The slate is clean, the page is white, and a New Year stretches out before us. What choices will we make and what lessons must we learn? How exciting to expect this year to be the best yet to come! The canvas is blank, and the brush is in your hand.
I hope you will choose to live consciously. I hope you will choose to nourish your mind, body and soul. Let’s start with your mind—remember, that is truly where all healing begins.
When you tell yourself that you can’t have something anymore because you are on a diet, your body immediately senses that you are lacking something or longing for something you can’t have. Lack equates to famine, and famine elicits the good old stress response, hard wired into your DNA to ensure survival. Any time your subconscious mind perceives stress, lack, or famine, it goes into fat storage mode. Your body loves you. It is always trying to preserve you and keep you safe. Fat storage equals safety and safety equals survival.
No diet plan, no matter how well conceived or how many celebrities endorse it, is designed to work for you personally. It is not about counting things or assigning points (yay, no math!) or attaching labels like “vegan”, or “raw” food only. Each one of us is biochemically unique and has to listen to our own intuition. Each of us, at various stages of our life, has different nutritional needs, different hormonal issues, and varying levels of stress; all of which affect our digestion and assimilation.
Human beings, ironically, with the most highly developed intellect, are the only species who seek the advice of others to tell them what they should intuitively know about themselves. Animals have instinct. You never see a squirrel seeking advice about how many nuts he should eat as winter approaches. He doesn’t loathe his thighs. He doesn’t assign point values to walnuts versus stolen peanuts from a bird feeder. Squirrels eat naturally. No artificial ingredients. No peanut butter cheesecake. That’s why you never see elderly squirrels like this one. (Love the pearls though)
Conscious eating is a lifestyle choice, not a diet. Diets are restrictive and depriving. When you eat consciously, you begin by adding good food slowly and gracefully. You change your mindset from the notion of, “I can’t eat that anymore, I am dieting,” to “I can eat anything I want to eat and I choose to eat food that makes me feel great, healthy, and alive!” It is just a simple shift in attitude, but to your subconscious mind it is the difference between lack and deprivation, and conscious choice. Change the way you feel about things and a massive paradigm shift will occur.
You can’t continue to send messages of lack and deprivation and expect your body to feel energized and alive. Stop self –loathing and begin loving yourself enough to take care of your body. Remember, your body is the earthly home of your eternal soul. Feed it well. Tell yourself this is a great thing you are doing and imagine how energized and alive you are going to feel! Get excited! Feel the difference? Or would you rather feel sorry for yourself because you are going to stop putting things on your fork that no longer serve you?
Conscious eating does not mean merely switching from “regular” calorie junk food to “low-fat” or “gluten free” junk food. If you read the labels, many times low fat is worse because they have to add more sugar or some other artificial ingredient to make it taste remotely palatable. And please—don’t even get me started on artificial sugar! Replacing regular soda with diet soda will not help your diabetes! Even mainstream medicine knows that now, even though newscasters and the medical doctors they interview admit they drink several diet sodas a day in place of meals. Artificial sugar is toxic to your nerves aka an “excitotoxin.” It doesn’t matter what they name it—it is poison. That is my truth. Please do your own research! Replace soda with something like Kombucha. One simple change can make all the difference. A good habit is as easy to develop as a bad one. You will feel amazing!
Start adding organic fruits and vegetables. Yes ORGANIC. It’s not “elite”—pesticides cause cancer. Period. Support local farmers and grass fed meat. Add God made food that has proven, super nutritional value.
Grow some wheatgrass. Try liquid chlorophyll. Add lemon to your water. Research Maca and Pine Pollen. Use coconut oil instead of butter. Make your own toothpaste and facial scrub with coconut oil and baking soda. Experiment. Make kale chips. Replace eggs with Chia Seed. Try Chia waffles for breakfast. Make your own whipped cream with full fat coconut milk. Add a green smoothie.
TRY JUICING.
Begin where you are. Don’t wait for a specific day or time of year. The pressure to start on January 1 causes stress. Start gently and gracefully. Add one good thing. And another. Be grateful for everything. . Always focus on adding the good stuff. Never say or think thoughts of lack. Consciously choosing God made, natural food will eventually make you feel so much better than eating junk food that you will no longer want it. Teach your children. Talk to your grandparents.
Love yourself.
