All summer, actually for the last 35 (or so) years, I’ve been contemplating what I eat.

I want to learn how to feed my body to feel my best physically and psychologically.

So much of what, why, when, and how much we eat is based on social and cultural influences.

I want to examine when I eat, what I eat, why I eat, and how much I eat.

I want to understand (when, what, why, and how much) I eat for pleasure, I eat for comfort, I eat to relieve anxiety (stress), I eat to relieve actual hunger, and I eat to fuel my body.

I didn’t have a birthday cake this year. Cake isn’t my favorite food. Cake isn’t my favorite sweet thing. But, I’ve eaten cake on more of my birthdays than I haven’t.

How about having a salad and some Greek yogurt with berries on your birthday?

Or, how about not eating anything special at all on your birthday?

How about not making birthdays all about food?