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Living a Bountiful Life

Our Relationship With Food

28/3/2018

1 Comment

 

Imagine food being a joy and a pleasure in your day, free of any anxiety, guilt or 'shoulds'. Imagine you were also able to work with food to be a primary source of healthcare in your day, both for yourself and your family. This is how our relationship with food can be in our lives, yet we have many blocks that get in the way.

I enjoyed exploring such ideas with attendees of our recent Food as Medicine workshop. It was interesting to hear common themes from people around what gets in the way of having a healthy relationship with food. Unless we consider the deeper driver's of our food choices it can be nearly impossible to shift ourselves into healthier eating patterns. What if sweet foods were our only sense of sweetness in life? Perhaps the only place we allow ourselves to feel pleasure? If we try to cut sugar out of our diets in this state, but don't stop to examine these beliefs, we can simply end up feeling sad and deprived instead of more healthful.

On top of this, our emotional state has a profound impact on the functioning of our digestive system, which in turn effects how much nourishment we are able to obtain from our food. Eating while stressed or anxious activate the sympathetic branch of the nervous system – we get ready for fight or flight. This reduces blood flow, and so activity, of our digestive tract and means food arrives without the digestive juices to process them effectively. Poorly processed food not only lowers the nourishment we derive, but can also cause toxin formation, inflammation and bacterial imbalances within the gut. This can in turn be an underlying cause for many illnesses to develop, including increased frequency of colds and flus, autoimmune conditions, mood disorders and even deeper illnesses such as cancer.

Appreciating the relationship we have with food and the impacts of our mental-emotional state on digestion and health, we can learn new ways of being. We can choose to prioritise meeting our emotional needs. What might need to shift in our daily lives to give us the time and space we need to make healthy food choices? Can we support our future selves by soaking or preparing food in advance of busy family times, such as the morning rush? Can we bring more sweetness into our lives through prioritising time to connect with others or pampering ourselves with a bath or a rest? Can we gentle on ourselves when we haven't  been able  to prepare  the most healthful meal and instead eat the food we do have in a relaxed and appreciative state of Mind?

Having knowledge and awareness of both ourselves and food, we can truly start to eat consciously and make healthful food choices for ourselves. We can meet our bodies needs easily and with enjoyment instead of stress and worry. In this way we can make the most of the powerful healing effects our food has to offer us. Our food truly becomes our medicine.

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1 Comment
Rebecca Sedgwick
28/3/2018 09:42:39 pm

Love love love this. I realised that although I was eating healthy - I have been doing it in a rushed and stressed manner - on the hoof and never sitting and savouring every bite. I’ve decided to see food not as an entity but as a living friend and I’ve decided to have a relationship with it and fall in love with it savouring the new flavours and remaining the time and love poured into preparing it. It’s now 940 pm and I’ve juts finished making pesto and my first kombucha and I feel whole and rounded and content rather than fed up that I’ve worked in the kitchen so late. I’ve decided to make the kitchen a sanctuary rather then a place for chores and housework. I love finding things that my children will eat and enjoy. Knowing that I am planting the fees in them that I wish were planted in me at their age, yes I take comfort in the fact that now that I know better I am doing better one step at a time. Thank you so much for this wonderful experience !

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    Kelly Phillips

    ThetaHealer, Naturopath, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Wholefood Cook and Mother.

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  • Home
  • ThetaHealing
  • Naturopathy
  • Ayurveda
  • Testing
    • Gut Health and Stool Analysis
    • Hormonal and Adrenal Testing
    • Organic Acid Testing
    • Food Sensitivity and Allergy Testing
    • Complete Thyroid Panel
    • Genomic Wellness
  • Blog
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