{"id":2090,"date":"2013-02-25T09:34:34","date_gmt":"2013-02-25T15:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/?p=2090"},"modified":"2020-10-18T17:33:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-18T22:33:56","slug":"the-message-in-the-midnight-meal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2013\/02\/25\/the-message-in-the-midnight-meal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Message in the Midnight Meal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-large;\"><span style=\"color: #b30000;\"><b>THE MESSAGE IN THE MIDNIGHT MEAL <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><i>Can shared fare at the witching hour heal body, mind, and soul?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8212; By Deborah Kesten &#8212;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">One morning while reading an article in a local newspaper, I found myself riveted by a piece titled \u201cMidnight Supper: Spontaneous Party at the Witching Hour.\u201d Written by Lois Maclean, a then-unemployed, forty-something woman, \u201cMidnight Supper\u201d is a story about something very unusual that happened to her and her husband at 10:30 on a depressing Tuesday night. As they were considering whether to go \u201cinto a full-tilt harangue about everything that was wrong with [their] life,\u201d they received a phone call from Bradley, an old friend who had recently wed a woman from Hong Kong named Suk Wah; Brad was calling to invite them over for a midnight supper at a villa where he and Suk Wah were house-sitting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Although Maclean and her husband were \u201cawed by the very concept,\u201d taking their friend up on the invitation meant a half-hour drive at 11:00 on a weekday night across the long Richmond Bridge in Northern California. They went anyway. As Maclean described it: \u201cWe threw on our jackets and hit the freeway, already feeling more interested in life.\u201d<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><span style=\"color: #0000e7;\">Ancient \u201cIngredients\u201d in the Midnight Meal<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-2.jpg\" rel=\"wp-prettyPhoto[2090]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2094\" alt=\"photo 2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-2-300x187.jpg\" width=\"210\" height=\"131\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-2-300x187.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-2.jpg 460w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a>When Maclean and her husband entered the villa, she described the spontaneous, warm and welcoming hospitality that greeted them: \u201cBradley and Suk Wah handed us&#8230;flutes of champagne from their wedding,\u201d says Maclean. Then the main meal manifested: \u201cAt a cluttered table in the bright kitchen, we dispatched a giant bowl of Suk Wah\u2019s Chinese spaghetti, fragrant with ginger and dried shitake mushrooms. Afterward, we curled up with cups of herb tea.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Explained Suk Wah as she handed around the teacups: \u201cMidnight supper is a Chinese custom. We celebrate the magic of the night.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Suk Wah\u2019s idea to share a midnight meal with friends has lots of company. For thousands of years\u2014over hundreds of generations\u2014 human beings have enjoyed the ritual of communing with each other over food. Indeed, if our ancestors\u2019 past contains a single culinary theme, it\u2019s uniting with others through food (see \u201cStudy Uncovers 6 Ancient Healing Secrets of Food\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2012\/12\/07\/be-a-successful-loser-a-10-step-series-2\/\">Eat with Others, Weigh Less<\/a>\u201d). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A sampling&#8230;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Christians take the bread and wine of the Eucharist in <i>communion <\/i>with others, and on Sundays after church, often share a meal with other congregants.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On the Jewish Sabbath, a holy 24-hour period that\u2019s been celebrated by Jews since biblical times, devout Jewish families make it a point to stop the hustle and bustle of the week on Friday before sunset and instead partake of the Sabbath meal with family members and friends.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Believing that the blessing received isn\u2019t only the food but also the company, Muslims espouse both eating with others and sharing food with others. A unique social concept: the aroma of food while it cooks should encourage neighbors to come by and share the meal.<sup>2<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The centuries-old food-friendship connection has been so integral to humankind\u2019s eating experience, it was what inspired Suk Wah\u2019s midnight meal. When I talked with her, I learned that her idea to \u201ccelebrate the magic of the night\u201d with friends evolved from New Year rituals she had celebrated with her family during her childhood in Hong Kong. \u201cChina\u2019s ancient folk religion has a god for just about everything,\u201d she told me,\u201d and on the eve of the Chinese New Year, all of them come to inspect us.\u201d<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">By preparing a special midnight meal, the family welcomes both these hundreds of gods and the New Year by gathering around and sharing an elaborate midnight meal. It is a truly festive family occasion; one that has nourished family and friends for millennia&#8230;no matter where they are in the world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><span style=\"color: #0000e7;\">The Healing Ingredients in Shared Fare<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Caption: 3-generation family having breakfast in San Francisco\u2019s Chinatown<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-1.jpg\" rel=\"wp-prettyPhoto[2090]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2095\" alt=\"photo 1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-1-300x199.jpg\" width=\"210\" height=\"139\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-1-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/photo-1.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a>Along with its inherent uniqueness, what particularly caught my attention about Suk Wah\u2019s spontaneous midnight meal was the impact it had on Maclean\u2019s mood and mental state. Before the meal, she had been in a curmudgeon-y frame-of-mind about her life. But the social connection over a simple meal was so soul-satisfying, she and her husband \u201cwent home at around two in the morning, sated with simple food and simple kindness, our malaise dispelled. When we awoke in the morning, we felt&#8230;tired but satisfied, refreshed and a lot lighter of heart.\u201d<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Social connection. Simple food. Kindness. Dispelled dissatisfaction. When a meal is infused with such social \u201cingredients,\u201d some kind of healing alchemy seems to be set into motion. Three \u201csocial studies\u201d about the healing power of food and friendship (which we call \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2013\/02\/04\/discover-the-4-facets-of-food-and-their-power-to-heal\/\">social nutrition<\/a>&#8220;) may provide some clues about the well-being Maclean experienced from her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2012\/12\/07\/be-a-successful-loser-a-10-step-series-2\/\">friendship-infused meal<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #b30000;\">Social ties. <span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The idea that eating in a socially supportive atmosphere can serve as a buffer against ailments emerged in a landmark 25-year study that began in the early 1960s in the small town of Roseto, Pennsylvania. It was then that a local physician told researcher Stewart Wolf that he rarely saw cases of heart disease in the town\u2019s Italian-American population\u2014even though they consumed a traditional high-fat, high-cholesterol Italian-American diet of sauces, sausages, and other food deemed to be artery-clogging. What did Wolf find after studying Rosetans for 25 years? When the study started, close family ties and community cohesion were the norm; it was common to find three generations living together in one home. But as the children became adults, they moved away from Roseto. Over time, the close-knit way of life that had united Rosetans since their migration to Roseto had first migrated to America in 1882 had ended\u2014along with its prophylactic effect on heart disease.<sup>3<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #b30000;\">Care-filled feeding. <span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When researcher Robert M. Nerem set out to learn about the effect diet has on the development of coronary artery disease (CAD), a research assistant on his team fed high-cholesterol bits of rabbit chow to caged rabbits. Though all the rabbits were fed the same artery-clogging food, some of them had 60 percent less plaque (blockage) in their arteries. Unable to understand why some rabbits showed early signs of heart disease and others didn\u2019t, Nerem realized that when the research assistant fed the rabbits in the middle cages, she would take them out of their cages to hold, pet, talk to, and play with during feeding; these were the ones that were less prone to clogged arteries. When the scientists repeated the study under much more measured conditions, again, the cared-for rabbits showed more than a 60 percent reduction in lesions compared to the comparison group, even though the serum cholesterol levels, heart rate, and blood pressure of all the rabbits were similar.<sup>4<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #b30000;\">Solo dining. <span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">More often than not, an eat-alone dining scene plays out daily for millions of Americans: children reach for a piece of packaged pizza, then eat it at the computer; single working women heat up their frozen meal in the microwave, then dine solo while watching TV; while others are driven to dashboard dining in their cars while en route to a meeting. Such \u201csolo dining\u201d emerged in our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.explorejournal.com\/article\/S1550-8307(05)00296-X\/abstract\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">research<\/span><\/a>, which linked eating alone more often than not with an increased likelihood of being overweight or obese. Indeed, the more often people dine alone, the higher their body mass index (BMI), which is the measure for weight levels. In contrast, we found that <i>normal weight people typically eat<\/i> <i>with others<\/i>.<sup>5,6<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\"><span style=\"color: #0000e7;\">The Message in the Midnight Meal<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The physical and emotional well-being Maclean experienced after her midnight meal, and the Roseto, rabbit, and solo dining studies suggest that&#8230;somehow&#8230;the \u201csocial consciousness\u201d we bring to meals matters to our health and well-being. Physician Deepak Chopra explains the powerful, invisible nutrients inherent in \u201cshared fare\u201d this way: \u201cWhen you look at nutrition from a purely scientific point of view, there is no place for consciousness. And yet, consciousness could be one of the crucial determinants of the metabolism of food itself.\u201d<sup>7,2 <\/sup>(See \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2012\/12\/10\/be-a-successful-loser-a-10-step-series-3\/\">Stress More, Eat More<\/a>\u201d for more about how thoughts and feelings (meaning, \u201cconsciousness\u201d) while eating, affect digestion, weight, and more.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Such inspirational ideas beg this question: Might the meal shared with loving friends be the reason Lois Maclean turned the doldrums she was experiencing at the start of her journey to her friends\u2019 midnight meal, into feeling, instead, \u201clighter of heart\u201d when she returned home? If so, perhaps the message in the midnight meal is that it is one thing to eat; it is another to dine on lovingly prepared food with good friends. For when we do, not only is our appetite nourished, but body, mind, and soul too are satisfied.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">References:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Deborah Kesten, <\/span><i style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The Healing Secrets of Food: A Practical Guide for Nourishing Body, Mind, and Soul<\/i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"> (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2001).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Deborah Kesten, <i>Feeding the Body, Nourishing the Soul: Essentials of Eating for Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being<\/i> (Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 1997; Amherst, MA: White River Press, 2007).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Julie Stewart Wolf and John G. Bruhn, <i>The Power of Clan: The Influence of Human Relationships on Heart Disease<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1993).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Robert M. Nerem, Murina J. Levesque, and J. Fredrick Cornhill, \u201cSocial Environment as a Factor in Diet-Induced Atherosclerosis,\u201d <i>Science New Series<\/i> 208, no. 4451 (1980): 1475\u201376.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz, <i>Make Weight Loss Last: 10 Solutions That Nourish Body, Mind, and Soul<\/i> (Amherst, MA: White River Press, 2012).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">L. Scherwitz and D. Kesten, \u201cSeven Eating Styles Linked to Overeating, Overweight, and Obesity,\u201d <i>Explore: The<\/i> <i>Journal of Science and Healing<\/i> 1, no. 5 (2005): 342\u201359.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Deepak Chopra, <i>Body, Mind and Soul<\/i>, PBS, KQED-TV, San Francisco, March 7, 1995.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Related:<\/b><br \/>\n\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2012\/12\/07\/be-a-successful-loser-a-10-step-series-2\/\">Eat with Others, Eat Less<\/a>\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2013\/01\/21\/2-tips-that-will-strongly-up-your-odds-of-weight-loss\/\">\u201cThe Weight Loss Wonder of <i>When <\/i>You Eat\u201d<\/a><br \/>\n\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2012\/12\/18\/be-a-successful-loser-a-10-step-series-5\/\">The \u2018Magic Sleep Number\u2019 for Weight Loss<\/a>\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/2013\/02\/19\/2056\/\">\u201cNight Eating: A Triple Weight-Whammy\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Next post:<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Think outside the diet to make weight loss last with <b>\u201cSeasonal Food Fables: A 4-Part Personal<\/b> <b>Memoir<\/b>\u201d posted on our <b>FreshFoodFables blog<\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #0000e7;\"><strong>SHARE <\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>and <\/em><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #0000e7;\"><strong>LIKE <\/strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>us on <\/em><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/makeweightlosslast\">Facebook<\/a><em><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, <\/span><\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>follow us on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OutsideTheDiet\">Twitter<\/a><em>, <\/em><em><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">or send us an <\/span><\/span><\/em><a href=\"mailto:deborah@makeweightlosslast.com\">email<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Comments:<\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What are your thoughts about \u201cThe Message in the Midnight Meal?\u201d Tell us about them in the Comments section below.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE MESSAGE IN THE MIDNIGHT MEAL Can shared fare at the witching hour heal body, mind, and soul? &nbsp; &#8212; By Deborah Kesten &#8212; &nbsp; One morning while reading an article in a local newspaper, I found myself riveted by a piece titled \u201cMidnight Supper: Spontaneous Party [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freshfoodfables"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2090"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2957,"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions\/2957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.makeweightlosslast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}