You are what you eat
Your physical health is almost entirely dependent on how your body accepts and processes food, which in turn is affected by your mental and emotional state, and vis-a-versa. Your mental and emotional states are affected by what you eat. It goes both ways.
Start with these three foundational pillars of eating
Understand these three pillars and you will have a good foundation set for taking responsibility for your health and well-being.
- Food is medicine! We often credit Hippocrates with the famous quote:
“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.” ~ Hippocrates
But it’s not medicine in the western sense of the word, something you take for a specific issue to make you feel better for that specific issue. Rather, consider what you are putting into your body as fuel, as either being helpful, harmful or neutral. Think about what you are eating. Become consciously aware of what you are putting into your body. Eating health promoting foods goes a long way to preventing illness and diseases in the long run.
“All disease starts in the gut.” ~ Hippocrates
Typical American Supermarket
Helpful Hint: Most American Supermarket food chains are set up such that all you need to do is stay on the periphery of the store, that is where the whole foods are found like fruits, vegetables and dairy. Once you start wandering up and down the isle, the ubiquitous unhealthy processed foods of America trap and seduce you. Stay out of the isles!
2. Not one diet fits all. Consider the FDA food pyramid, which changes capriciously over the years, and is considered the final say in what every American should be eating. Do you know someone who can eat and eat and eat and never gain weight? How about you? Does dairy make your stomach churn? We all have different mind-body-spirit types and we need to consider that when eating. What foods suit us best may not suit somebody else. There are three main body constitutions or doshas or humors as the ancient Greeks called them, (which are a combination of fundamental elements of ether, space, fire, water and earth, and that’s a huge topic to cover on its own.). Learn your body type and eat foods which keep your body type in balance. Avoid foods which throw your body out of balance. You will feel much better for it. One body type is not better than any other, and everybody has a bit of all three.
The Three Doshas of Ayurveda
Vata – Air & Ether (Space)
Pitta – Fire & Water
Kapha – Water & Earth
3. Food is not just protein carbohydrates or fats as in the western way of thinking. As soon as you overcome that limiting belief, which is hard to do, you are well on your way to making MUCH healthier eating choices naturally! Food IS energy, and each food vibrates at a certain frequency – that makes perfect sense, right? High vibrational foods are sattvic and increase your propensity for enlightenment, contemplation; medium vibrational foods are rajasic and create energy and movement; while low vibrational foods are tamasic and promote stagnation and slough. You need a little of all three, but if your goal is enlightenment, peace and calm, guess which foods you should favor in your diet?
Begin to think of food in these terms and it will change your life…slowly, from the inside out
These are the three foundational principles I keep in mind as I prepare my food. You don’t have to know the details just yet. It’s enough to begin to think about food from a different angle than you are used to. Consider, just for the moment, that perhaps the way you’ve been taught all your life to think about food, how to relate to food, was maybe not in your best interest. Not serving you, in your best interest for a healthy body, mind and spirit, but serving something else.