Transformative Nutrition Practice of the Month
October: Let Go of "Good" and "Bad"
We are entering into the heart of the fall season now - and the fall season offers a lovely metaphor for letting go, a necessary process in the cycle of life. The trees must let go of their foliage to make room for new growth in the seasons to come. We also need to let go at times in life to make space for growth in our lives.
The same wisdom can be applied to help us heal our relationship with food. We encourage you to let go of the concept that there are "good" and "bad" foods.
On any given day you will be bombarded with nutrition advice: magazines present their lists of foods that you should eat or foods you must avoid, turn on the local or national news and you are likely to see a segment regarding the latest study related to nutrition, and a new book is published every week with the promise of the next best diet. And yet with all this information, we as a culture are more confused than ever about what to eat.
We assert that you are your best nutritionist. Your body is wise and it will speak to you about what is nourishing and what is not - you only need to listen and learn from your body's messages. The best tool you have to help you to listen to your body is presence - being present to how you feel when and after you eat and being present to what your body is asking for. You may be surprised to see what your body has to say about what you are feeding it.
However as soon as we label a food (good or bad) we no longer have access to what our actual experience is with that food. We have cut off the possibility for clear observation. We are blinded by our guilt or our pride in some cases and the valuable messages that our body provides are muted. What a loss!
So this month we encourage you to let go of your pre-conceived notions of food. Let food be food, a cookie be a cookie and a burger be a burger. Let go of suffering around not being allowed certain foods. Let go of the idea that you need to look any different than you do right now. Make room for a new possibility, the possibility that you can love you and your body and that you can trust yourself to truly know how to best be nourished. Ahhh...how freeing!
Practice:
Use your breath to help you let go of your beliefs about food before you eat. Before you take your first bite, take three big, belly breaths. On the inhale notice how you feel in your body in that moment, on the exhale let go of any thoughts about the food you are about to eat and bring yourself present to the foods just as they are. Breath, eat and be merry - no need to judge!
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