I was overweight. I had gained 20 pounds in 5 years and I needed to figure out why. Of course, the obvious reason was that I was eating more, especially carbs, all the comfort foods that cause weight gain, and I wasn’t as active as I used to be. But why was I eating more and moving less?

 

I realized there are times we try to fill up holes in our soul with food.

 

We satisfy our hunger temporarily, but the holes linger, or get bigger. I needed to find a way to find joy in my life so that I would stop eating so much and motivate myself to be more energetic.

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I pressed myself to name a few of the emotional needs we all experience to some degree: the hunger for human connection, love, passion, purpose, adventure, or inspiration. We need to feel whole, we need rest, restoration, movement, exercise, and freedom. We need to be grateful for health, physical well-being, the love of others. We crave certainty, harmony, and peace.

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Hunger is often that little itch that keeps you from being fully anything. So, I challenged myself to come up with my own personal recipes, comfort “foods” for the soul that take care of these itches and again, I (with my spiritual megaphone) challenge you to make them your own.”

– Deepa Thomas