The Food and Relationship Connection

Most readers understand the overwhelmingly good feelings that correspond with finding a a special someone to love.  Even if one has been in a relationship for quite a while, he or she will surely remember the first few months after meeting his or her soul mate. Remember how falling for someone changes everything? Although seemingly cliche, it’s a fact that while falling love, colors seem brighter, life seems easier, and food tastes better (or one doesn’t need food at all).

New Partner, New Foods

Before I met my husband, my life didn’t revolve around Italian food; however, after marrying into an Italian family, everything changed. It became pasta night almost every night in my home.  The result of becoming intimate with Italian cuisine proved both good and bad.  First the bad – I gained 30 pounds in five years!  Next the good – I have become somewhat of an expert on Italian specialties made with excellent ingredients. If you click now, you will see some of these tasty choices.

Another example of how a relationship affects one’s eating habits revolves around my daughter and her boyfriend of six months.  Instead of falling for an Italian, she fell for a vegetarian.  Unlike her mother, who gained weight in a love relationship, she has actually lost 30 pounds as a result of adopting her boyfriend’s eating habits.

I suppose the lesson learned here is that no matter who one falls in love with, the relationship will certainly affect how one eats!

The Breakup Diet (or Binge)

Falling in love can also affect one’s eating habits once the relationship turns sour.  Sad to say, some love connections will ultimately fail.  In some cases, the person scorned may forgo eating for days, even weeks, resulting in loss of ten or even twenty pounds.  On the other hand, a man or woman may decide to turn to eating as a way to lessen the hurt of being rejected.  This can result in a weight gain of ten to twenty pounds.

The lesson learned here is that a breakup can sometimes wreak havoc on a person’s weight as much as falling in love does!

A Healthy Balance

A person’s health should be paramount, even trumping a love connection.  In my own case, I recently told my husband that I can no longer eat a plateful of pasta each night, and that we will be consuming more fresh fruits and vegetables from now on.  After all, my cholesterol has went from 173 to 240 in the time that we’ve been married, which shows that eating because of love may not always be healthy!

I ask you, the reader, to look at your own relationship and the food connection that you and your partner share. Maybe you have already struck a healthy balance, but maybe you both have been indulging a little too much (or not enough).  If you sense that your food choices have become unhealthy, take charge.  We both know that being in love need not make a person unhealthy!

Reader’s Comments

Any food and relationship advice?  If yes, leave a comment below.

 

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