Part 1 (2/2)
Conscious Eating is a comprehensive effort to bring clarity and light to the most essential questions regarding our food choices and the process of living healthfully, happily, and in increased harmony with the Divine. After reading this book, one can no longer claim ignorance concerning the effects of diet on personal and world health. You, the reader, will have been sufficiently informed, coached, and alerted to these most important issues.
May all be blessed with the inspired will to make the changes in diet that are needed to enhance their communion with the Divine. In Revelations, chapter 2 verse 7, it says: He (she) who has ears, let him (her) hear what the spirit says to the churches: To him (her) who overcomes, I will give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of my G.o.d.
Principles of Individualizing the Diet.
THERE ARE A GREAT MANY DIETS OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC as ”the best” diet for everyone. A major purpose of this book is to give you, the reader, some basic guidelines on how to develop a diet that is individualized to your specific needs, rather than trying to fit everyone into a general prescribed diet. This section empowers the reader with a new set of conceptual tools and an integrated approach to diet by presenting a complete theory of nutrition and a.s.similation, and by considering one's particular acid-base balance, individual psychophysiological const.i.tution, lifestyle, the energetic subtleties of foods, and the seasons as they all relate to one's individual const.i.tution. This section also presents a general approach to individualizing the diet-called conscious eating.
Preview of Chapter 1.
TO CREATE A HEALTHY DIET, one needs to understand more than simply food; one needs also to understand one's physical, psychological, and spiritual self. It is important to have a template of conscious living that establishes food choices in their proper perspective in the context of Divine communion with prayer/meditation, love, wisdom, right companions.h.i.+p, and love and respect for oneself, others, Mother Nature, and all of G.o.d's creation. For many, this means not living to eat or eating to live, but eating to enhance one's communion with the Divine. This chapter gives much ”food for thought” and challenges the reader to look at his or her dietary motivations. What is it you really want out of life?
I. How to individualize one's diet.
A. Perspectives on diet.
B. Mental relations.h.i.+p with food.
C. Eating to enhance our communion with the Divine.
II. Artful intelligence plus trial and error applied to individualizing the diet.
A. Stabilizing time, emotional s.p.a.ce, and how much and what we eat.
B. General goals around which to organize a diet.
III. Psychology of eating patterns.
A. Distinguis.h.i.+ng between healthy intuition and unconscious habitual eating patterns.
B. Ways to become aware of nonfunctional eating patterns.
C. Resistance patterns and excuses people use to avoid changing.
IV. Power of Divine Communion to change dysfunctional eating patterns.
Perspectives on Individualizing One's Diet.
BECAUSE EACH ONE OF US IS A UNIQUE INDIVIDUAL possessing his or her own distinct biochemical variations and functional capacities in the world, there is no set, rigid diet that applies to everyone. In order to develop an appropriate diet that gives maximum support to every aspect of our lives, we need to individualize it so that it is totally functional on all levels. A healthy diet is one that does not barter that which is eternal for that which dieth in an hour.
Although one usually thinks of diet in terms of the body, in the context of this book and the c.u.mulative contributions of ancient wisdom, the most complete understanding of diet is one that is intimately linked with spiritual life. Spiritual life is not something that occurs once a week on Sat.u.r.day or Sunday, on special holy days, or just when one meditates or prays. The all-encompa.s.sing way of life represented by the Essene Tree of Life exists and grows all the time, not just on weekends. The Tree of Life is a metaphor for how we can live as true human beings in balance and harmony on this planet. The roots of the Tree of Life are the universal laws of nature; its branches are the universal spiritual laws which reach to the heavens.
Diet, if looked upon from the perspective of spiritual nutrition, is not a religion or an obsessive, misdirected form of searching for G.o.d. It is simply part of a balanced, harmonious life. Developing such a functional diet for oneself is not a search for a perfect diet, because the only thing which is perfect is that which is beyond the body-mind complex, which is G.o.d, the ultimate Truth of the Self.
The most effective diet is one eaten in the context of the principles that sustain the Tree of Life itself. This template for the conscious living of a spiritual life includes meditation and/or prayer; cultivation of wisdom; good fellows.h.i.+p with other conscious people; right livelihood; respect for the Earth and its inhabitants; love of the family and all humanity; respect for all peoples and cultures; respect for the forces of Mother Nature; respect and love for our own body and mind; and love for the overall totality of who we are.
The difficulty in developing a totally appropriate diet is not the food itself, but our mental relations.h.i.+p to food. Food is more basic than s.e.x. Most people can survive without s.e.x, but very few on this Earth can say they do not need food to survive. Our relations.h.i.+p to food is a primary means of physical survival which enables us to relate to others and learn the lessons we need to learn.
It is G.o.d's natural program that our first liquid food comes from the breast of our biological, earthly mother. Very few would argue that there is anything superior to mother's milk for the infant.
However, after solid food takes the place of human milk, the arguments start about what ”should” be eaten. Beliefs about diet and what is ”right” to eat are rooted in one's cultural and religious heritage. These beliefs are often very strong.
What we eat is both the cause and effect of our awareness. It reflects the totality of our ongoing harmony with ourselves, the world, the universal laws, and all of creation. Because the way, and what, one eats is often a source of security, people do not readily change their diets unless there is some significant reason, such as pain or disease a.s.sociated with their present eating pattern. This is why it is sometimes true that ”there are no such things as incurable diseases, only incurable patients.” This famous adage is based on the fact that many folks are simply unwilling to make needed dietary and lifestyle changes, even when their life depends on it.
For many people, eating may be a mechanism for suppressing a variety of feelings, avoiding s.e.xual tensions, and/or avoiding certain painful aspects of their lives. Some people eat in an attempt to make themselves feel good. Others may eat in order to deaden themselves to their feelings or their lives in general. Some overeat in a conscious effort to self-destruct. For others, eating becomes an addictive way of handling life. Some are so afraid of their inner life that when G.o.d calls, they would rather reach for another plate of ice cream than heed this call.
Overeating is a way of numbing oneself to life. Nutrition in the context of the Tree of Life is eating when one is already glowing with life and joy, rather than attempting to gain this joy through food. Individualizing one's diet at the most refined level is eating to further enhance communion with the Divine. The art of conscious eating lies in creating an individualized diet that reflects and supports one's realization of the highest state of awareness, as well as one's need to function in the world of everyday life.
Eating food appropriate to one's individual needs is a means of extracting energy from our environment in a harmonious way. In today's world of fast foods and food irradiation, the relations.h.i.+p to food has become confused and degenerate. Many of us are disconnected and perceive as foreign the natural foods that Mother Nature offers us. The natural way to eat somehow seems ”old-fas.h.i.+oned” or strange. The diseases that unnatural diet causes are so rampant that they are thought to be an inevitable part of life. This is not the case. Western medicine approaches this problem in convoluted ways and continues to spend billions of dollars developing sophisticated technologies to treat headaches while continuing to bang its (and our) head against the proverbial wall. The one who chooses to stop banging his or her head against the wall by giving up destructive food habits is often ridiculed. Our culture has become so upside down that one who chooses to heal and maintain good health with a diet that brings him or her into harmony with nature is often considered the idealist and extremist, rather than practical and appropriate. If this seems far-fetched, consider all the people who have repeated triple by-pa.s.s surgeries for clogged arteries without eliminating the proven cause of the problem, which they could do by adopting a diet that does not clog the arteries.
To make the s.h.i.+ft into harmony is a matter of making conscious lifestyle changes. To do this, and to depart from the disease-generating practices of our culture, is considered heretical and seditious to our current fast-food lifestyle. Though it is difficult to change one's old habits and belief systems, this must be done if one values living a healthy spiritual life. When ambivalent to making these needed changes, some use the excuse that social forces are too powerful.
Nevertheless, in order to develop a totally functional diet, one needs to be willing to examine these patterns and abandon what is no longer appropriate. Eventually, one begins to make food choices on the basis of what maintains and enhances the blissful communion with G.o.d, as well as the feeling of well-being in mind and body As a meat-eating football player from the Midwest, I grew up without meeting a vegetarian until I was 28. Once I realized the spiritual, mental, and physical appropriateness of a vegetarian diet, it still took several years to complete the full transition. To make stable and lasting changes in one's diet, it is best to make step-by-step changes that can be incorporated in sync with the overall context of one's life. One needs a solid support system in order to make a successful, sustained change in the direction of high-level physical, mental, and spiritual health. Making idealistic yet drastic changes often creates imbalances which reverse themselves in short order.
Creating our own individualized diet is positively aided by a dose of artful intelligence as well as a trial-and-error approach. Gandhi, in his efforts to develop the appropriate diet for himself, would make one s.h.i.+ft every four months. Often a change in diet or lifestyle may feel good the first week but not be so good for us after several months. For example, I have observed many people who, in the first few weeks, felt much better when they were put on a high-protein, usually meat-based diet for the treatment of hypo-glycemia. After four to six months, however, they often found that though their hypoglycemia was in better control, they felt worse. This is usually because it takes a month or two to experience the toxic load that comes from the high-protein, meat-based diet. Switching hypoglycemics to a low-protein, high-complex-carbohydrate diet or vegetarian with a higher percentage of protein/fast oxidizer diet (which will be discussed in Chapter 3) maintains stable blood sugar and slowly removes the toxic load caused by the high meat-protein diet. This is the long-term solution to the problem.
The process of individualizing the diet is realistic and basic rather than idealistic. Extremely idealistic or purist diets may even sidetrack us from our spiritual unfoldment. There is an interesting story of Buddha which makes this point quite nicely. In his ascetic stage Buddha was said to have spent several years eating just roots and tubers and standing on one leg in a river doing yogic austerities. He continued to get thinner and weaker until eventually he collapsed and was washed to sh.o.r.e. A little shepherd girl found him. She saw his emaciated condition and decided to feed him some raw milk and rice. In accepting this food, he let go of his ascetic concept of what was the ”spiritually correct diet.” Although he ate only one meal of this food a day he began to get stronger and sat himself under the bodhi tree; in short time, it is said that Buddha became enlightened. His diet was obviously not the cause of his enlightenment, but it was a functionally appropriate diet for him at that moment which helped to give him the strength to carry on his spiritual evolution. Diet is not the key, but it is a significant aid to enhancing all aspects of our lives, including the spiritual.
The art of conscious eating is learning how to eat just the right amount of food to maximize every aspect of our lives. It is not a deprivation or minimal-eating diet. It is a pattern of eating that adds to our wholeness. It is a diet that requires some sensitive attention to the details of our daily activities. Our hunger for the Divine becomes the overwhelming appet.i.te and guide to our choice of diet.
Creating a Diet.
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