with the fewest ingredients. Sriracha, peppercorn, garlic, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon, are a few tasty yet simple ingredients that can add amazing flavor and zest to dozens of dishes. Enjoy the simple ways to add more taste and zest to foods you eat each day.

4. Make It Pretty

A few cinnamon sprinkles or a dollop of whipped cream can make even the most basic dishes more appetizing. Cooking and baking should embrace all the senses. A lit candle or pretty dish towels are simple, inexpensive ways to make your kitchen more inviting.

5. Share the Love

Food is always more enjoyable when it is shared.  Participating in potlucks, baking for a sick neighbor or donating food to a charity are simple ways to share food, joy, and a part of yourself with others.  When you pour your love into your food, others will enjoy it all the more too.

I hope you try a few of these ways to experience more joy in food each day!

Enjoy and Live Well with Zest!

Bev xo

The post 5 Ways to Find Joy in Food appeared first on Well with Zest.

“One kind word can warm three winter months.” Japanese Proverb–

One of my favorite Japanese proverbs goes, “One kind word can warm three winter months.” We know kind words can have a lasting impact. But kind words can do much more—they can affect a person’s entire life without our even knowing it. The proverb should probably go, “One kind word can warm the coldest nights for an entire life”.

Kindness Matters

Kindness really matters. It is at the heart of what we need to live happier lives and to make the world a better place.  Kindness invokes positivity in one person that can spread to others like wildflowers. Philosophically, kindness is like an energy or “angel dust” that can ignite positivity and progress across the entire planet. Scientifically there are physical and mental benefits we gain from small acts of kindness.

5 Physical and Mental Benefits of Kindness

1. Ease Anxiety

Feeling anxious is something we all face from time to time. But chronic anxiety is debilitating and needs to be managed. One way to help reduce anxiety is by providing inspiration and motivation to others through intentional acts of kindness. Next time you are feeling anxious, do something nice for someone and see how your mood changes from worry to happy.

2. Illness Prevention

Inflammation is associated with a variety of chronic health problems including cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, migraines, and obesity and many more health problems. In a recent study comprised of adults between the ages of 57 and 85, volunteering equated to lower inflammation levels due to the release of oxytocin (a social bonding hormone) in the body. When we intentionally do something kind for others, such as volunteering for a charity, we are releasing chemicals that can ease inflammation in our own bodies. The power of kindness is one of the keys to living a happier and healthier life–and a more socially engaged life.

3. Longer Life

People who do not maintain a strong network of relatives and friends have a higher risk of heart disease. Kindness is key to developing and maintaining meaningful close relationships with friends, family, community and colleagues. Feeling connected to people we care about gives us purpose and is an essential ingredient to living a happy, healthy life. Being kind and staying connected helps us live longer.

4. Stress Reduction

Many of us are looking for ways to reduce stress in our fast-paced, hyperconnected, but yet more isolated lives. When we choose to do something kind, we turn off the stressful routines playing in our brains and turn on pro social routines that reduce emotional stress. Choosing kindness adds peace and calm and reduces the stress and inflammation in our bodies that makes us sick. A worthwhile goal in daily our lives is to make kindness virtually second nature in our interactions with others–in other words have kindness become a way of life for us. This will be good for our physical and mental health!

5. Kindness Spreads Wellness

When we give kindness, it spreads. It not only helps us live well with zest, it helps our circle of friends and countless other people live healthier happier lives. Spread kindness like wildflowers to improve your health and help improve lives across the whole planet.

Be Kind and Live Well with Zest!

Bev xo

Written by Bev Hope

Reviewed by Board Certified MD

The post Spread Kindness Like Wildflowers! appeared first on Well with Zest.

There’s some debate about this quote: the where, when, and who of it. The quote sounds like something Shaw would say, but it also reminds me of Eliza Doolittle, Shaw’s fictional character from Pygmalion (1912), and also in the musical spin-off, My Fair Lady (1956). I’ve always loved My Fair Lady because Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses and she played Eliza perfectly. But it’s also one of my favorites because Eliza’s story is so universal–it’s the iconic journey of self-transformation. I’ve always been inspired by people, whether real or fictional, who have radically re-defined themselves, overcome extreme challenges and difficulties, moved past self-doubt or limiting beliefs, to achieve their dreams and find immense joy.

Lessons from Pygmalion: Create Yourself!

Long before there was George Bernard Shaw’s Cockney flower girl turned into a Fair Lady, there was the original Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor, who carved the perfect woman out of stone. He named her Galatea, and then he fell so deeply in love with his creation that he begged the Greek goddess Aphrodite to give her life. Myths are stories that teach us universal lessons. Pygmalion teaches us we are all a work in process, we are creating our own Galatea. It’s up to us to sculpt ourselves and to love ourselves. We are our own creation to love!

Every day, we have decisions to make about who we are creating. We can allow the tragedies of life (deaths, loss, illness, disappointments all kinds) to harden us and turn us into cold stone. Or, we can follow the old adages and choose to live a vibrant full life:I can allow the tragedies of life harden me and make me into stone. Or I can Create My Dreams… Live Well with Zest!

• Create Your Dreams!
• Live Your Dreams!
• Be You!

For me, Shaw’s quote is a reminder to wake up every day and choose how we sculpt our own lives, how we create ourselves. It’s up to us to make the choices that will help us become our best self and live our best life. 

Be You! And Live Well with Zest!

Bev

xo

Written by Bev Hope

The post Be You! – Choose to Live Your Best Life appeared first on Well with Zest.