In a world full of diets, conflicting scientific evidence, and "my way is best," it can be challenging to discern what the right way of eating is for you. It's important to pay attention to what foods settle well in your body. And if you really want to thrive, use your intuition to make your food choices.
Yet, paying attention and using my intuition weren't the #1 factors in changing my relationship with food and turning my life around. They have helped tremendously. But, there is just one food "rule" that has truly changed my life...
When I eat, that's all I do. I eat.
As in, doing nothing else besides eating when I'm eating. Simple, right? Can taking the time to just eat really have that much of an impact? In a word, YES.
Most of us multitask when we eat. We:
I don't know about you, but I've spent a good portion of my life feeling stressed, squished for time, pressured to get things done, worried about how I would accomplish what was in front of me. Nothing seemed like enough no matter how well things were going. There was always more to do and never enough time to do it. Though it took me awhile to "get" that it was my choice to approach life in this way, it only took a millisecond to notice the difference when I chose otherwise.
When we eat, it is often out of being rushed, starving, knowing you should. Not only does that shape your experience of eating, it also inhibits digestion and absorption of the very nutrients that would give you energy, help you feel better, and enable you to more effectively manage your life.
I wanted to live differently. So, I started with eating differently.
Now, when I eat, I clear the space in front of me, where all I see is my food. I eat outside, near a window, or wherever I can sense fresh air. I breathe, deeply. I chew slowly. I savor. I look at my food and admire the tastes and textures and aromas. I think about what went into the presentation on the plate, the preparation beforehand, and where the food originated from farmwise (even if it's processed, it was whole and grew out of the earth at one point).
Now, when I live, I clear the space in front of me, where I can finally see my life and beyond it. I choose to be outside, near a window, or wherever I can sense fresh air. I breathe, deeply. I walk slowly. I savor. I look at my life and admire the tastes and textures and aromas. I think about what went into the presentation of my life, the preparation beforehand, and where my life originated from (even at times I feel broken, I came here whole and grew out of the support of the earth and so much more).
Do you see the difference in that kind of eating and living?
Choosing to just eat has given me a spaciousness around time and life that felt long forgotten, but oh so easily remembered. I feel more in control and ironically, less attached to having to be in control. I feel relaxed, open, trusting. I now allow both my food and life to nurture my continued growth, to nourish my soul as I shift and change.
If there is one food rule I could ask you to implement, it would be this. It will change your life.
Ever have the feeling that you need more of a certain kind of food? Say you might be drawn to apples lately. Or even crave a salad. That's your intuition talking to you.
Your body communicates its needs for nourishment and nutrients
to you through your intuition.
On a conscious level, you might not think, "Today, my brain needs some Essential Fatty Acids. My skin and hair want that too, so I'll make sure to add in some extra DHA in the EFA mix." But you may say, "Salmon (or flax if you're a veg/vegan) sounds great. I'll have that for dinner."
Take note of what recurring food thoughts you've been having. Celery on your mind? It's a cleansing vegetable and sucks the toxins right out of you. Avocado? A healthy heart fat, good for the cells of your body.
Look through your fridge and pantry. Intuitively, do any of those foods jump out at you? You might notice that they seem to vibrate/be moving, have a glow to them, or the color pops out more. That is your intuition speaking to you too - visually, through how the external world appears to you.
When you eat intuitively, you are always giving your body what it needs most at the moment. No trend of the day diet can ever tell you what is specifically right for you right now. Educate yourself on the options available and then go back to choosing intuitively the food that's right for you, right now.
What about cravings? Extra salty chips? Soda? I'll go over that in a post coming soon that addresses how to deal with cravings from a nutritional, emotional, and intuitive level. Stay tuned...
Well hello again, it's been awhile! I have moved to a new state (physically & mentally - ha!) and am now settling back into creating mischief in the kitchen. My latest adventure is grain free vegan sushi. Even though the weather hasn't been acting like summer, my body still has the desire to eat lighter, fresher, and more on the vegan end of the scale.
Lately I've been craving sushi and am on a mission to make it for myself in a way that works for me. That means grain free. While living in Nevada City, I enjoyed a version of this from The Fix where they used jicama chopped in such a way that it had a rice like consistency. I'd assume one could use buckwheat as well since it's a fruit nut rather than a grain.
For my experiment, I combined the expertise of my intuition with what was available in the house. The outcome was delightfully tasty. I've included the ingredient list below. Since I use my intuition for amounts, I never make the same thing twice and thus, no specific amounts are written here in recipe form. Quick video of the finished product.
♥ Toasted Nori seaweed
♥ Tahini
♥ Avocado slices
♥ Pickled ginger
♥ Shredded carrots & cucumber
♥ Crumbled sunny herb crackers
At the time I didn't have soy sauce at home. I was going to look for a Tamari (wheat free) version when at the store, or Braggs liquid aminos. Instead I found something even better - Coconut Aminos by Coconut Secret. It's raw, low-glycemic coconut sap that tastes & acts like soy sauce. Way better for your health! I love how many options there are for healthy eating these days.
What other foods would you put into your grain free vegan sushi?
The more I eat fresh fruits and veggies, the less I crave sweets or salty treats. But I must say, I do love me some chocolate. To be able to make a healthy version of it for myself, while creating a mess in the kitchen, is one of my favorite ways to spend the day.
A dear friend was coming to visit around the time of his birthday. You know that means I gotta make cake, light a candle, and sing birthday praises. Can't have cake without frosting! I perused the isles of health food stores, noting the simple ingredients in the pricey frosting boxes. Why not save packaging and put a homemade spin on it?
The past few months have included lots of experiments with baked goods, once I discovered that I can have grain free delights (forever grateful to Elana's Pantry for illuminating this). My kitchen is pretty well stocked with key ingredients, and once you learn how to work with them, that's when the experiments actually turn out to be quite good.
This chocolate frosting turned out much better than my "Hmmm, interesting," comment in the video below. It was rich without being overly sweet or too much. It had a frosting consistency with a dark chocolate bar taste, which matched perfectly with the vanilla cupcakes I made with coconut flour.
The ingredients:
★ Natural Spectrum Shortening (you can buy it here and learn more about it here)
★ Vanilla powder (the spice)
★ Brown sugar (I normally go for agave or other more natural options, but this is what was in the house)
★ Cacao powder (dark, organic)
Blend it all together with a hand mixer. Don't have measurements for you, as I used my intuition and didn't write it down. My philosophy is start with small amounts and keep adding more until it tastes good. Then you're done!
If you've read this part 1 of this post, you know that I care as much about my food as I do about where it comes from as I do about the planet itself. Most of the time, I remember to take my reusable bags to the store. But I started to realize, especially since I shop a lot in the bulk and fresh fruit/veggies section, that I was using an awful lot of plastic bags to hold my items. What are the alternatives?
Glass jars - You can buy them at larger grocery stores in packs of 12 and various sizes. Often used for canning, I use them for storing and carrying home my bulk purchases. Purchase them online here. I also wash out and reuse the glass jars that my nut butters and saurkrauts come in.
Reusable produce bags - There's a wide selection of bags that you can use that come in various sizes to hold different types of items. It doesn't stop with the grocery store, you can also get reusable sandwich bags. Check out Eco Bags and Reusable Bags. For those of you crafty folk, here's a DIY reusable cloth produce bag.
What other ideas have you tried out to keep your shopping in bulk as sustainable as possible?
When you go grocery shopping, do you pick the same items over and over? We all get into habits and ruts around food. One of the best ways I've found to break out of that mold is by shopping in the bulk section.
Shopping in bulk is wonderful because:
★ You save money. You can choose how much of an item you want, rather than get a prepacked amount.
★ You save packaging. Food is way over-packaged. Individual plastic wrapped items, sitting in a plastic container, then wrapped again in plastic, sitting in a box. What?! It may not seem like a big deal for one person, but it adds up...and ends up in our oceans and landfills where it won't break down. Consider this a reminder to bring your own reusable glass jars and fill up in bulk. This might help you remember.
★ You increase variety. There are often more options in bulk than there are on the packaged food shelves. It gives you the opportunity to try new food that not only you hadn't considered before, but didn't even know existed.
Now, go to your store, find the bulk section, use your intuition to pick one new item you haven't tried yet, go have a kitchen adventure, and then report back here. How'd it go? What did you have?
Born into a foodie family, I couldn't help but follow that route myself. Not chef foodies, farmers, or even those that are really into health. These people, my family, we just liked to eat food.
One of my favorite activities growing up, besides double dutch, was making macaroni, tomato, and cheese. I was encouraged to be messy, massaging the noodles, dispersing the cheese, and crumbling the crackers with my hands for the oh so crunchy topping. I ate Count Chocula regularly. Chicken in a Biskit crackers were often on the shelf. It was common for me to have 4 pieces of toast in a row soaked with butter and cinnamon sugar. On the weekends, my Dad and I would fry bologna, brown potatoes, scramble eggs, make orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate, and leisurely eat while we read the newspaper.
My mom was the enthusiast. She oooo'ed and aaaahhhhh'ed over aroma and taste. She is my role model for food excitement. Food is something to be excited over. Excited like jumping on a trampoline excited, joy that you can't contain. My mom was also the experimenter. "Sure Ness, you want to know what a grilled banana sandwich tastes like? No problem. Olive and tomato on toast with extra mayo? Sounds good."
I was not a happy 5 year old when she made the switch to being interested in the health component of food. That meant no more bubble gum ice cream for me. What it did do was plant the seed of awareness in me that not all food is good for your body. I ignored this concept most of my growing up years, until I reached adulthood and my body no longer let me eat crap.
Vegetarianism was my first turn towards healthier eating. I made that decision after being served a bloody burger, and stayed on that route for 9 years. But I noticed that even when I didn't eat meat, and ate "healthier," food still wasn't settling too well with me. I craved meat, and sugar. I gained weight. Felt bloated a lot. Major mood swings, even depressive funks that would take me a few days to get out of. I didn't get what I was doing wrong.
Food affected me so greatly and I didn't even know where to start with changing that. This was a big reason why I chose to change careers and become a wellness coach. I think about all the people out there that are struggling with life, yet don't make the food-mood connection. I feel compelled to help, inspire, and educate.
My love affair with food continues. Now, I follow my intuition and listen to the clues my body so blatantly leaves me when it comes to how food affects me. What do you notice about how food affects you? What's your foodie story?