How often do you think ‘I shouldn’t be eating this’, ‘This isn’t good for me’, or ‘I wish I hadn’t eaten that’?
For much of the western world food there is a dizzying variety of food available. With lots of spiced-up, processed food continually tempting your taste buds, it’s very easy to succumb to eating foods that are not really good for you, and perhaps eat too much. These foods can easily lead to dullness, lethargy, extra weight and eventual health problems.
Over the years you have probably tried diets of one sort or another; perhaps to resolve a health issue, or maybe to lose weight. You stick with it for a while, and then slip back into old habits and the cycle starts again.
For me the focus of past diets was usually on what I should not eat – no sugar, or no wheat or nothing more after I’d consumed X calories that day. My predominant feeling was one of deprivation, combined with a determination to ‘stick with it’, which invariably fizzled out after a while.
Over the past few months I’ve been eating more raw food, including green smoothies, and am now realising that my relationship with food has changed completely.
Instead of focusing on things I can’t or shouldn’t eat, my focus has shifted to what I enjoy and the benefits I gain. And the beauty is this shift in focus has come naturally, with no effort on my part!
I now find myself eating salad before the lasagne because the salad has a freshness and vitality, whereas the lasagne has a dull heavy, feel. So, while my family eat lasagne and a side salad, I eat salad and ‘side lasagne’ and everyone is happy!
These past few months, I’ve learned that, for me, eating more raw food makes me feel lighter, gives me more energy, improves my mental focus, diminishes aches pains and so on. And I’ve experienced that slipping back into eating more processed foods – which of course does happen – quickly reverses these changes.
Now that I’ve made friends with the food I eat, my whole attitude to eating is different. I see food as a source of nurturing my body, mind and spirit, and eat in a mood of appreciation and joy. So much different to my previous feelings of tension and guilt.
Question:
How do you feel about the food you eat?
On the whole do you feel joyful and light around eating, or guilty and tense? Or some other feeling?
Reflection:
Which foods make you feel good as you eat them?
You’ll probably include lots of food in this category, including those which are not so good for you. Part of the attraction of processed foods, is the way they activate our taste buds, making us want to eat more. A friend told me she eats chips cos she wants more of the taste, even though she knows she shouldn’t be eating them. The smooth texture and sweet taste of chocolate can be very seductive.
Which foods make you feel good after you’ve eaten them?
Reflecting on this question will help you identify those foods you want to befriend. Fruits and vegetables leave my mouth with a clean, refreshed feel. Processed foods may leave a heavy, dull feeling, and a not-so-fresh mouth. And after the initial ‘high’ from eating chocolate I usually experience a fall in my energy.
If you’ve found it difficult to identify the foods that make you feel good after eating them, take the time to notice the effects of the foods you eat for the rest of today, or tomorrow.
Action:
Select a food, or group of foods, that make you feel good after eating, and eat more of it every day. Notice the effects.
The Delicious Nugget: Shifting your attention from what you shouldn’t eat to foods that make you feel good makes eating a much more positive experience. Eating more of these foods is likely to improve your
