The 5 Purposes of Food

When you think about the purpose of food, what first comes to mind? Often, what I see is we first think about the nutritional aspects of food. Which, of course, is a purpose of food. But, so often we just stop there. One of the things I teach my clients is to think about food and all of its purposes. Because food is so much more than just the physical nutrition benefit it gives us.

Why is this so important? When you only think about the nutritional aspect of food, which is what our culture stresses so heavily, you miss out on all of the other benefits. When your only criteria for when and what to eat is coming from a belief that food is just about the nutrition it gives us, you’re going to feel guilty for eating for any other purpose, right?

But, as we’ll talk about here, food is so much more than just being for the purpose of providing nutrition. There are also the purposes of community, practicality, tradition/culture, and pleasure. Let’s talk about each of these a little more.

COMMUNITY

Food brings us together. There’s something about sitting at a table and eating together. It bonds us. It slows us down. It facilitates talking. Community is such a big part of food. It’s such a FUN part of food.

So, what this could look like is going out and eating with friends even if you’re not super hungry. Or, going out and ordering a burger & fries because everyone else is and it sounds good… even if it isn’t the “healthiest” option.

PRACTICALITY

Sometimes we need to eat for just the practical reason that we have to eat. So, what this may look like is making your family an already cooked frozen meal or even eating a protein bar on the go even if it’s not what you’re craving. Sometimes we choose to eat something just because we need to and we have x,y,z available.

You’ve heard me talk about satisfaction with eating and how important it is, but let’s be real here… sometimes we’re hungry and need to eat and we actually DON’T have anything super satisfying on hand and the best thing is to just eat SOMETHING. So, sometimes, food is just for the purpose of practically eating something, even if it’s not the most satisfying.

TRADITION/CULTURE

Food also has a lot of culture and tradition associated with it. For probably all of us, we have certain foods and dishes that we grew up eating that are special to our own culture. Based on where you live you have certain foods that have a cultural purpose to them. Holidays usually have specific foods associated with them. So, another big purpose of food is the tradition of it and the culture of it.

PLEASURE

Lastly, pleasure. Food gives us pleasure. Eating is FUN! And it is good to enjoy food. This is something I think our culture does the worst job at giving us permission with. We’re made to believe that if we enjoy eating something and it’s not the healthiest option that we’re bad. But pleasure is such an important part of eating… even if what we’re eating isn’t the healthiest option.

This is why I teach so much on food needing to be satisfying. If you aren’t enjoying what you’re eating, healthy or not, you’re going to have a pretty crummy relationship with food.

What this may look like is adding a yummy sauce to what you’re eating or having a bowl of ice cream after dinner…even though you’re not exactly hungry… because it’s just GOOD.

It’s ok to enjoy food. Pleasure is a big purpose that comes with eating.

When you embody the belief that food has these five purposes, you’ll notice a big shift in your relationship with food. So often, when I’m working with a client on not feeling so much guilt with eating something, when we talk about the 5 purposes of food she’s able to give herself permission to eat something that’s not necessarily healthy nutritionally and not feel guilty. Because, again, food and eating has more than one purpose. And getting rid of guilt with eating will help you feel more at peace around food. And being at peace with food helps you make decisions about how to eat from a place of empowerment and confidence.

Action step:

So, to give you a little action step to start to apply the concept of the 5 purposes of food and eating, here’s what you can do. Every time you sit down to eat, ask yourself… “What purpose does this food have for me right now?” And go through each of the five and see where it fits.

Listen to the episode on Apple, Spotify, or Google

Ready to work with a coach on your relationship with food? Learn more about my signature coaching program HERE.