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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Mt Holyoke chapter.

 

 

 

There are different philosophies correlated with personality traits, internal characteristics and the way in which one happens to be compatible with another. These different philosophies, myths and ideas, consist of zodiac signs, archetype tests, and many other intuitive analytical quizzes. Recently, one of my friends and I were eating lunch, and as we ate, she continuously made a mess. There was food on the table, food in her mouth, and there might have been food on the floor too.I mentioned to her that she was getting food all over the place and she replied with, “story of my life.”

This not only shocked me, but it sparked a philosophical connection pertaining to the way one eats in correlation to their life.When the elderly eats, it’s slow. They take their time, chew with caution and thoroughness, swallow, almost wait for it to digest and take another bite. Once one passes the age of seventy-five, their eating habits reflect their life. When walking, they walk slowly; any of whom need a cane or assistance in motion just like needing assistance, at times, during eating. 

When children eat, many of them play with their food. Their lives consists of parks, games, fairs, birthday parties, fun and a lack of seriousness. Infants are messy; the need assistance to walk, they need to be held, to be nurtured and taken care of. When they eat, they need a family member to spoon-feed them. They need a mother’s milk before the age of one and two and they need to be dressed. If they are not taken care of, babies can become a mess. Teenagers range in how they eat, act, and live. I know someone who eats ridiculously. Food everywhere, eating with their mouth open, sauce residue on the face, a couple grains of rice on the ground. Their life is crazy, filled with some of the most bizarre events. It should probably be an independent film because the things that happen in that person’s life sounds so unrealistic it must be from a movie! However, other teenagers are very organized. On top of their game in all aspects of life such as school, work, family, events and extracurricular activities. Everything about them is on-track, including their eating habits.

From the ages of eighteen to fifty, the eating habits in correlation with the grasp on life can fluctuate depending on the individual, the circumstance, where they live, and how they live. Every stage in life and improvement in eating reflects one’s various journies. From infancy, to toddler, to pre-pubescent, to teen, to mid-life, to total adult hood, to elderly, the way you live is shown through the way you eat.

Maybe you have been, are, and forever will be a messy eater. You may just be an adventurous, unorganized, open, present-hedonistic person. Which is  the way you think everyone should live; being in touch with today because we can’t plan for what happens tomorrow. Ways of eating are not particularly right and wrong. Although there is etiquette, “proper rules” and the presentation of one self, there will be a striking difference the way you eat at McDonalds and the way you eat in a five star restaurant in Los Angeles, California. 

How do you eat? Does this philosophy work for you?

 
Elizabeth is a sophmore at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts and is studying Politics and Journalism. In addition to being the Campus Correspondent for Her Campus Mount Holyoke, she enjoys reading, dancing, running, dessert, and her summer job as a windsurfing instructor on Lake Michigan.