are what you eat.
TIPS FOR RE-WILDING YOUR DIET*:
You choose what you eat. You have the power to eat what you DESIRE and to overcome real and perceived obstacles.
Exercise your freedom to choose.
Let yourself eat anything you want to. No restrictions. Eat it all. Fast food, chocolate bunnies, hungry man tv dinners…cheezewizz. Cheese, ice cream, peanut butter and jelly, fritos. Quinoa, burgers, salmon, carrots, mangos, kale, pistachios. Coffee, cool whip, snickers, pickles. Squirrel, goose, dandelion root tea…
As you eat each food, really tune in to your whole experience.
–Where are you when you are eating it? How does it make you feel?
–If someone serves you, how do you feel about it? For example, the 14-year-old boy hands you your big mac at the drive-thru.
–Do you sneak it? Do you eat alone? Are you ashamed?
–Does it really taste good, or is it satisfying some un-met need?
–How fast do you eat it? Do you feel full? Do you want more, more, more to keep up that feeling? Do you stop when you know you are full?
–How about an hour later? How does your stomach feel? Is it distended? Does it just feel icky? Or, do you feel energized, alive, content?
After experiencing your food in a new way, ask yourself some more questions:
–What needs besides real hunger need to be filled? How could you fill them?
–Which foods make you feel really alive, healthy, strong, joyful? Which foods make you feel guilty, sick, yucky, dependent, unhappy?
–Are you addicted to certain foods? Do you want to overcome them? What help do you need to do that?
–Do you want to stop eating certain foods?
–What style do you go by? Slow-and-gradual change or all or nothing change? How does this inform your decisions?
–How do you relate to your body/being?
Imagine your dream nourishment for all of your needs.
–Nutritional needs: what do you really wish your diet looked like, according to your own experience with the foods you eat? Can you possibly eat this way now, or do you need to modify it for a time? What does your imagined progression look like? Write, draw, imagine yourself eating this way…
–If you are addicted to certain foods, will an initial withdrawal period get you past the addiction, or do you need support or some other kind of plan to fight it? Do you need to include a coach, or a diary, or something else to keep you focused?
–Other needs: If, when you feel [ ], you usually reach for food, what can you do instead? What would actually meet that need? For example, when you are tired, lonely, and bored at night, you eat oreos and milk. Now, instead you tune into your feelings… how do I feel?..why do I feel this way?..do I really want cookies, or do I want something else?..what do I want?..how can I realize this feeling quickly in the future?..how will I meet my needs in the future? Envision yourself meeting all of your needs in a way that makes you feel alive, healthy, strong, joyful.
–How do you wish you related to your body? Your entire being?
Write down your plan, envision it, enlist support, set yourself up to succeed, believe in your power to make healthy choices, and go for it. As you follow your plan and meet your expectations, continue tuning in to your experience.
–How do you feel? Do you enjoy preparing your foods? Do you need more support? Do you need to modify your plan? Do you realize that a previously undetected food needs to go?
–Do you feel empowered? Strong? Do your food choices give you energy? Do you feel withdrawal symptoms? Do they seem to be fading?
–Are there certain needs that have disappeared now that your diet has changed?
–Does your body act, feel differently? Do heart palpitations, panick attacks, pains, or other feelings change or go away completely?
–What does your shit look like? How does it feel to take a shit? How do you relate to that bodily function now? Gross? Neat? A gift?
–Are you meeting your other needs in creative and satisfactory needs? Have certain needs changed or dissappeared? Does exercisng help? Practicing skills? Journeying? Sleeping? Dancing? Music-making?
–Do you relate to your body differently? Sacred being to be optimally nourished?
–Does eating feel more like a spiritual practice or contribute to your sense of spirituality? If you believe that you are what you eat, how have you changed? How about when you eat wild foods that you have harvested yourself?
Experiment as needed, knowing that this process takes time. Re-wilding your diet can mean eating wild foods, choosing supermarket foods which are as close to wild nutition as possible, fasting, overcoming addictions, satisfying non-nutritional needs without food, listening to yourself for the answers change, and, in my opinion, most importantly: reclaiming the power over how you nourish your entire being.
*My suggestions from my own experience… Adapt this to suit your needs, or toss it out…In no way do I believe there is “one right way”.
so rad dandelion!!!
i cook a lot and have been trying to reconcile a lot of inconsistencies with what i eat and how i get it. that post really got me thinking. time to make some candied ginger.
are what you eat.
Imagine a suggestive writer. Envision them sharing a powerful message worth your attention…
'Sacred being to be optimally nourished?'
For certain. (: Excellent post, enjoyed it thoroughly.
[sub]If you are what you eat, what was Ghandi during a hungerstrike?[/sub]
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on my post. I wish both of you a delicious day tomorrow! ;D