Eat The Rainbow

I stayed up late – I am tired today, I had too much to drink – I feel horrible. I watched violent movies – I am up all night. I had coffee in the afternoon – I can’t fall asleep. I forgot to drink water – I am constipated the next day. I didn’t dress warmly – bam, I get cold.

The list could go on and on. I am sure you get it. If we don’t listen to our body’s urges and don’t become our body’s best friend, it is just not gonna function at its best. And I do wanna feel great!!!! Every day I wanna feel not just good but awesome! I don’t wanna be where I was just a few years ago. A party girl, a skibum, a night owl. I thought I ate well, I exercised, but I didn’t sleep we’ll, I didn’t feel energized in the morning, I had inflamed joints, my body parts ached, my skin was not at its most radiant either. So what was I doing wrong? A lot, but mostly I didn’t live in my body, I was not at the driver’s seat of this life’s vehicle. I used to be obsessed with all the nutrients, diets and health books; and I still read them, don’t take me wrong, there is definitely a place for them. But the best book yet I already had, since I was born. And all I needed to do was to learn to read it, be present for it talking, to listen to it. Give it a minute or two to see: How did I do? Was this the right food for me? Was it the adequate amount? Did I feed it to myself at the best time? Consciously? Do I even know what I ate? Did I eat on run and shoved it in without paying attention to the colors, smells and beauty of my meal? Did I eat the way I would not wanna feed anyone else or did I create a ceremony, little ritual.

I love one of my teacher’s suggestion: Eat like the God was coming over. Maybe take little extra time to arrange your plate so it looks inviting, attractive and nourishing, energizing. We all go eat out to be treated like gods; and the best chefs take such a pride in creating beauty on customers’ plates, right? We do eat with all our senses, so our food should not just smell yummy, but also look lovely and taste divine. It should have all six tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent) from Ayurvedic perspective but also all seven rainbow colors. Maybe not all at the same time, but surely some. Ask yourself: “Do you consume all the colors? Is your food vibrant looking, does it give you the energy you need? Are all the important nutrients, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants included? Are you eating for the energetic purposes or for the mass? More we think that we have to live on macro nutrition, on calories, on carbs, on proteins, on starches and on fats, the more we consume mass, and the more we identify ourselves as mass. The more we look into our diet for its energetics, the more we think about consuming energy, the Prana, the more we will be able to identify as energy. The mass versus the energy. We are not a mass, this mass is gonna come and go. We are pure energy! Plants are energy and plants are medicine. Its not about calories, its not about grams of protein. It is about what we are merging with. Energy and intelligence meet up with with consciousness.  

There is a choice. Everything is either a medicine or a poison. Same with food. What do you choose? I pick me and my body. There is abundance of healing foods around us, all we need to do is to open up and try them. What is medicine for me, might not be for you. The only way to know is to test and listen. Am I feeling better or worse? Am I receiving energy or is it costing me energy to digest this experience, this emotion, this meal?

If we feed ourself with the medicinal foods and experiences, we are healing ourselves on the very deep level. Some foods have even cleansing properties. We can help our bodies to heal and detox through our choices. Everything depends on our will. Human will-power is stronger than any of our bad habits. We need to make this decision to chose what is better for us. Inevitably, we will take wrong turns. All can be good if we manage to get back on the right track instead of following the wrong path. Further you let yourself go down the rabbit hole, further out you will have. Same with longer you avoid being honest with yourself and keep denying that you are making wrong choices, deeper on the dis-ease trail you might be. There are many choices you have to make every day and unless you pre-decide on many of them and make the choices automatic, you are wasting enormous amounts of precious energy. I am sure you have plenty ideas where this extra energy could be directed. The habits that you have automated and don’t have to think about if you are gonna do them or not, are the ones that free you the most time. Stacking them on top of each other and allowing for a flow is very helpful. Good habits just like the bad ones compound. If you start day with a beneficial practice or two, the chances are you will want to continue on this trajectory of health and wellness and you might find yourself ordering an arugula salad instead of french fries. More good stuff we add to our lives, less room there will be for the old outdated stuff that doesn’t do it for us anymore. I recommend staring with cleaning up the house little by little. By introducing some of the cleansing moves to help us to get the kick start. It’s always a good idea to make sure you are eating every day something that is helping you to detoxify. I like to add the “good” before I start removing the “bad.” Quite often when we start taking care of our body, we naturally lose interest in the old.