HEALTH IS A DIRECTION

Get started today to create change, begin with the food.

if you are BALANCED in the food you select, you immediately fill better.

The Goal of the HEALING MODE is to reduce our imbalances to a manageable state.

Our needs constantly change according to the change of the seasons, the weather, our activities, lifestyle, moods, type of work etc. and we adapt and use foods to best support us.

Uncontrolled eating leads to a continuous state of chaotic, out of control imbalance which manifests into sickness. To regain our health we must bring our imbalances under control. There is a multitude of cravings and desires that we experience every day; we have to learn to manage them with discipline. We start with guard our appetite and remain partially hungry after a meal, don’t fill our self up to the rim.

1. Never eat within three hours of going to bed for the night.  It’s best to digest our food and move it from our stomachs while we are up and active.
2. Stay balanced in your nutrition. To insure proper nutrition it is important to eat a variety of food.  This variety is always achieved within the bounds of balance. To eat always the same things makes our body stagnate and unhealthy.
3. If something sweet is desired, serve green leafy vegetables with the sweet.
4. On one side of the spectrum is meat and salt (Yang to the Easterner) and the extreme opposites are sugar and soft dairy products (Yin).  It is little wonder that one who indulges in a huge steak will crave Ice Cream with Chocolate Syrup.  If we don’t eat in a balanced way, our bodies will demand it.  Sweets require calcium and other minerals to assist with digestion.  Your body will take the required calcium either from the greens, or from your bones and teeth.
5. Don’t go hungry.  Eat three times a day and don’t eat in-between.
6. When you sit down to eat, be sure there is balanced food in front of you.
7. Take a walk for at least a half hour every day.  We need to perk up our circulation and give our minds something natural to do.  Breathe deeply and consciously and walk as lightly as possible. Do Yoga, or another such discipline for the mind and body.
8. Most of us eat more oil than we need.  To be lean, don’t eat fat, especially with sweets.  Use very little oil in your cooking.

As we become more in tune with balance we are sensitive to even slight variance in our chemistry. Our bodies will always seek some kind of balance. Even those without any awareness will seek balance as the fast food purveyors know — they will sell you a milkshake or coke to go with your hamburger and grease and you WILL feel satiated after this barrage of animal food on the one side and sugar on the other.  The oil slows the uptake of sugar into the bloodstream and prolongs the effect. We are told that this explains the fascination of those who are pre-diabetic with ice cream. Slow release sugar.
When I serve dessert, I always serve it at the end of the meal, when the proper balance of grain, beans and vegetables has been consumed, never alone and never within three hours of retirement. I wait a while as we enjoy tea and conversation and then serve the dessert as a special treat. By then our hunger has been satisfied and the sweet is just a little treat, with it’s attending burst of energy. Often, we take a walk after dessert to use this quick energy.

I always eats the proper combination of foods first, then if I need to, indulge in the sweets. Apart from where the food falls on the scale of contracting and/or expanding (sweets and salt, fruit, salad and fish) the art of balance can be further refined to include the manner of cooking and the careful selection of food combination to achieve balance. Sensitivity is finally developed, even down to the type cooking pot that is used for the particular dish one is preparing.

LEARN TO BE CENTERED

When we are too tight we lose sensitivity, when we are too loose we become too sensitive. We loose direction in extreme conditions.

The food we eat effect our thoughts and emotions, not just our physical health. Rigidity and adaptivity are influenced by the food we eat.

It is worth consulting the simple chart below to see if our meals are composed of the basic ingredients that we require for optimum health and performance. Within these guidelines it is important to discover what works for us as individuals.

EXPANDING FOOD  ( food that expand the body) are:

1. Grown in hot climates
2. food containing more water
3. leaves and fruit
4. Hot, pungent, aromatic
5. Sugar  ( not a food, this is more a chemical)

CONTRACTING FOOD  ( food that contract the body) are:

1. Grown in cold climate
2. Food containing little or no water
3. Stems
4. Roots growing under ground
5. Sour tasting
6. Salt. (sea salt is best )

No set pattern works for all climates and geography, so sensitivity must be developed on an individual basis. It is also necessary to achieve this balance with variety. Beans, rice and kale might fit the chart, but won’t provide proper nourishment and will soon lead to boredom. To introduce variety it is essential to be adventuresome and open minded. Try new things all the time. It’s fun and interesting, both in the shopping and the preparation.

BE REGULAR

Whenever possible, it is important to establish a regular schedule for meals. We do so within a rather relaxed time frame: 7 to 9 breakfast, 12 to 2 lunch and 5 to 7 dinner,

I plan ahead and if we are traveling, food is prepared in advance for the trip. This dedication and attention to detail adds value to our diet as it will to any human endeavor.

EATING HABITS

We cannot separate what we eat from how we eat.

It is best to eat while sitting because our body energy gaters to the center of our body, the stomach and our intestine.

Either we are sitting on the floor(cross leg) , or on our knee(oriental style) or on a chair, does not matter as long our back is in a straight position.

The body position while eating is very important. If the position is not good it means that there is a lack of vitality, or lack of appetite, or lack of appreciation, or a week intestine/digestion.

ATTENTION ON CHEWING

Chewing creates you the ability to digest food and ideas.

The more we chew, the more we digest foods and absorb ideas. IT IS PHYSICAL AND MENTAL.

Chewing circulate our body fluids. If we have some kind of unresolvable difficulty in life, chewing more makes things circulate better, and promote better thinking.

Chewing helps to stabilize the Pituitary gland wich helps to balance many functions of the body. Chweing from both sides of the mouth balance both sides of the body.

Chewing with an open mouth makes us loose energy, while chewing with a closed mouth circulate and absorbs energy.