Prayer for Preparing Food

Dear God,

I'm awfully lazy.  I spent most of my life cooking for other people.  It was an obligation.  It never even occurred to me to ask myself if I liked to cook or not.  I just did it.  Now that I only have myself to cook for I really don't know what to do with myself.  I actually would rather eat out for every meal.

The only problem with eating out at every meal is that I don't get nearly enough nutrition, I gain weight rapidly and it empties my pocketbook.  So I believe it's best that I prepare food for myself.

So, dear God, I ask you to help me willing to honor you and your creation - my body- by mindfully and gratefully and peacefully and cheerfully prepare the food for myself - to nurture and please myself for no other reason other than it's surely what you want.

May I be joyful in caring for your creation now and always.

Amen

Prayer for Grocery Shopping

Dear God,

I don't like going to the grocery store.  It seems like such a hard chore.  May I remember that gathering food is honoring your creation.  May I remember too that the huge and glorious mounds of delightful food in grocery stores is unusual in this world of lack.

I want to change my thinking so that I love the process of gathering nutrition for my body and pleasure for my senses.

I want to notice the other humans in the grocery store and remember to bless them.  Some of them may be like me and feel overburdened by the effort it takes to gather food for themselves and their family, so please help them remember their purpose as you help me remember mine.

May I not feel deprived as I pass up the refined and processed foods that are poison to my body even as they provide a false sense of pleasure.  May I look forward to providing my body with the beauty of eating delicious truly nutritious foods.

Thank you for your bounty, your power, and your guidance.

Amen

Prayer for the Grocery List

Dear God,

Please guide my thoughts and desires as I list the items to buy at the grocery store.  I hope you will help me remember to select the foods that will honor your creation and build my health and those I share food with.

I believe, dear God, that you want me to enjoy feeding myself and others so I am counting on you to help me choose nutrition that pleases as well as nurtures.

I want to always remember that you are the creator of both our bodies and the food that fuels our lives so that I will make a list that honors you.

I can't do this by myself.

Amen

Prayers and Ceremonies for Feeding Myself

I just 'googled' ceremonies and rituals for food and eating and nothing came up except descriptions of ways food is used in religious rituals.  Hmmm.  I was hoping for something that is used in some culture to honor food, the body and the company that is used with meal planning, shopping, preparation and consuming.  Of course, just because Google came up with nothing doesn't mean that there is nothing, but it does leave me to my own devices.  (I didn't forget about saying "Grace" but I was looking for more.)

Ever since I can remember I've struggled with food and eating.  I hated to eat when I was a kid.  Probably I was depressed.  When I started feeding myself and others as an adult, I felt a tremendous sense of responsibility and fear that I wasn't doing it well enough.  I over ate enough that I was somewhat over weight.  Once I started smoking, though, I exchanged overeating for smoking.  I realize I've never had a healthy relationship with food.

I had kids that were picky about food - some of them were extreme.  It was hard to feed them.  I struggled some more with what was right and what was wrong.  I never did figure it out.

For a short while after I inherited a little money from my dad, I solved my dilemma by just eating out most of the time.  Because I was a very heavy smoker I didn't gain weight.  Then I gained like crazy when I quit.  Then began the dieting phase of my life.  Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, various diets.  At one point I was at my goal weight in Weight Watchers but it lasted only as long as I worked an active job.

So...for the past several years I've been trying first one thing and then another, losing a few pounds and then gaining them back.  I've learned a few things about myself, though.  The problem is my lack of a spiritual connection with feeding myself.

The process is 1) planning what to eat  2)  Buying the food 3) preparing the food and 4) consuming the food.  So I am developing prayers and practices that remind me to honor the purpose of food --
 which is to care for myself, to call forth the Spirit of healing and the life force, and to be mindful of the blessing of having all the food I need when so many others on the planet are lacking what they need.