THANKSGIVING DAY--- FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Victor Bloom MD

There was a time long ago when the Pilgrims and the Native Americans gave thanks for an abundant harvest. The Indians showed their guests, the early settlers, how to survive the winter. It was before the Caucasians decimated the Indians. It was a good time.

Now we give thanks for our abundance and are grateful that we are not in Bosnia or Rwanda. Our supermarkets offer a dizzying array of foods. No one need go hungry. Chances are we will all survive this winter.

But we no longer think in terms of survival. We think of a never-ending array of tempting recipes--- roast turkey with dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie. Why do we enjoy food so much?

Sigmund Freud was the first to point out the critical importance of the mother-infant bond, and paramount in that love-bond is feeding, whether it be by breast or bottle. Ideally, it is a time of mutual gratification, of warmth and closeness, the basis for loving affection in later life. It is at this time that the infant-person learns "basic-trust", in which the child later grows to love another person and trust the world.

In the absence of this basic trust, the developing person tends to be paranoid and suspicious and may even become malevolent or delinquent. If there is a relative lack of "oral gratification", the person is left with cravings which may result in addiction to alcohol or other drugs, the nicotine in cigarette smoke, or even food, which may lead to obesity. Satisfying these cravings to excess leads to ill health and a shortened life.

The child who has its basic needs met tends to be outgoing and fun-loving with a sunny disposition. The child whose basic needs are frustrated tends to grow into an adult who is tense, angry, irritable and basically depressed.

How a child is fed will make a big difference in his or her later life. One man told me that he remembers being in a highchair and scolded and shamed for making a mess. Observing small children in a highchair I find that messes are inevitable, but no problem. They are easily cleaned up. It should be a time of enjoyment and rapport, a time of calm and relaxation, not tension or irritability. Childhood is the beginning of learning the happy combination of good food and good conversation.

Those who did not enjoy this rapport and good time may contaminate mealtime with obsessions and scolding. Some parents make a big fuss about eating everything on the plate, and eating extraordinary amounts, as if famine is around the corner, or it is a sin to waste food. This attitude may have been appropriate in leaner times, but not today. Children should not be forced or coerced to eat. It is much easier for all concerned if the parent serves an average portion and the child is given an appropriate time to consume it, and whatever is left is taken away with no recriminations.

Those lucky enough to have had happy mealtimes at home, with good food and pleasant conversation will have a Norman Rockwell picture of a Thanksgiving dinner. Those whose childhoods were infected with anger, scolding and criticism will tend to repeat patterns of conflictual mealtimes for the rest of their lives.

It is hoped that when families get together, the good feelings will overcome the bad, and that positive feelings and behavior will prevail. Happy Thanksgiving to you all--- onward and upward toward the coming holiday season. Here's a toast to a world of good and plenty, peace and brotherhood!