Those who do not find joy in eating a healthy plant based diet may need to redefine their relationship with food. Food can be nourishing, it can make us feel energized and light. Giving energy and lightness to our systems was the original intention that was planned by a higher force than you. We can do just a few simple things to change our perception of food.
1) We can thank Mother Earth before we begin for sharing her bounty with us.
2) We can bless of all the people that made a contribution to us in the transportation and preparation of the food.
3) We can slow down and allow the taste, texture and smell of the food to nourish us. 4) We can realize when we are trying to cover up frustration or anxiety by eating food, and sit with those feelings.
It sounds like these ideas are a waste of precious time and will not contribute to our weight control goal. But you see, every change starts in the mind with an intention. So you bless Mother Earth for 40 days at each meal and suddenly, something starts to shift within you. It is a gentle way to approach the problem. You do not have to change physically at this moment, you just need to plant the seeds to tenderness around your eating habits. When you do this for some time, the physical reality will shift with ease. Some people might say that this sound familiar because popular books like “The Secret” tout that mind controls matter. But the difference here is that you are making the mental shift as a way to nourish yourself and you let the outcome go. This is a very big change in perception, and an important one.
Soon enough you will find that you are eating small quantities of high quality fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins will make us feel nourished. The key to using food as nourishment is to figure out how to get small quantities of high quality food into our systems a few times a day and to do it with an attitude of wanting to take good care of ourselves because we are worthy of this care.
Click here for a an online workshop series called, “Yoga and Emotional Eating.”