Eating For Radiant Health

Let’s explore more closely the importance of our day-to-day food choices and the need to reprogram and retain our senses to release self-limiting beliefs and habits. Your primary goal is to get to the point where you are eating the highest quality plant foods with a large portion of your diet raw, living foods.

Although it’s important to choose healthy foods, don’t become a fanatic about what you eat. It’s what you choose to eat on a daily basis that makes the difference, not the occasional lapse. Worrying about every little piece of food that goes into your mouth is a far more harmful in the long run than infrequent splurges.

Learn to think in terms of whole foods. It’s when you begin cutting, cooking and processing foods that your system gets into trouble. Whenever you are able, eat your foods whole, just the way nature made them, complete with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, natural sugars, fibers and water in the right proportions for efficient use by your body. Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, sprouts, nuts and seeds carefully selected and prepared to suit your particular needs and desires are ideal foods for the vibrantly alive body.

You may feel that it’s too difficult to switch all at once to a new nutritional program. That’s a common reaction and that’s OK. You can break in gradually, if you wish, switching first to foods that appeal to you the most and gradually adding the others. In fact it may take a while for your digestive system to become accustomed to handling these new, whole, living foods.

Your mind may have some negative programming about your eating habits that will trip you up if your aren’t careful. The mind will always choose immediate gratification over long-term satisfaction. The mind doesn’t care if you achieve your long-term goal for a fit, lean, healthy body. The mind wants you to feel good right now. It’s important to realize that the mind isn’t necessarily your friend. You must sometimes detach from it to achieve your long-term goals.

Whether for food or something else, the difficulty in resisting sensory desire comes from the force of conditions. Every time we are negatively conditioned, we lose a little of our freedom and our capacity to choose. So begin by becoming aware of what you are eating. Eating at the table, at mealtimes and only when you are hungry, helps because you can more fully focus your attention on your food. When our attention is divided, we eat compulsively rather than from hunger. Automatic eating occurs frequently in front of the TV or at a movie theater, parties or sports events.

The entire process of eating needs to be given your full attention to get the maximum benefits. Be conscious of the hunger you feel before you eat; how the food looks and smells as you prepare it, service it and eat it; how the table setting looks; how the food tastes; the texture of the food; your chewing; your breathing and how you feel while you are eating. finally, after all this, be aware of and grateful for the feelings of lightness and high energy derived from the meal and the easy elimination of the food after it’s digested. It’s embracing this attitude about meals that enable you to appreciate simple, wholesome foods and to eat less, feeling completely satisfied. Paying attention helps to develop the capacity to enjoy the simplest foods and to be truly healthy.

Begin the retraining of your senses by eliminating things that injure your body. We put in all kinds of things that nutritionists and plain common sense tell us impair the body’s smooth functions, just because they taste pleasant. We need to reestablish that the determinant of what we eat should be our body’s needs, not merely the appeal of the senses. I have found that meditating for a few minutes before each meal is a powerful tool that fosters choosing foods that promote health and harmony.

It does seem taste buds change and adapt when we alter our eating habits. The whole grain bread that tasted heavy and grainy a few months ago may taste chewy and favorable this month. Feeling better and looking marvelous will soon compensate for the loss of dubious taste thrills of the past, such as friend chicken, white bread, ice cream, candy and potato chips. You’ll find yourself looking forward to more healthful pleasures – the taste of ripe papaya, luscious strawberries, blueberries, ripe pineapple, sweet juicy grapes, a crisp garden salad, brown rice or quinoa and steamed vegetables and sweet potatoes smothering in sauteed onions, broccoli and mushrooms.

As I mentioned above, even thought you may not be eager to overhaul your entire food program, at least start by adding more raw, organic fruits and vegetables to your diet. I recommend the following program to my clients and friends. Make at least 50 percent of your diet raw each and every day. On Mondays, eat raw foods all day until dinner and on Thursdays, raw foods all day including dinner. This simple program will assist you to bring more living foods into your diet by spacing them out over the week. You’ll feel lighter and more energetic immediately, simply from eating more uncooked foods.

Susan Smith Jones, PhD has authored hundreds of magazine articles and 15 books, including her latest, “Unleash the Power of
NatureFoods: 50 Revitalizing Foods & Lifestyle Choices”. For autographed copies, call (800) 253-6383 x2 , 9-5 mountain time or visit www.susansmithjones.com.