Back to Basics: Good Food, a Lifestyle

Open up a magazine. Pick up a health book. Diet book. Watch a documentary. Everyone has an opinion of what is Good Food.

Whatever worked for some is now touted as the next best thing. A must do for you, too. Better jump on this quick or you are missing out on something that has the ability to transform your mind, body and life.

Couldn’t be further from the truth.

And so we keep jumping on the next craze and then the craze after that one… Our bodies crying out for a consistency or just some relative peace. They want us to feel comfortable within them just like we do. And yet, we listen to an external force, bathing in an external pool of knowledge, completely ignoring our own. Ignoring the voice inside us that knows exactly what is right for us.

Let’s go back to basics of how this relates to your life. To your health and mind’s wealth.

Whatever is good for me, is not necessarily the right choice for you. We are all made differently. With different likes and hormonal signatures. What leaves me full of energy may leave you heavy and depleted… or too light, without any staying power to keep you through the day.

It is easy to judge others based on the diet we are following at the moment. Self-righteousness is never pretty. And yet, somehow we seem to inundate our every sphere of existence with the same illness that plagues religion. Creating a barrier, a separating force between each other. Instead of coming together in love, a force of unity and empowernment, construction, not destruction.

Why not, instead, try something unusual in this day and age? Why not, every one of us, try a lifestyle of eating where we eat what’s good for US? For the individual, and feel great about it?

Many will be worried at this moment, frightened to be set afloat on this boundary-less journey, so let me devise some parameters for you.  We all know specific guideliness such as too much sugar is bad. Processed foods are not the prime choice. Chemicals in our food tend to affect our own body chemistry as well. Let’s not be a slave to those suckers.

Choose a set of truths you are comfortable with and go with that framework for now, feeling free to adjust them later.

We all know that butter came back as that wild card, having been renegaded to the terrorist of our health, now is fondly accepted as a comfort to our body, and a stabilizing rock, for some, to their mental health.

Just because someone said that it is bad, doesn’t mean it truly is. The only true constant in science, which they prove with a frantic consistency, is that science is never sure of anything. Every few minutes something is proved right and then, look around the corner, yep, disproved yet again. Crazy.

So what are you to do? Press into your body and mind. Get to know those very close companions of yours. Ask yourself before putting anything into your body, is this good for me? Will I feel strong, capable, healthy, empowered, creative, etc., after I consume this item? Will it add to my life or will it take it away?

For us Christians, it is easy. Time to make a close acquaintance with the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Inquire of the Spirit, and pray to God to know and learn what works for you and what would bring life and abundance to your personal experience. Soon enough, you will be best friends!

As for me, I am done with living a structured dietary life.

If I feel like skipping breakfast, I will.

If I feel like eating a smoothie for dinner, I will.

If I feel like fasting on water or juice, I will.

Who are you to judge me? Are you the authority on my life? Nope.

I have more wisdom in what’s right for me than any of the leading bodies of knowledge put together. I do learn from them and accept ideas that work for me, but I have the final say.

The problems that arise are caused by your own disconnect from who you are and what you need and then having the necessary follow-through. Don’t ever blame others. You are not a victim.

I will eat fruit and not be afraid of the sugar. I will eat carbs, but only the carbs that are good for me. I will enjoy fats, but only the fats that are friends, not foe. I will be disciplined, but on occassion, I will indulge with a full heart.

God loves the feasts, does He not? Who am I to say anything contrary to that great institution?

This is a brand new year for, perhaps, a brand new you, a brand new life. You have the power to be in control more than you will ever realize.

Take back your power. Take back your life.

 

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Back to Basics: LOVE

Of all the needs that there are in this beautiful world, the most basic need is LOVE. I know that many will fight me on this one, citing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but I don’t care to adhere to the old when there is a need to create the new. A new perspective. A new classification. There is a new breed of people on the horizon. Change is coming. I can feel it.

Love moves us. Fuels us. Drives us. Love gives us life. You may have read the studies and experiments undertaken with infants, newborns, where they’ve come to the conclusion that a baby not only needs food, clothes and shelter, the greatest component of their thriving and holding onto life is love. Babies in orphanages have died from not being loved enough. Held enough. They were fed and diapered but left alone.

Be honest with yourself.

My baby girl in my arms, sweetest feeling in the world

 

What motivated most of your actions in life? Was it love? The quest for love? The lack of it thereof?

You cannot thrive without love. At the very least, you must find ways to show love to your very own self. Parents, who should’ve included expressing love amidst their list of duty bound must-do’s, somewhere along with “feed you, clothe you, shelter you”, for many of us have failed to include that most beautiful familial ingredient. If they missed the mark, don’t procreate this misstep in your very own family. Even if that family is just a family of one: YOU.

Learn to love yourself. Fight for that right. Take small steps in the right direction.

But I am not here just to speak my mind about self-love. We all know, especially mothers, that living life is, at the core, an act of service. We serve many. May we do so with every bit of honor, nobility, respect and kindness that we employ within our arsenal of emotional achievements.

Every human being deserves LOVE. Every human being. Yes, I hate to admit it. Even the most vile as well. I am not sure I have grown to that level yet, but Jesus willing, I will be able to surpass this human weakness. I am not being esoteric. I am just calling you to step outside of yourself.

 

We need all the hands we can get on deck, people. This ship needs her crew. Your participation in the destiny of this planet cannot be  an occasional favor you bestow on holidays. It must be your lifestyle. A lifestyle of LOVE. Huge, Messy, Uncomfortable, Beautiful and Raw Love.

You get the picture.