For Me, Balance Begins When the Table Remains Gentle

Article

I am not looking for the perfect diet. Rather, I live with the idea that good balance should leave me with energy, pleasure, and enough flexibility to keep up with my real days. As an illustrator, I can stay absorbed in a drawing, a screen, an idea for a long time, then suddenly realize that I have been hungry for too long. In those moments, I quickly understand that my relationship with food has nothing to do with control: it has to do with my ability to maintain a rhythm without disconnecting from myself. So I return to simple reference points. I eat better when I have a nourishing foundation, something fresh or plant-based to preserve a feeling of lightness, and an indulgent element that makes me want to truly sit down at the table. I am not seeking nutritional perfection at all costs; I am looking for a plate that grounds me. When my day is packed, when I move between my creative projects and quieter moments when I need to breathe, I immediately see the difference between eating automatically and eating with enough attention for the meal to do me good. I also place great importance on the contexts in which I eat. I need safe spaces, without pressure, without judgmental looks, without power dynamics, and I find that same need in the way I eat. I cannot trust myself when I speak to myself too harshly, and I do not try to impose on my body a discipline that does not fit my life. My balance, in LaBouffe, therefore looks like something living: a way of working with my schedule, my mood, my cravings, my calm and creative side, without losing the pleasure of eating or the gentleness I want to preserve around me. If I can nourish my energy without hardening myself, then I feel I am on the right path.