A few years back, I had a health scare - nothing dramatic, just a quiet but recurring discomfort in my right abdomen. Test results came out, and I was informed of a fatty liver and an early-stage fibrosis. The doctor said “Make some lifestyle changes - work out, take fewer carbs and more protein.” I nodded but internally wondered - what do carbs and protein even mean?

I went to work and studied different perspectives around food and diet. I observed others around me and turned my focus inwards to recalibrate my relationship with food. The work that I did helped me realize certain truths about food:

• What we eat shapes our energies, mood, and mind: Food is not just about a great body, or glowing skin, but also about sound mental health. A good meal energises our mood and helps us deal with stress better, while an unhealthy one causes mental fatigue and increases stress. This realisation alone changes our perspectives on what we choose to eat everyday.

• We don’t control food—food controls us: We think that we consciously decide what we eat, that we plan our meals in advance; but a lot of what we eat is based on impulse, emotion, or habit. This is why we end up slipping into the same old unhealthy eating patterns, even when we resolutely decide that we would start eating healthy. Only once we tame our monkey minds can we control our food intake and take control of our lives.

• Food isn’t just a gift—it’s a test: Food is a blessing that only we mortal beings get to cherish, but it’s also our biggest test. The pleasure derived from consuming deserts is heavenly, but the consequences of overindulgence are dire. This irony exists across all foods that we consume, and this is an examination we must pass in the ultimate journey of life.

• Food connects us to our higher self: Our gut, mind and soul are intertwined. They operate as one entity. The food that we eat affects our soul just as it affects our gut. This is why every spiritual school of thought, past or present, stresses on clean and wholesome eating. The route to spirituality starts from what we put in our mouths.

There have been moments when I realized I wasn’t eating out of need, but out of habit, comfort, or emotion - and that awareness changed how I saw food.

I see food in a very different way now - not as a pizza or a cheesecake nor as carbs or protein, but as energy that food carries. I see it as both a blessing and an examination, with deep admiration for the contradiction it presents us. It is my biggest pleasure but also my mightiest foe.