In my late 20s I had a bad chest infection, of which I’ve only had 3 or 4 in my whole 58 years of life. The infection was persistent, even after high doses of tetracycline antibiotics. I was feeling constantly nauseous and unwell, and was craving something but did not know what. Intuition told me that I’d find it in the Adelaide Central Market. So I went to town on market day and walked up and down the aisles of food stalls with no idea what I was looking for (and feeling a bit silly, too).
Cheese? … Really?
Something made me stop at a kind of stall I’d normally pass by as quickly as possible because they smelled strongly of dried fish, fresh oysters, and other things I can’t handle the odour of. However looking at the goods behind the glass, suddenly there was the thing my body wanted!
I still had no idea what it was. A block of some weird greyish-bluish-greenish translucent rubbery stuff, it looked more like a pencil eraser, shoe sole or ‘sea monster’ gristle than food! It turned out to be some kind of cheese, and though I was a great cheese lover then, it did not look appealing at all.
It didn’t matter, because that’s what my body wanted. I bought a piece and went off to try it. It smelled strong but not offensive, was intensely salty and had a weird flavour and texture. But my body said: “Yes!!” So for about 3 days I had tiny pieces of it, no bigger than a fingernail, and loved it!
The Off Switch
About the fourth day I got my weird cheese out of the fridge and could not bear the smell. Something in me had switched off and I felt that my body no longer required it. I had evidently obtained whatever was needed, some uncommon substance or nutrient or microbe not present in my usual food. Crucially, it had stopped the nausea completely and I began to improve rapidly. After the ‘switch off’ I tried a bit of the cheese and almost vomited. It tasted foul and intolerably salty. End of story with that strange cheese!
Here’s what amazed me ever after: how did my body know that in the Adelaide Central Market there was a food I had never seen or heard of before that contained what my body needed to restore itself after the tetracycline therapy?
Spam (and I don’t mean on the internet)
Decades later in 2011 I had another similar experience during a major illness. Again, I’d had a multitude of powerful antibiotics and my guts were very miserable. I was taking a range of probiotics and nutritional supplements, but there must have been something missing. I walked up and down the supermarket aisles ‘following my feeling’ and it stopped me at the Spam shelf.
Spam?! How is that possible? I’m a vegetarian, Spam is meat, it’s preserved and full of chemicals, which I avoid.
But it had whatever that magic thing my body wanted. So I bought a small tin of it, ate it in 2 days, and hey presto! My body got what it wanted and hit the off switch.
After that the mere thought of Spam was revolting again. I got the feeling this episode of craving Spam had something to do with sulphur, but I didn’t really make time to do the research.
Meat
I don’t digest animal protein very well. Usually meat smells, tastes and feels offensive to me. But occasionally, particularly when I’m sick, I suddenly crave meat (usually chicken) and find myself thinking about it against my mind’s will. Then meat suddenly smells good to me and I find myself drawn to the smells in supermarkets and barbecues. So I buy some organically raised chicken. It tastes great, I still have some trouble digesting it and must eat it very slowly with a lot of fresh vegetables, but it works. I know when the ‘switch off’ has occurred, because once again I can’t stand the smell of meat and I don’t feel the need for any more for quite some time.
So I’ve learned: body knows best!
By Dianne Trussell, BSc Honours; 16 years in Biological & Medical Research & Teaching
Further Reading:
The Body Knows
Serge Benhayon on Food and Diet
A beautiful confirmation that our body is much wiser than our mind.
How astute is our body as it will always tell us what is great for us to eat when we are prepared to be open to the on off switch of our body, and in a similar way to you Dianne my body would refuse to eat chocolate at times with my jaw locking up and refusing to chew.
It’s really interesting how our bodies will tell us what it doesn’t want to eat and drink. Wine for instance smells like vinegar, going down the sweets and chocolate isle at the supermarket is easy as there is nothing in my body that wants to hook me into wanting anything from the shelves. It has taken me a long time to truly trust myself and not to run away from myself by indulging in something that has a harming effect on me. I had to take a stop moment to appreciate just how far I have come from all the self abusive ways I devised to stop myself from feeling the magnificence of who I truly am.
This is amazing Diane in so many ways, but mostly that you listened to your body and followed the impulse to let it take you to exactly where you needed to go to get what it needed. It begs the question of how much medical intervention do we actaually really need when we are ill, as its quite possible that our bodies are simply lacking a vital mineral/vitamin/microbe or such like that can so easily be rectified by eating a certain food instead of swallowing a heap of medication.
I love how you follow your Intuition Dianne with regards to food and listenting to what your body needs, and then giving yourself that food with positive results. Yes, the body knows exactly what we need, all we have to do is listen.
It is a very gentle approach to listen to the body and honour what it communicates. We can tend to think the body is less intelligent than the mind, but your body knowing Dianne the specific things it needed to reverse the antibiotic after effects indicates an intelligence way beyond the thinking mind.
This is very inspiring, Dianne, as well as a confirmation of the clear body intuition we all have when we simply listen and honour what we feel. Very different to the push of some cravings that precisely suppress that intuition in the numbness we experience after eating. The more love we bring into our lives, the more discernment we have in distinguishing each one of these options we experience.
This is quite incredible that you followed your intuition to such an extent that you even knew exactly where to go to find what your body needed! We do know exactly how to heal or support ourselves through illness and live in a way where we don’t get ill in the first place. The question is, are we humble enough to listen?
It is incredible, our body is so wise, and I love how this blog captures and confirms that.
It is interesting to read how the body knows what to eat and when. I have the same thing with liver. I never eat it as a rule and then once in a blue moon and usually when I am unwell or trying to recover from an illness, I get the urge to eat liver. Then after about a day, I can’t stand the stuff again, until the next time that is.
Such a great example of the wisdom of our body and to not let the mind interfere with diet rules etc. Our body knows best and when the relationship we have with our body is one of knowing or trusting then the outcome is always honouring our whole system.
I feel a key word here Annelies is honouring, learning to listen to our body and honour what it communicates and how we feel.
I have noticed that with animals (cows or sheep), who will seek and lick some particular soils occasionally. Animals naturally listen to their bodies, we humans have kind of forgotten how to do that but as you share, if we simply listened we would be richly rewarded.
They can also seek out specific plants at times to self medicate when they have different health conditions.
Re-establish an honouring relationship with our body and we have the greatest diviner of truth that we could ask for, on hand 24/7.
Yes the body is constantly working on being in harmony and so often we sabotage that by letting our minds dictate our choices. Great reminder to be open to messages from our bodies whether we are feeling sick or not.
It is amazing how when we allow it to our body can sniff out what is needed in any situation and then when it is no longer needed that switch is switched off and the same substance can make us feel nauseous. The wisdom of the body is far greater than we are often willing to acknowledge.
Our bodies are truly amazing, and I can relate to similar examples, where at certain times I feel my body has really needed something, I was not sure what nutrient was required, but once my body has had what it was craving my body was satisfied, and settled, it feels very lovely to truly honour our bodies.
When it’s a true craving it has that off switch, if it doesn’t, chances are it’s something else we are feeling that needs discerning and expressing. Otherwise there is no off switch.
Thank you Dianne, this is always a joy to read and I laughed at your line “Spam (and I don’t mean on the internet)”. I must pay more attention to my body and what it’s asking for because sometimes I notice I feel really drawn to eating something, like lamb, and the next day it might make me feel nauseous to even consider it.
I’m pregnant at the moment. And in my first trimester – my body wanted bacon. I never eat bacon – but that’s what it wanted. So I honored it, ate it for a few months and then one day – I wanted nothing to do with it. I was amazed about how our bodies can just give us clear messages and how we can lovingly respond.
It is lovely to read about your freedom in food choices. Not constrained by what should or should not be, you are wiling to listen even if this messes with your preconceived ideas, you trust your body no matter what, and this is amazing.
It is interesting that in today’s times this sounds a little odd because we are so used to numbing our bodies that to have this level of responsivity to your body is rare. In the past it would have been considered quite normal to use foods, herbs and other sources in this way.
Using food as medicine is not new but something we have forgotten about in this age of fast food, drive throughs and loads of sugar, salt and dairy.
And as we connect to a deeper and deeper level, we will learn to listen more and more to those messages loud and clear.
Though our bodies, our Soul moves, and though this movement we are able to bring to this world all of who we are, what we are here for. This intelligence that you speak of Dianne, of our bodies, is truly one of the greatest wonders in this world, one that we would be wise to invest in to explore the extensive potential it is continually offering us to live.
If our bodies are made of particles that come from the universe, and if we can get ourselves out of the way by surrendering to living from our soul, our bodies just may show us all kinds of amazing things.
This is a cool sharing.
I had a recently similar experience where my body wanted some lamb and I denied it. So after 2 days of serving up fish, I was feeling sick just by the smell of it. I was going off my food. And funnily enough, my toddler didn’t want the fish either. So I cooked up some lamb mince, served it to both of us, and we ate it all. Now I am craving it anymore. It tells me life is so much simpler when we just listen to our bodies.
Extra-ordinary Dianne Trussel(!) and I do not say that often. When you write a book on true science meeting the whole / all I will definitely read it. It is truly nourishing to the body how you discover the meaning of life so simply through how the body shows it. I always become truly inspired and confirmed in what I have always known and felt myself.
The body can have some surprising messages when we are willing to listen to what it has to say.
As you say Dianne, our body really does know best… The thing is we have to learn to actually listen to our body, and this means listening to ourselves, and this means really starting to tune in, to everything, to the way we speak to the way we listen and to the way we move.
The body knows best in every situation. This is now becoming a regular understanding in my life.
There is an infinite amount of wisdom available to us, all that is required from us is to develop and deepen the relationship with our bodies so we can tune-in to what is needed at any given time.
Isn’t the wisdom of the human body amazing the way it tells us what it needs? The trick with these cravings we do get though is to read between the lines and understand if what our body is telling us it needs is a true need that will build us up and nourish us, or one that is a sabotage to stop us from feeling what we don’t want to feel.
This exposes the fact that the diet/food/nutrition industry does not always know best. It can be a valuable source of information, but if you use it alone, without your body, it will only bring you part of the picture. Our bodies are incredible, and this blog highlights that if we get ourselves out of the way, and trust our bodies, they will show us to take great care of ourselves, bringing us the whole picture.
I have been unwell in bed for the last few days and funnily enough have been feeling to eat citrus in particular grapefruit. It’s funny and yet brilliant how our body knows exactly what is needed and when we listen to it can truly support us.
I have had experiences of following my gut and eating something that I would never normally eat because it felt true to support my body in that moment and it still fascinates me how this is communicated but also why I am more likely to do this in circumstances where I am feeling particularly unwell whilst some of my everyday choices are less supportive for my body/gut.
It is amazing how our body knows so clearly what it needs and how often we override these clear signals and either eat things we know do not agree with us or just get stuck in a rut of eating the same things without feeling if they are what would support our bodies.
What an amazing science – following the body’s lead without judgment and prejudice and giving the body what it is asking for, genuinely asking for and not something based on appetite or a craving.
Dianne, thank you. Your blog has me wondering if when I’m in the supermarket I go into autopilot and just buy what I normally buy, and whether the same foods serve my body every time. Perhaps there is a opportunity to experiment and see what it is my body really needs.
More and more I’m observing my body’s messages that when I’m in an moment of emotional response, being invested in something and I’m not getting my way, my body sends out a signal – a kind of niggly feeling to indicate something’s not quite right. What’s become more and more interesting is that somewhere along the way – way back when I was little this signal got interpreted as hunger pains. But it is not hunger – however eating will quell this uncomfortable feeling so I can avoid the emotion that has been stirred up. The mind can play some amazing tricks interpreting what it wants on the body.
Everyday is an opportunity to develop our awareness around food, when we truly feel into what we are eating and why our whole body reaps the benefits. When we eat the wrong foods for us we are leaving ourselves open to energies that take advantage of our numb or racy state.
I am forever in awe of how our bodies work and the magic that lies therein. And I am astonished at how much we choose to negate and live in disconnection to our amazing divining vessel that serves solely to guide us to live the full potential of who we are, our Soulful light and no less.
Delicious! There is so much medicine in life if we are open to feeling and seeing it. Medicine is not just pills and syrups it is in how we live, what we eat, what we do. There is an amazing science to this.
This blog reminds me of how animals live in the wild, sourcing just the right foods for them, like a vibrational pull towards each other, everything knows how to sustain itself through co-operation or harmony.
I love the way you treat your body and life as an experiment Diane, constantly observing and testing what will work and what will not. So many of us are numb to this amazing intelligence in the body and simply eat on auto-pilot without regard for what it is needing.
Dianne I loved the way you were so connected that you listened to your body – we all have that on/off switch but we have over ridden for so many years that we eat from what our heads are signalling instead of what our bodies are signalling. Without perfection, I from time to time receive these signals from my body and I love listening to it and I know I will the more I connect with my body, the body knows exactly what it needs. The question is are we prepared to listen to it?
our bodies really will let us know exactly what is needed, how to live how to move and what to eat… Our bodies are truly amazing
This confirms that there are no ‘shoulds’ or shouldn’ts’ in what we eat if we are open to what our body is telling us.
A great article Dianne showing how the body knows best, I am amazed at how in tune and allowing you are in allowing your body to lead the way against what the mind would say. Shows how much our particles are connected to everything.
What amazes me Dianne is how in tune you are with your body; I love reading your blogs and am inspired by your knowledge and wisdom. Yes the body does know best if only we would listen.
I felt drawn to this blog today and I can see that it is because I am allowing my mind to override the dictates of my body. My body does know and if I allow it to impart it’s wisdom and honour the messages I know in my heart that this is the way.
Our body’s cravings offer us so much to learn from – and in this also, just where the cravings may come from… Are they truly supportive? Or driven by a part of us that is seeking something that may satisfy on one level – but offer complication and potential harm on another.
‘Food for thought’ – and much mastery for us all in my books, in truly discerning the difference…
It’s great to come back to this story today Dianne, it’s such a good one with such a good message. We do tend to get in a rut with food, even healthy food and foods that we know our body loves. This is a great reminder to always stop, listen and respond, otherwise we are eating like a robot.
The body certainly does know best; thank you for sharing your insights, knowledge, experience and your wisdom Dianne. Our responsibility is to listen and respond to the messages our bodies are continually sending; you inspire me listen and respond with greater and deeper self-love.
When I look this page up in google, it says ‘I have visited this page many times’… and I will keep re-reading this blog because it contains such an important message…. If we can listen to our bodies they will be able to tell us so much , but there is such a fog around this subject that the voice of clarity gets washed away in a tide of dis-information, salt and sugar.
This is so true Chris what you share: for me it is also about staying committed and consistent with knowing and choosing that there is an awareness to well-being communicated by our bodies constantly. The tidal pull towards certain foods dulls this awareness for me and dairy and gluten, plus sugar and salt are all part of what the tide dumps back on my body. This all perpetuates the cycle of dulling me down so I don’t make the choices that are true for me.
Allowing myself to eat exactly what I feel to is at times a challenge, because often this can go against the logic that I think I know and have based much of my understanding on. But what I am coming to see is how this logic was accepted without consultation with my body in the first place, so although it may make sense, it may not actually be what my body needs. And what I notice is how this polarity always creates a cross-roads moment, when I have the choice to go along with what my head is telling me or what my body is communicating.
Great sharing Dianne, the more we develop our relationship with our bodies the more intricate our knowingness becomes of what foods are supportive for our bodies according to our evolution.
Wow how much our bodies knows what it wants, it so explains why sometimes we have the cravings for some wired stuff and its just for a small moment or a day or 2 then its gone. If we stopped to listen to these we would get a better understanding of what our bodies are really needing to be in optimal health.
Every time I read this blog I just love how accurate the body can be when we are willing to follow the impulses it is giving us. And your surrender to the most awkward foods is very inspiring and teaches me to have a go, also when it is not something I expect at first hand.
It’s interesting about your feeling to eat spam. I know it’s not something I have eaten for decades, however you went with what your body was calling for. That’s inspiring to me because I can become quite rigid with myself in applying rules, when sometimes what’s needed is something totally different.
Dianne I appreciated the on/off switch analogy for listening to the body in terms of what is needs and for how long – it’s very clear.
I am inspired by the level of trust and communication you have with your body Dianne. If today my body said, ‘cheese please’, having not eaten dairy for a decade, I would ignore it which means I am allowing my mind to dictate instead of allowing my body to reveal what is truly needed. This is a big challenge for me I have just discovered after rereading this blog! And Spam, well there is NO WAY! I would need to know that it was medicinal before I ate it.
Too funny Bernadette your comment on ‘medicinal’ had me laughing. It’s been true all my life I would turn my nose up at certain items, but mostly I can feel now out of some form of snobbery. Not discerning any real truth just what-ever convenient truth that suited me for different foods. Some would be ‘health foods’, some ‘gourmet – but not healthy’, ‘qlty wine/coffee’ all based on how I wanted to manipulate the sliding scale of justification why I ate something or not.
I was thinking of this article today, the main thing that came to me was how in tune with your body you were during these moments (and probably all of the time : ) and also how you got yourself (mind) completely out of the way buying things like spam even though you were vegetarian because you knew there was something in it, that in that moment your body needed. I have been sick for the last week, my body is having a big clearing, which is a blessing but I have been absolutely floored and have gone through so many different symptoms in just as week! Including loss of appetite and feeling sick. I went to the supermarket today and I could feel my body wanted something but I had no idea what it was and because I was feeling so sick didn’t want to spend to long in there. But it has made me reflect on how in tune am I with my body and how much does my mind dictate what I can or cannot get?
I agree Vicky, I feel that the imposed rules we make about food get in the way of being in tune to our body and it’s messages. My body may want something unusual or a food I don’t eat anymore, but the rigidity of rules and the mind can get in the way of simply following through on how I feel.
Great example of how the body is able to communicate what it needs in order to heal itself, and wonderful how you allowed your body to take the lead, when it would have been really easy to override it.
This is amazing and it just goes to show when we get ourselves out of the way our body knows how it wants to move or when it needs to eat. This is also not just with movement or food but can be with anything, a job a place we need to be at. If we are aligned to truth and love our inner radar will guide us to where we need to be and what we need to do next, this is definitely I know something I can surrender to more. It also reminded me how I loved meat but became vegetarian for years completely overriding what my body needed. Years later when I started eating meat again I could feel just how much I had denied my body of what it wanted. Also what I really loved was your openess and willingness to flow (no rigidity) in that you were vegetarian but felt your body needed meat so had it for a few days. Our bodies do certainly know best.
I really love this part about the off switch, that your body gave you the message to stop eating cheese. I like this because I often override these particular messages – the ones that tell me to stop.
Not stopping eating is quite a strong theme in society, evidence by bigger servings of food and ‘all you can eat’ smorgasbord type restaurants. I feel that indulging with food is seen as a fun and often accepted social activity, perhaps even indicating that we are experiencing the ‘high life’. Overdoing it and having a sore stomach can even been seen as a type of contentment or ‘love’ (eg being overfed by ‘loving’ relatives). It’s interesting how far we have moved away from the simplicity of listening to and honouring the body, and eating to nourish.
From reading your many contributions to this and other sites I can say that you are a great and true scientist and that you deeply honour and trust the messages that your body conveys. And the greatest thing is that you know when to hit the off switch; you don’t let yourself be swayed by any fanciful ideas of what you can and cannot eat, you follow your body to a T and give it what it needs, no more and no less.
I suffered from a blocked noisy my entire adult life. Visits to my GP all lead back to an allergy to dust and pollution. A friend suggested a second opinion and a visit to a naturopath lead to the discovery that dairy, which was consumed in large quantities, was causing the congestion. The message from the body was clear and the connection with the right person has lead to a healthy lifestyle and a dramatic change in my general health and well-being.
Thank you for all you have shared here in your learning Dianne that the body makes sense. And this blog makes a whole lot of sense and should be published on a greater scale so many others have access to all the wisdom delivered here.
“So I’ve learned: body knows best!” – If we listen to it, However for years I was numb to its messages and ate whatever my mind and my eyes wanted. No more as my body shares its wisdom with me and I rarely get seduced into eating food my body no longer cares for.
The wisdom and natural intelligence our bodies hold, wow, just imagine our lives if we honoured this from day one onwards…And we have the blessing of understanding and honouring this now forwards in our lives.
That our bodies can be knowing exactly what is needed to restore balance is a powerful message, that we have the ability to listen to what our body is saying with such precision is even more extraordinary
The more I realise the rules I’d be placing on myself about food – the more playful I’m being in observing what to eat and when. Playful is far more nourishing and sustaining than the rules that’s for sure.
Oh what a wise friend we have in our body, but what a shame it is that we are not introduced to its wisdom from childhood so we can grow up respecting it, honouring it and listening very carefully to its messages. This week my message has been to eat lots of parsley, so I have, and can feel my body thanking it me for it from the moment I put the first piece in my mouth.
I love the simplicity of this blog and what it is presenting. Ideals about our diets and life really do get in the way of these otherwise very simple and clear truths of the body which it communicates all the time.
You are describing an intelligence that we all possess if we can learn to listen to what our bodies need. Its just a question of re-developing our sensitivity… and interesting to note that its well known to us all. Just consider how often this crops up with women when they are pregnant – they know what they need (no matter how unusual).
Beautiful science Dianne. And I am impressed that you did not put the weird cheese and then the spam through analysis in the lab to determine the ‘magic’ ingredient but just appreciated and accepted the wisdom of your body.
The body does know – if we don’t let the mind chatter over rule. I have been to the best of my awareness following my bodies insight to what it needs and what it doesn’t, however I discovered a big but in the way. If I stop feeling like a food I stopped eating it (I’m referring to nourishing fresh produce here). What my mind then did was make a rule of this. So then for even if I felt to eat something – say beef or even tomato I’d thought I wouldn’t because I hadn’t been. There fore over ruling feeling what my body truly needed at that moment. Like you share Diane, sometimes it only requires a very small amount for a very short period of time to offer our body what it truly needs. Rules don’t work they mess with our innate senses, which truly are wise beyond explanation.
It’s too easy to get into habits around food and what we prepare for ourselves on a daily basis. This blog is a great reminder to get connected more deeply with the body and let it choose every time.
Stunning examples of the wisdom of the body against all sense or logic. There is so much we are yet to learn but listening to our bodies through honouring what we feel is sometimes all we need.
An inspiration that we all have this capacity to have such a fine tuned awareness… just imagine if we all listened to our bodies like this all of the time.
We can work against our bodies with the many diets and ideals and beliefs we may have about food. You have illustrated Dianne how the body knows what it needs and the results are great the we listen to it.
When I read this blog I smile to myself – Spam! The trust you have in your body’s communication is extraordinary Dianne!
Yes …. Given the opportunity our bodies will let us know loud and clear exactly what we need…. Its built in!
I am so inspired to let my body do the talking. Amazing, and yet it shouldn’t be really as this level of communication is going on in our bodies all the time – we’re just not choosing to listen.
I agree Dianne, I was vegetarian for many years and when I started breastfeeding I was continually hungry. I had to listen to my body as all it was saying to me was to eat chicken, but I was so identified with being a vegetarian I had to let go of this label as my body was screaming loud and clear. I ate chicken and it is like my whole body was free of this tension I had been carrying, I felt so much better and my energy levels lifted – listening to our body is a great way to support ourselves.
When we are aware of our body and listen to it, we cannot but become aware of what foods we need to eat. I now appreciate how intelligent it is to be able to lead us to eat just what our body needs, and how it also steers us away from the foods that don’t support us.
This is a great blog Dianne, it really highlights how our body can direct us as to what it needs in order to support the body.
The key in your sharing Dianne, was that you were open to listening to your body instead of overriding it, even when the smell was unpleasant. That is an extraordinary trust in the bodies knowing and great inspiration to read and learn more about.
I find that there is a careful line that has to be tread as messages from the mind can easily be mistaken for messages from the body. When you really know what your body is saying about food, the foods you choose will be supportive – no matter what they are. Cravings however from the mind are usually there to dull you, to suppress unwanted emotions, to help you escape from the reality and the responsibilities of life.
I love how you have tuned into the food thing and knew exactly what you needed and how much – I especially love the part where you suddenly could not stand the smell nor the taste of that funny cheese again. This is connecting with the body, giving it exactly what it needs and then stopping at the right moment – something we can all re-learn to do!
I just love coming back to this blog and feeling how wise our bodies are. I have recently turned a corner so to speak and am honouring my body so much more than before. I knew I had to but had not wanted to relinquish certain foods or rather I had not wanted to feel the aliveness and awareness that I do now. Our body is like an instrument and it is up to us how finely tuned we wish to keep it. The more we allow it the more wisdom it seems to share.
Dianne – I am enjoying my pregnancy, and in that, I have surrendered to listening to my body.
I have been absolutely fascinated by how it has guided me – in movement, in exercise, in sleeping and in food.
I’ve been eating things that were not part of my diet before – such as chicken, sometimes gluten free bread, beef,or eggs with their yolks – but in this, I have really felt my body has known exactly how much to have and when not to have it.
It’s been an absolute journey and I have really loved listening to what my body knows it needs. And in every check up to date, I’ve been absolutely normal, my iron levels have not changed at all before or during pregnancy, i’ve had no swelling, mood swings, dizziness, tiredness…I’ve felt really steady in my body and have loved every second of it. So more proof that the body does know best.
It takes trust in the wisdom of the body to follow the impulses it brings us. When we let our minds get in the way then we’re lost to left-brain logic and rational thinking. Your blog underlines the importance of experimenting – always gently and carefully – with the body so that we can work with its inherent knowing and benefit our health and vitality as a result.
I love the relationship you have developed with your body Dianne, when you have such a depth of relationship with the body, there is the trust and understanding that comes along side it, and so you can really know which foods are appropriate and which are not to eat, and in what amounts, and prepared in which way etc etc. The key what you have been presenting is developing that ability to listen to what the body says and then experimenting and learning from each case. And we all have the capacity to do this.
A great article Dianne showing the wisdom the body holds for us, it was great that you were so open and tuned in to its calling.
just imagine if we all allowed ourselves to feel with the sensitivity that Dianne is writing about… I feel that the supermarkets shelves would be a little different ☺.
The body does know best! Awesome sharing Diane – you show us how simple it can be to listen to the body and benefit in so many ways. Thank you!
I just love how you honour your body Dianne; the way you listen and know what your body requires is inspirational.
For me you are a great example of how to know and appreciate the bodies natural innate wisdom.
Re connecting to this blog of yours Dianne is timely for me. I tend to not take in what my body tells me it wants at times and I realise it is so much wiser than my mind! I love the way you just totally trust your bodies guidance with great results.
As always Dianne offers inspiration that our bodies are just extraordinary, and that it is possible to tune into them in such a way that we can together tune ourselves up. It is your willingness Dianne, to actually listen that is so inspiring as well even when you stop in front of the strange cheese counter ☺ what a wonderful picture.
What a great example of the wisdom of the body. Often the body warns us about unsafe situations, that feeling we have when we have forgotten something, when something doesn’t feel right but how often do we trust as you have done Dianne? This support the decision to live from the wisdom of our bodies and to make this our way in life – Thanks Dianne
Here what amazed me Dianne, that being your bodies extra ordinary ability to discern what it needs to heal; following that your common sense and wisdom to follow the bodies lead. A wonderful inspiration.
There has been some awkwardness that I did not want to feel, so I grabbed some food to make myself feel better, and I did feel better, I felt as though the problem had disappeared and I thanked the food for it. But it wasn’t the food that made the problem go away, it was my unwillingness to feel and to see what was really going on. So the problem became buried, only to manifest itself again later on, but this time in a more intense and harder to handle way. This makes me consider that maybe it would have been simpler just to have let myself feel what was there to be felt in the first place.
The body does know best but how often do we override it or misinterpret what it is saying by listening to our mind and getting confused.
What I find very interesting is, that you don’t digest animal protein very well. In the last months I found out, that animal protein is very heavy in my stomach and I feel much lighter, when I don’t eat animal protein. There is really a big difference between animal protein and plant protein. Especially with animal protein I can overeat very easily, with plant protein not. The relationship to food is so important and I will deepen my relationship to food further and further.
Just beautiful Chris, and this synergy is available through the finely tuned instrument which is our bodies.
And it is our choice to connect with what our bodies know already, our bodies are the living scientific proof.
The human body is extraordinary isn’t it, and a delight to read how Dianne integrates her wonderful scientific knowledge with her intuitive awareness, bringing us a synergy of science and the heart, which is certainly what is needed now.
I recently discovered that yet again I was overriding what my body felt so I could continue to eat a certain food that was definitely no longer agreeing with me. This had been going on for quite a while and it is incredible how easy it was to just carry on telling myself what are essentially just lies, and believing them too. When all the while my body was there speaking the truth. I just didn’t want to hear it because the truth would have made me look at something I was not ready to see. Eventually though i came to a point when i was willing to listen, and it has in fact been very easy and simple to have a break from this certain food. What this shows me is how the mind can construct a reality that is not necessarily what we need, but will continue to live until such time that it is exposed for the lie that it is.
What marvellous and fascinating pieces of ‘art’ our bodies are! It’s true that they can guide us if we can push aside all the ideals and beliefs and just listen. It makes a lot of sense when we consider that we are made up of particles and cells etc that are all in constant communication with each other and that when all combined, they know what is needed for health and wellbeing.
On a discussion with a Friend who is also my doctor this pearl of wisdom was offered: if we have any thoughts of should and should not’s on what to eat, then how will we actually know what it is our bodies truly require to be fully nourished? As you offer Diane the innate wisdom and intelligence is in our bodies and this is our guide. Mental process or external beliefs send our innate wisdom off course, so we may think we are eating healthily and doing what is wright for our bodies, but does our body agree or are we just imposing on it?
I see so many people staunchly hold on to beliefs and ideals around food to the detriment of their bodies. And I ask myself ‘why continue to eat a certain diet if your body is showing you that your lacking in xyz, look pale and grey and have no energy?’ It exposes how much we can allow our minds to run our bodies. I love how you completely allowed your body to lead the way and didn’t go into doubt. The results were the proof in the pudding!
It has been a incredible journey of discovery in learning about letting my body have exactly what it calls for. Many times I have found myself in a tussle between my body and my mind, where in my head there are very definite rules about what I can and cannot eat, whereas my body does not seem to concern itself with all of that, and just knows what it wants. This has been very challenging for me to accept because it means letting go of the control my thinking mind has had over my body for so long. But, through a slow process of letting go and re-learning to listen to and honour the very clear signals that my body gives me, I am finding a much higher level of vitality in my days, a greater commitment to life in general, and a quietly deepening relationship with myself.
I just love coming back to this blog as constant reminder of the innate wisdom of our body and the messages that it gives us regularly, which when listened to have the potential to lead to amazing healings. All we need to do is to be prepared to listen, take responsibility for what we hear/feel, and then follow the impulse that comes from that inner place of knowing.
I have found that when I listen to my body, act on what it is telling me,, it is deeply satisfying. For most of my life I didn’t listen and has taken time and developing my awareness of my body again to stop and truly understand what it is telling me. To not override, but listen. What you have shared Dianne is such a wonderful example of how to listen and take action on what your body is so lovingly telling you.
Most people are familiar with overriding what the body is saying so they can eat what their mind is telling them to eat, usually to the detriment of their health e.g. fatty food, sweet food, too much food etc. What I love about your experiences Dianne is that you were able to do the exact opposite – override the mind and listen to your body. Contrary to popular opinion, I have found that our bodies never lie but our minds can serve up some corkers such as ‘eat this’, ‘do that’ and enjoy it in the moment regardless of what you will be left to feel later when your body registers the toxic substance and starts eliminating it from your system via a whole host of apparent illnesses. Therefore the seat of true intelligence is to be found in our bodies, for they are guided by an impulse that seeks what is best for the whole and never to serve only a fragment of this whole in disregard to the rest.
When we pay attention and listen to our body with honesty and true understanding it really does speak to us loudly. Great blog Dianne.
A great blog Diana, thank you. It is clear that the body does communicate to us, a bit like those old fashioned black and white silent movies with no talking, simple gestures that indicate and communicate what is going on or what food actually support the body. Listening inwardly and feeling the body’s ‘gestures’ of these messages, is perhaps what we do less these days, due to the bombardment of the visual feast the eyes get from all sorts of areas where food is being promoted and glorified. No wonder it is easy to over ride the messages of the body. Awesome blog, thanks for sharing
Wow Dianne, this is remarkable. How amazing, your body knew exactly what it needed and you listened. I love reading your blog. It really goes to show how intelligent our body truly is and by being attuned with it how incredible healing it can be.
Dianne what a great example of how the body knows just what it needs!
I find this blog truly fascinating Dianne, you are so very in tune to the needs of your body. I wonder how many other people have similar experiences to share. This is another one of those things we should be taught from day one and in schools that is so important but hardly gets any attention whatsoever.
We have signals from the mind that drive the body and signals from the body that the mind tries to ignore… and the latter ones are the ones to listen to.
I agree Joel it is the ones from the body that are actually the truth. So simple, the body knows what the body needs. The mind thinks what it wants to think in order for it to feel comfortable and safe. The mind only has short term relief and instant gratification as it’s requirement. The body requires long term, sustainable and supportive choices.
As simple as that Joel! Very clearly exposing how much we need to call in a force of lovelessness to dull down the constant messages our bodies show.
Thank you Dianne for a great article, it shows the body knows best if we are willing to pay attention. You show how our livingness is a science in itself, very inspiring.
I so love to read this blog, the intelligence of the body amazes me every time and it is very inspiring to read how you trusted and trust your body, your openness to follow what your body is telling you is definitely amazing!
Yes I agree Annelies. I loved reading this blog too and what Dianne shares is truly inspiring and highlighting how important and natural it is to listen to our body. It shows we have natural knowledge of what foods are good for us and what is not. When we listen to our body, incredible things happen, like the experiences Dianne shared.
The body does know what it needs at any given time and let it do all the decision making
Our body really does know what is best for us …. It’s just learning to listen to that amazing intelligence that is built in to us, and then of course , to act upon it.
Sometimes, I can use sweet or salty foods to distract myself away from what I do not want to be responsible for, such as when I have become aware of something but choose to not give my voice to it. This unspoken expression can sit and fester inside my body, and so to not feel that, I eat. So, we can clearly see here and by Dianne’s wonderful example, how by listening our bodies we can support them on many many levels of communication not only just with ourselves, but with every one around us too.
We often get these feelings with other things too. Like you get an impulse to go somewhere or do something or meet someone and at the time you might not know why but it later reveals itself. I love when this happens.
Yes it is quite something when any and all of these things happen. I also love to observe them and appreciate when they happen. Then I can confirm this as coming from my innate wisdom, which opens up to more.
Yes incredible! I’ve had some of these experiences too and I often come away feeling blown away by it. This is when I feel so confirmed that something greater is at play and God is guiding us.
This is absolutely fascinating. Hats off to you, Dianne, for not letting your mind go louder in reasoning why you should not be eating cheese/spam even though they were not what you would normally eat. I just love this playful, detached attitude of yours. Very inspired. Thank you.
It is amazing how much our bodies do know and can feel all of the time, more than what the mind can often comprehend and even imagine to understand. When know more today than ever about the nutrition of food and what our bodies need on this level but our bodies have a clear intelligence as the animals of the animal kingdoms know exactly what to eat yet they do not have the minds to know the food as technically as we do. Our minds are lightyears behind the livingness of our bodies
I love your sentence Joshua: “Our minds are lightyears behind the livingness of our bodies.” So true …
Brilliant Joshua I agree. It seems the more intelligent we think we are the further away we become from connecting to the true intelligence of our body. It’s becoming more and more obvious to me how our minds can be used to drive us into separation, from people and from ourselves.
With equal doses of playfulness and huge respect, you have shared the immediacy of wisdom our bodies have. There is no hesitation, no indecisiveness just clear signs and indicators to support our navigation through life and supermarkets! Thank you, Dianne
What is a blessing for humanity is that Dianne applies this same intuitive knowing and sensitivity in her presentations to us all on the integration of science, philosophy, and conscious presence, and religion, opening a doorway that we can all walk through and experience more of the interconnectedness of all things and with ourselves.
It is great to read about the wisdom of the body regarding food choices, especially as it is so common for people to override that wisdom. Through embracing the simplicity of connecting to our bodies and listening to them presented in Universal Medicine workshops, it has become very clear to me how our current way of life is ingrained with many social and cultural practices, beliefs and ideals created to keep us from making that simple connection and truly making choices for ourselves, while believing at the same time we are.
I loved this Dianne, other than being truly remarkable, it is an incredible confirmation that the body has a wisdom that if you allow it, will support and guide you better than the mind ever could.
Dianne- I loved reading your wonderful lived experiences of how you body knew what it exactly needed in the way of food, when you were sick. Living proof that when we truly listen within and honour what is felt our body responds positively. It is not about giving our power away to a theory or belief of what we should eat.
Beautiful sharing – listening to and connecting with our own body flies in the face of diets and fads which tell us what our body needs. Honouring our own bodies allows us to find what is right and true for us – rather than giving our power away to a theory or ideal.
Developing a respectful and attentive relationship with our bodies is really transformative. All the wisdom, guidance and advice we need is there, literally at our fingertips. Then we simply have the choice to listen and respond or not. I love the moments when my body ‘announces’ something that flies in the face of my everyday routine or practice…not only am I being offered current wisdom but I am also being invited to question any set beliefs or patterns that I adhere to without consideration.
Exactly Sarah _ I find that too, the more I listen and take action the better my body feels, my energy levels go up, and things run smoothly.
This is great stuff and supports us to make choices that are right for us. If we get practised at listening to our body and what it needs around food, we can learn to listen to our body all of the time and bring our our inner-wisdom to all aspects of our lives.
I love how you make things so clear, understandable and relatable Diane. I know exactly what you are talking about when you explain listening to your body but you really do take it to another level. For instance, you would say you are mostly vegetarian as you don’t digest meat easily but you eat meat when you feel from your body it has a medicinal purpose. You really demonstrate here it is about defying mental constructs when it comes to food and the knowing is held in our bodies. You inspire to be alert to perils, that is, ideals that can sneak in.
This blog I found very interesting. It exposes how we can use our minds to control the food we eat. When I have not been well I have tended to go for comfort foods, realised this was not supporting me and then tried to control my eating by basing my food intake on what I ate when I was well. I would fool myself after I had eaten the food into thinking that it must be good for my body because it was what I regarded as healthy! This blog has revealed to me that even when I am unwell my body knows what food is needed to support it; to listen and to trust is key. Thank you Dianne for sharing.
I find it amazing to read how you just follow your intuition and find exactly what you need, the body is a wonderful all knowing mechanism, we only need to be open to it and truly listen.
I found your blog really interesting Dianne, especially about how you are sometimes drawn to meat even though you are a vegetarian, and it helps you. The reason I find it so intriguing is because people who have certain diets to me seem to identify with those diets (such as being a vegetarian/vegan), but although you choose to eat in a certain way, you are not bound by the mind set that that is the ONLY way to eat. You are open to eating outside of what you would normally go for because you put your body’s needs first. What a novel way to approach food!
I agree Jessica. I have been a vegetarian and a vegan and I can say that I was controlling my body through the mind. I have eaten lamb for sometime now and I love it; it nourishes my body; I know when my body requires lamb… all of my body lights up and I have a strong feeling that comes from within to have some. I am so pleased that I chose to listen to my body a few years ago otherwise my body would have been missing out on this much needed food. It poses thought, are there other foods that are not in my diet that would support me?
Diane what a sensible and sensitive body you have. I am learning to listen to the discomfort that some foods bring and I try to develop more sensitivity as I go along. Our body is an amazing science instrument at our fingers tips. It is up to us to look after it lovingly and purposefully.
What you share here is very revealing and amazing. It shows that if we do not loose ourselves in the distractions of life and give room to the messages our body so clearly gives us, it is very simple to know what health choices to make.
It is incredible that the body knows that exact ingredient that will support it to be well. The thought of letting go of all ‘processed belief systems’ and just allowing yourself to be guided by your body is lovely. For it to specifically be able to lead you to choosing the right foods is like there is another form of intelligence going on!
How cool Dianne, that you listened to your body despite the cravings being quite bizarre but that your body got what it needed! There have been times when I have craved odd things and had a little and then left it alone again. I so enjoy feeling what my needs are rather than deciding what to eat from habit or practicalities or social pressures.
Wow Dianne, I will never think of food in the same way again. What was good for me last week might not be good for me today. What could be good in a very small dose might be detrimental in larger portions. The other thing I was amazed to learn is that even when I am ill, I can “follow my nose” to what I need, quite remarkable!
Very true Bernard. When we commit to truly evolving, there are no rules to follow, only a guiding impulse of what is needed in that exact moment in order to deepen and expand. Our bodies are forever following this rhythm but our minds often step in the way with their convincing display of should’s’ and shouldn’t’s, endless comparisons to others, fixations on ideals, investments in beliefs etc. and generally bringing in a whole heap of confusion in order to muddy the water and upset the flow of what would otherwise so naturally be.
Hi Dianne, I love the way you write! This blog has inspired me to start to really listen to the feedback and messages from my body. Describing these as ‘on’ and ‘off’ switches really shows what our body is saying to us. Similarly to a number of the exoerinces others have described a friend of mine was also quite unwell recently and had tried various treatments to help but to no avail. He is a vegetarian but all he could think of eating was fish – eventually he went and bought some fish and not long after eating it his health began to improve.
A friend was telling me of a similar experience. She does not normally eat ginger but found it really supportive as a medicine however if she had too much, the medicinal effect was overridden by side effects from the ginger.
This is a vastly different approach than choosing food based on taste and how amazing that weird cheese contained an ingredient that your body was calling for.
It’s so interesting the way the body knows. I have craved things in the past when I was sick and they were not things I usually enjoyed, then didn’t. I knew at the time that it must be something I needed but it didn’t occur to me that the body could be communicating this all the time if I would only listen.
This is a great example of listening to the body when it comes to food. I have found the messages to be the strongest, or it could be I am more willing to listen, when I am unwell. Ealrier this year I was suddenly unwell and spent the night in hospital. When I returned home I really wanted chicken soup which was made. Someone said to me ‘what are you doing ..you don’t eat chicken?’ But I knew it was what I needed. I ate it for about 6 days and then after that no longer felt like any and haven’t since but I could feel how supportive and nourishing it was at the time.
Absolutely Dianne I can’t argue with that! Body does indeed know best, we may play tricks with ourselves and attempt to convince otherwise, however put something in it doesn’t in fact need, it will let you know it.
I absolutely agree Dianne – the body does indeed knows best. We actually respond to our body’s messages all the time but often don’t appreciate, one that we are doing this, and two that our bodies are reflecting to truth of what is needed in that moment. Like we when we feel the cold we put more clothes on. When we deepen this awareness and connection to our bodies we can then begin to realise and appreciate the gift our bodies truly are to us. Our very own living markers of truth guiding us to live harmoniously.
I heard a similar experience a woman had when she was pregnant. All she craved was cabbage – she later found out it had a lot of Vitamin K which was something her body needed during pregnancy. What your story highlights for me is to really listen to the body and honour what it feels even if it is wanting you to give it food outside of your usual dietary requirements. It usually is a short term as you found Dianne. Sometimes I find the short term requirement is an opportunity to be honest about why I am craving a certain food which can be very healing within itself, even if it is not a certain microb the gut needs. It is very sweet to read how you knew where to go even though you didn’t know what you were going to buy. There is so much more going on that is quite profound.
Yes, there is a connection in pregnancy that really does not like to be messed with when it comes to food choices. I have a friend go for chick peas and parsley by the bucket load in pregnancy – perhaps looking for iron? I have also had a friend wanting to eat junk food incessantly and while there may have been good reasons for this I suspect they were not medicinal. Pregnant or not pregnant we are all faced with discerning between our cravings and the wonderment of our bodies true wisdom.
Thank you Suzanne, awesome sharing about the food cravings. It is really amazing to learn to listen to my body and trust what it’s telling me. Sometimes I get missed messages and that’s because my thoughts get in the way and I can then go into doubting what my body natural needs and is communicating. I love reading about topics like this because I am learning to listen to my body more and more. By truly listening to our body this can be very healing and like you said quite profound’.
Dianne this is brilliant what you have discovered about the body sending messages as to what it requires to heal. This is powerful what you have presented and shows a loving choice to respond to the body.
How extraordinary that the combination of biochemical, neurosensory, physical, and clairsentient awareness all takes place within this amazing vehicle that we inhabit.
This is an amazing account of the body’s wisdom, and the simplicity of following what it is telling us. I’m curious to know what it was in the cheese that worked for you Dianne! This also blows out the window all the various diets around…considering our body knows exactly what is going on within it at a cellular level, then it makes sense it would be the authority on what is needed – it just means our minds have to let go of the control whilst we work with our body.
Its amazing how your body knew what food to eat as a medicine not an indulgence.
Holey Mackeral Dianne. That is amazing ! It’s so incredible how we know exactly what our body’s need. No one in a million years would have guessed that the cheese is what was needed. Then to have the ‘off switch’ be so unmistakeable in not needing it anymore. Incredible. We are incredible.
It is interesting the beliefs and the relationship we have built up around food. Reading your blog reminded me of the ways in which my mother would try to get us to eat all of our meals, one of her regular sayings was ‘Think about the starving children in Biafra’, for me this didn’t have much effect because I ate very small meals and couldn’t physically eat any more (which my mother acknowledged), but other members of my family did go on to adopt the ‘eat everything on your plate’ belief. I put this down to my parents being brought up in the war and being very poor during and after for many years – it just goes to show how these eating habits get passed on and why.
I was brought up similarly to you Julie when it comes to eating everything on the plate. But to encourage us more if we did eat it all we were given desert. So I use to hold my nose as that was a way of not tasting the foods I didn’t want to eat just so I could have desert. All this did was teach me to override what the body was telling me about certain foods.
When you put it like this Dianne, it makes me appreciate that our senses are so much closer to the super-powers we read about with superheroes and the like. What if there are more of these super-powers we have but have until now overlooked?
Dianne this is quite amazing- often we would let our minds override this very “strange” impulse but you didn’t! It just shows that if we truly feel into our bodies they talk very loudly and clearly -we just have to listen!
How amazing to eat in this way. Knowing what your body needs and eating accordingly and in the frequency and qualities too. This presents a whole different level interaction. It asks us to be open with our communication with our bodies and give it the authority. As a poised to the recipient of the minds dictatorial ideas. Thank you Diane for presenting another way.
Beautifully said Concetta. We are asked to have an open conversation with our bodies. Our bodies would be the most reliable source of intelligence on the planet. Why wouldn’t I listen to my own innate intelligence as opposed to the thoughts of what cultures and societies believe is normal with food and beverages. Looking around at the well being of humanity gives a very good clue about which path to choose.
I am blown away reading this Dianne – it has given me a lot of food for thought! I have always been the exact opposite – had a cast iron stomach and could eat anything, anytime, anywhere. Fortunately, my father was a fisherman and my mother was a great cook – grew her own veggies and had chooks, so we mostly had a very good diet – apart from the homemade cakes, tarts, etc. which always came with copious cups of tea with sugar and milk! When I married my husband was vegetarian so the ‘healthy’ theme continued with a different flavour. It was not until I came across Serge Benhayon at Universal Medicine that I realized that for me ‘healthy food’ has been based on a baseless foundation of ideals and beliefs. What really stood out for me was when Serge said “We should eat to live – not live to eat” – that was the beginning of my making changes with my relationship to food, however, I must confess it was mostly in my head and not coming from my body but I am working on it!
I agree Jane “…we are blessed to be in a body that knows exactly what is needed..”
However, I have found it doesn’t necessarily always follow and we can be found to be sabotaging the truth that we know within. Why is this so I wonder, is it that at some level of awareness we are choosing to override how wonderful we feel, and assess that that is too good to be true and thus allow that less than truly loving part of us to decide to dull that feeling of amazingness. I am still learning constantly to listen with more awareness to what the body is telling me so clearly and choosing to not have that ‘light’ feeling thwarted by other thoughts that seem to come in from the mind. I find the whole exercise quite fascinating – especially when the result of overriding the body’s clear message comes with some extra sinusitis or feeling of bloatedness just to remind one of the inappropriate choices taken in that moment.
Wow Dianne, the body does know best indeed. I just need to listen to it a bit more.
There is an infinite knowing that we can easily tap into, if we just trust our innate wisdom. I have had similar experiences with clothes!? I have literally felt my way to where I would find the exact piece that was right to complete an outfit…and been astounded by the accuracy of this intuition.
As far as food shopping was concerned I had made it such a mental process that it felt horrible. I would literally draw up a table (on the printer) then hassle all the members of our family to fill in what they would like to eat for breakfast, snacks and lunches for a week…all the while…never mind, I’m feeling exhausted just thinking about it…
Thank you for simplifying something that we all have to do: feed ourselves…and on that note, I am going to cook myself some salmon for brekky xX
Dianne, this is an amazing story. You inspire me to try to develop the same kind of communication with my own body. I know there is room for improvement.
An inspiring blog to tune in to the communications from my body as to what will support me. I have gradually been making changes to what I eat and drink by choosing what I know my body is asking for. I find it fascinating that some things that I once perceived as a luxury now have no appeal at all.
What a great account of your journey with seemingly ‘odd’ food choices Dianne. Such a confirmation of the body’s deep knowing intelligence and connection.
” … how did my body know that in the Adelaide Central Market there was a food I had never seen or heard of before that contained what my body needed … ”
That’s truly intuitive to find what was needed without consciously knowing it, I love it! Just shows that the recent studies demonstrating that the heart is aware of things before the brain/mind realises, are spot on. Here’s to more studies deepening this relatively unknown fact until one day it is accepted as just a normal part of life.
It is so good to come back and read you blog again Dianne – and I can fully support and attest to your last sentence : “So I’ve learned: body knows best!” I have learnt that too and it is awesome when we listen. Thank you again, great blog!
Like Brooke I am also amazed at the depth of communication you have with your body Dianne
I keep coming back to your blog for a reason and Im quite sure it is because I have much to learn from you.
As I have said previously I am inspired by you and am much more aware of listening and being in tune with my body.
Dianne, I do find this blog and this subject amazing. For most of my life the food choices I make have been mostly based on what I think I would like to eat, regardless of the messages coming from my body which I learnt to override from very young. There seems to be a kind of freedom in the way that you approach food, a freedom to choose without judgement of your choices because they are coming from what your body is asking for and how perfect that you would then listen, this must also develop such a sense of self worth.
Wow Dianne, this is so powerful. I’m really amazed at how in tune with your body you are and that it communicated with you so profoundly.
Thank you Diane Trussel, this is a great blog to read, as it demonstrates how the body really does known what it needs. I see that the key is not to over indulge in these cravings which could create new habits, and to honor the ‘switch off’ that happens when the body says its had enough.
I love reading you blog Dianne; what a wonderful example of truly listening and responding to what your body needs.
The way you listened to your body and followed through is awesome
A testament to our intuition and our listening to our body being the way to truly take care of ourselves and be where we need to be. Just love this blog.
Dianne I am amazed by your story and how tuned into your body and trusting of your body your are. I can imagine my mind would have interfered and overridden the spam and the rubbery looking cheese. The quantity of food in the fridge is also an interesting point, and something I habitually do. On the occasions when I’ve alalowed the fridge to be more empty it is a relief, and much easier to be organised. You have given me much to ponder.
The body knows best! I love this blog. It is really inspiring of the extent to which we should trust it and how much we can trust ourselves that by doing something we do not usually do, we will not get trapped into it.
Fascinating Dianne! Just fascinating how if you really listen and don’t let your mind get in the way how wise we really are, let the body lead the way — and that isn’t licence to eat 10 donuts! That’s the point though isn’t it that we need to be living in a way that we respect and treat our bodies as precious things that are wise and can lead the way.
This is lovely Vanessa: “to be living in a way that we respect and treat our bodies as precious things that are wise and can lead the way.” Yes to honoring the wisdom that is innate in our bodies and connects to our natural intelligence from our hearts. The mind is another tool and important in function, but not the originator of intelligence SB. http://bit.ly/1A2p1KQ
We have picked up so many ideals and beliefs about food and eating. 3 meals a day, don’t waste food bought or left overs even if our bodies do not feel like eating it. For me, there is a particular one which is to always hold myself back just in case. This pattern has not allowed me to fully feel the trust with my body and hence with myself, to others and of course to food and to life. When I build the love and trust with myself, I can further trust the choices of the body, and there will never be any perfection, but it’s ok and I keep learning and feeling how foods affect me. This way I am truly living a relationship with life, and I am loving the simplicity of it.
It is true Adele, I find myself eating aligned to ideals and beliefs. But the body has another language. When I am truly listening I follow a different way, which is very healing.
I love what you have shared about the wisdom of the body and its on off switch – we just have to be willing to listen!
I have had the occasional strange cravings but had never in the past paid much attention to them. In the last few years I have listened to what my body requires rather than what the mouth wants. How does a dog know to eat grass when they have eaten something that doesn’t agree with them? With what I have seen dogs eat… it’s hard to imagine what they would not eat.
Steve, animals are a great example when it comes to food. I have observed dogs that simply know what to eat and not eat, when not to eat something that is a little old/off and when to stop eating even if there is still food in the dish. I know not all dogs are like this but there are many animals that really do adhere to the wisdom of their body and do not stray.
How wonderful to read about how our bodies can be so finely tuned, about how one can attend to the directions of the body despite what the mind or thoughts are saying. Could it be that in our bodies is an innate wisdom that, when attended to, would be able to guide us with clarity into an ongoing re-connection with our true selves?
Hi Dianne, wow! I hadn’t read this specific blog before and so enjoyed reading it.
Your story takes me back quite some time when you speak of listening to the body and what it was telling you in relation to what it was needing – and this awareness of the imperitiveness of ‘listening to the body’ was quite lost on me all those years ago as I yo yo’d with every ‘diet’ created by man searching for that elusive ‘thing’ that special ingredient that my body was so desperately in need of. What I have learned over time, and only since my connection with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, that the ingredient that my body was missing back then was not a special cheese nor spam, it was ‘self love’ – interesting food that, ‘self-love’ especially when the body feels the consequence of it not being taken seriously. But, I have digressed from the essence of your blog – awesome read, I love and learn much from it. Thank you.
Roberta, I feel for me there is a lot in what you say… nourishing our selves with self love directly relates to the nourishing food eaten. The more I feel connected to me and honor this the easier it is to listen to what my body needs and respond to that.
What a beautiful story about the power of the body that knows. And now I think about it I have these experiences too, buying a food that is not in my normal diet because I feel my body would love it. I do know that I not always allow myself to buy these foods because of the held belief I have about certain foods, that these are not ok for me to eat and sometimes I ignore the ‘stop’ moment, that I so clearly feel but continue to eat a food that no longer supports me. This tells me that there is still a lot to learn for me about listening to my body. I want to thank you Dianne for sharing your story on this site because it feels very supporting for me on this subject in my life.
It is quite astonishing what the body knows. For me I had to learn to discern what reason i was craving something. If I was ill it would be quite clear, but when feeling great I would find myself craving something sweet, which was weird because I have never really been a sweet tooth. So I pay attention – where is the message coming from? If it is not truly from my body and therefore something I need, I discount it as a distraction to deepening my connection with myself. I also have to be honest – thank goodness I’ve never craved spam!
Dianne I completely agree that our bodies have the most amazing ability to tell us in detail what they want to eat. My body loves leafy green Asian vegetables but is very specific about which one it wants. I have to refer back to it constantly because it changes all the time. Similarily to you if I try and eat something that it hasn’t asked for I can actually feel my mouth tighten and my body contract in the way that a childs’ does when they refuse to eat.
Alexis your awareness of how your mouth tightens and body contracts when you eat something the body hasn’t asked for is great. I’ve observed this in children and understood this is the start for overriding their natural intelligence for the foods they need and the quantity. I’m going to observe more closely the more subtle signs (i.e. tight jaw) that my body just doesn’t require what my mind thinks it does. Thank you.
I agree Sue and if I don’t listen, boy does my body tell me! She is very loud and relentless in showing me when i am not choosing to love her, I love my body because she keeps me in line!
Love this Dianne, I have not heard anyone share in such a way about listening to their body and what their body is asking for. It has your scientific expression all over it and i really enjoyed it – spam and all!
When I used to crave cheese… I would eat the whole platter, literally! The day I decided that I didn’t want to have dairy anymore, I couldn’t stand the sight or thought of it being in my body. I’m quite amazed at how this could be. I guess I knew the harm it was doing to me and just felt so much better without it.
It is interesting how our bodies call to us and let us know what they want, I have felt this regularly throughout my life and not just with the stuff that does not support me. I have had big impulses to eat greens, any greens, I would become rapturous about rocket, spring greens, basil and spinach, my body felt to eat them I went on a search! I continue to read what my body impulses, or prompts, it is interesting and illuminating to do so.
Samantha I love the feeling of joy as you describe: “I continue to read what my body impulses, or prompts, it is interesting and illuminating to do so.” I can feel the fun and playfulness in the discovery. No rules and must do’s or don’ts, but wonder and curiosity.
This blog and all the comments has certainly changed for me, food just being something i did for enjoyment and for sustenance to something of a science and worth a lot of consideration and feeling into.
Dianne what great examples of the body’s communication, and your willingness to actually listen to it! I have had similar examples, and chicken was one of them too. Having not eaten it for a few years I found myself suddenly completely craving it, tasting its’ smell wafting from one of the passengers on the bus coming home from work one day. I automatically just knew I had to buy one for my dinner even though I already had something prepared, and I knew it had to be certain type of chicken, french style, the message I got was quite precise. I ate it all and it tasted so great. So the next day I went to buy another piece for lunch, and ate a mouthful and could not bear to eat anymore, I was ‘done’ with chicken. Great post on the importance of the body’s communication and intelligence. And the power in responding to it.
That’s great Zofia. It has me recognizing that more is not better and stock piling doesn’t work. Go with what I feel to eat but don’t commit to eating it again, just because I felt to once.
Great chicken story Zofia – it shows the importance of listening to our bodies even in regard to totally healthy food. Let’s bust the myth that listening is only required for things you know are not good for you!
I have a meat off switch too- for many years my body has also been very keen to tell me when it has had enough red meat – it can go from tasting amazing and delicious one day to smelling and tasting like smelly old socks the next. On occasion chicken can taste great too but again if I have it from a thought or belief that ‘I should eat it’ then it tastes like chalk. More and more I find in particular with meat I can sit back and wait until I feel like I need the grounding and nourishment it can offer – fortunately it is one of the more obvious communications around food I am given. Vegetables can be similar but the taste and texture are less offensive, instead I find myself force feeding some vegetables and then I know to let them go, or I am disinterested in them when I am shopping. I also suspect there are a few vegetable slipping through that are borderline or are okay occasionally. I love how Dianne makes it a fun and flexible exploration.
What a great topic to discuss Dianne, as food plays a huge role in our lives, either supporting or not, generally the latter is the case for most. I too can relate to when your body says, I don’t want that anymore, it’s like there is just this off switch inside that tells you, I don’t want that anymore and there’s absolutely no draw to eat it at all. I am still refining my choice of foods for my body though as at times I eat healthy foods, but not the combination or type of food that may have been more supportive for me at the time. It’s a great indicator of needing to go deeper with that part of my rhythm so thank-you for the timely reminder.
How completely refreshing to read your blog about following what food your body needs and not our head and thoughts. Our body seems to have an infinite wisdom, thank you Dianne for sharing your insights.
Really feeling what my body wants is quite a novelty for me so it’s great to hear what everyone is saying because it will give me the confidence to allow this to be. I will try the paperless supermarket shop and see what ends up in the trolley.
I had similar experiences as Dianne, though not quite as pronounced. It was more around pills – vitamin pills and similar – I always knew which ones were right for me without having tried them beforehand. That cheese story is amazing!
My life and health have completely turned around through listening to the messages that my body gives me.
Our bodies really do know best, and all around the world bodies are having to yell louder and louder to get peoples attention, until the sound of the combined voices of the bodies of the earth will be heard saying enough is enough.
Keep writing Dianne Trussell as what you say ALWAYS makes sense to me.
This blog when it first came out was life changing for me and I keep going back and re-reading as it has truly given me permission to go with what I feel when it comes to food. Instead of putting my head in the way as a filter system I just surrender and eat whatever it is I feel my body is asking for.
It has been an experiment and I totally get the “off switch” thing as once my body says enough, no more it’s like I have a brain change. It’s out of my orbit and I don’t think about that food or have it anywhere on my radar. Amazing really.
Our body is so intelligent and this is all new for me as I have made the choice to keep suspending all my beliefs about food and what I should be eating and not eating. I reckon it’s going to take a long time but I am committed even though I get it wrong at times.
I agree Bina on all accounts. Yes Diane do keep writing as it makes sense and de-bunks old thought patterns that don’t serve and aren’t digestible either. What is digestible is a nourishing diet based on wisdom and connection with our bodies. As many are contributing to this blog the body knows, we just have to listen and activate from there. Giving the head a permanent holiday when it comes to knowing what is best for our bodies is another essential ingredient.
Wonderful Dianne. I love that you never doubted the wisdom of your own body even though so much of the Science training (I experienced) aims to discredit that kind of inner understanding. How much more grand would Science become if we brought back the greater dimensions into the picture and not discount such observations but rather explore more deeply.
I really appreciate this blog as it confirms that it is important to just allow the body to choose. I would like to add it is not always a clear and simple choice, for example when I crave sugar, I know I need to rest and rejuvenate. It is actually my body craving rest and my mind coming in and saying I have to get this or that done, so have sugar, even though it was not what my body needed. This is a simple example yet there are many others just as important about distinguishing what my body needs and how my mind can override it and extends beyond food to other aspects of life. For example, when running late, anxiety can build and what is needed is for me to come back to a feeling of presence and purpose in my movement and not go into a rush, even though my mind might be telling me to hurry up. So there is a great depth to exploring what is being presented here and how our bodies can make present choices to us how to live all the time.
Well said, Simon, I know that craving for sugar – I stopped eating refined sugar years ago but every now and then a craving hits me and it happened for me early in 2015, when the weather was cold – I’d stopped eating carbohydrates in the year before but my body was fighting the cold and I gave in to cravings for sugar – it was obviously not what my body needed as it put on a stone as a result. I increased my carb intake and the sugar craving stopped within 24 hours, and then, being less racy, I was able to look at why was I feeling so exhausted, and began to work more on my daily rhythm and sleep patterns. I’m still tired but am letting go of the belief that I need so much food to replenish my energy. Instead I am working on other restorative means, e.g. resting more, being less anxious, appreciating me, breathing gently. Binge eating was a way of life for me and sugar my main addiction – it still calls me now and then so I have to not keep anything sweet in the house and I avoid going to places where they sell gluten-free cakes.
I love your blog Dianne, especially your surprise at your body’s wishes, how awesome. I have found that in emergencies the body cannot be ignored, it is loud and relentless in it’s message. But with building a connection with my body I have learned my body ‘orders’ its’ food and drink, rest and activity on a daily basis. Simply listening to this has made life much easier for I do not need to figure it all out in my head. My body navigates and supports me in making loving choices.
Carolien I love how you have described “my body orders the food and drink it wants”. As in any brilliant service sector if we truly listen then we will return to the customer (our body in this instant) what it has truly requested. I have the funniest image in my mind…If I was wait staff and a customer ordered a meal it would be fairly standard to have that meal prepared as per order. You wouldn’t start a debate with the customer saying ‘no why don’t you have another dish’ etc. When you don’t receive your correct order you tend not to return to that place. So as you offer why would we do this to ourselves when it can be so simple to listen to our bodies first?
The wisdom of our bodies! I love it Dianne. Once we can learn to distinguish between a true need by the body versus a craving to tantalise our taste buds and get relief from our lives, then our body becomes our greatest communicator and an asset to our healing process.
Well said Penny. Diane is amazing, how she was and is able to listen to what her body actually needed and then she was able to register the off switch. This is very different to the tantalising foods that our taste buds crave to get a relief from life or when we want to dull ourselves. A great sharing Diane – thank you.
I loved this article Dianne, it so simply states in the funniest way one of our lost talents…
Sniffing out and honing in on what the body is directing us toward and being open, even if it’s smelly cheese.
I had a similar experience a few years ago when my body craved the taste and texture of mushrooms. It lasted about 5 weeks. Everyday after work I would buy 3 white mushrooms and eat them raw on the way home. Then the need disappeared as suddenly as it had happened. The body knows best.
There is a lot of wisdom to be gained with what you share Diane.
Listening to the ‘enough’ single in our bodies is a very important one.
Whether it is as you describe for a very short time, to everyday portion size and when a food previously eaten and digested starts to not digest so well.
Knowing when enough is enough is a very important part of our personal health care.
Reading about your experiences with food made me smile Dianne, it felt so liberating. Spam and weird cheese are unusual foods to add to one’s recovery, but they obviously contained the missing ingredient for your body. What struck me was how you stopped eating them as soon as the body gave you that message – enough! There is much here from the comments too that absolutely confirms the wisdom of the body.
Thank you for sharing Dianne. Similar to what you have found I know that when I listen to my body instead of my mind I often end up feeling 100x better. A great example of this is my breakfast this morning; I looked in the empty fridge with dismay – a lonely tuna can sat in the fridge door, so my first instinct was to grab it and fry something up quickly with spring onions or egg. But that was all from my mind, and after listening to what my body truly wanted I took the extra time to defrost some salmon pieces I had found in the freezer and make a stir-fry. It took much longer, but it sure was delicious and I felt much better after.
Dianne I can relate to your sharing. When I was going through chemotherapy, my body would crave foods that I would not normally eat, including chicken (I was a vegetarian at that time), potatoes by the truck load (my feeling is that I needed the potassium), garlic bread (which I never usually ate) and various other foods that were unusual. There are all sorts of foods that people say to eat, not eat, when you are having chemotherapy. However, I ate what I felt to eat because my body was giving me very loud signals and thank goodness, I chose to listen. This memory has stuck with me and now I try to work with the same sense of feeling what to eat opposed to what ‘I think’ I want to eat. The body gives us very loud signals if we choose to listen.
I love this, it shows again – the wisdom and intelligence of the body goes far beyond what the mind can know.
This is such a great blog to re-read as there is so much shared in the comments and expanded on in regards to food and our relationship with it. Thank you Dianne for making the science of it all simple!
How fascinating Dianne, your willingness to simply observe and feel and honour that feeling is inspirational.
Diane this is the second time I have read your blog on trusting your body to know what it needs to heal. At first I was a bit unconvinced but put it to test recently after a bout of vomiting. Although nervous about eating, I craved something sweet and salty which are foods I normally avoid as they don’t feel great in body. Well after some bacon and sweet fruit, I felt much better so you are right our bodies do know if we are willing to listen.
Dianna, my mind can easily override what I feel in my body, listening to my body regarding to food is still a challenge. So thank you for sharing your experience here in following your body and listening to what it has to say, the body knows it all.
Dianne, you are a walking writing treasure. Its like the perspicacity of your perception of quantum physics is translated into an olfactory /palate /metabolic translator that is so delightful fine tuned as to be an inspiration to us all. Imagine all of us prowling around supermarkets and markets waiting for the exactly right input of what to eat for our precise bilogogical condition … a wonderful image!
l love your blog Diane. On many occassions I have had similar situations with foods. Recently while at the supermarket I was walking down the aisle unsure of what I was looking for and there was a very different vegetable that I had not noticed in any market before. I took it home and prepared it for dinner and it was delicious to me although no one else seemed to enjoy it, it felt very light in my body. It was taro.
Thanks Dianne for a great blog, I have always been amazed when I have taken the time to listen to my body, like the time when I was a vegetarian and I was breast-feeding and always felt hungry. My body was craving protein, I finally listened and let go of my attachment to being a vegetarian, I started eating chicken, and I felt so much better and had more energy too. That was a great lesson for me to always listen and to honour what our body is telling us.
Whoa Dianne. That’s super cool to hear about and leads to the point that diets don’t work as our body is forever going through cycles of things we need/don’t need. It’s amazing that you can follow it so directly and hey presto what you eats helps you tremendously.
Thank you for sharing such wisdom, Dianne, this is very inspirational! I have a long way to go when it comes to listen to my body regarding food, but with your story and all the comments, I am inspired to go deeper with this. I used to be a vegetarian for about 9 years, but started eating fish again in 2008, and somehow I must have listened to my body then, because I love fish and eat it almost every day. A few days before my period, though, I find my body craves more than what it does other times.. – it’s time to unravel the underlying cause here..
Hello wonderful Dianne I had so much joy to read your blog – I loved to read that our body knows best – I know it for myself but to read that you as a vegetarian are eating meat because your body needs it is very inspirational!!!! That is a very good example what it means to follow your body . . . Thank you so much for being so joyfully honest.
Very inspiring Dianne! To allow the mind to actually heed the body and not the other way around. Thank you!
I love what you are presenting Dianne. It is so true that our bodies provides us with the best scientific proof of all that we need. All we have to do is listen and trust.
Gosh this was a great read somewhere between a detective novel and a thriller. Not only very entertaining but thought provoking too. I also often know things that the mind couldn’t possibly explain – how could I know that – but we do, we have access to many things that are way beyond our little minds.
This is so interesting Dianne. Living science in action.
Insightful blog. Let the body speak. It just requires from us to be connected to our body and listen to it, even when it goes against what we are use to, ‘against all odds’.
A great article Dianne. This sounds like evidence based research to me. The body is feeling rough and not in full working order, something is missing. You listen to your body and ignore the chatter from your head and introduce an ingredient to the body and it returns to a harmonious way of being. Result. The experiment is repeated with slightly different symptoms and the body calls for a different ingredient, it works again. Result. We do not give our body credit for knowing what allows it to work in harmony and so frequently our mind can dismiss these messages because of so-called ‘learned knowledge’.
This is a science study in itself on how the body knows best if we get in touch with and don’t override what we are truly feeling by what we think we should do.
This is a very interesting story indeed and a powerful reminder to “listen to your body”. Thank you Dianne for writing this.
It is so easy to let the mind override what the body is saying to us. Dianne this is a great example of your body telling you what it needs and you actually listening to it. I’m sure my mind would have tried to override the feeling to have spam!!
Dianne what a great blog, I absolutely love how quirky our bodies are and this also came through in your blog. Lots of fun…one thing that came up for me when reading your blog was that I often override what my body wants as I get stuck eating similar foods. Tin tuna is some thing that I eat a lot of and I often catch myself eating when my body is clearly saying no that’s not for me…so a bit of food tuning in for me.
Awesome blog Dianne and the awesome message that you deliver; that our bodies know best, but first we have to listen to them…. I began listening to my body when I became ill several years ago, (which was the big ‘turn my life around’ moment). During the time I was off sick, I got a clear message from my body which was, no restrictions to my diet … but I was a vegetarian and had been for some 14 years. What to do? For the first time ever, I listened to my body. I was drawn to some chicken next day at the supermarket, bought it, cooked it, ate it… and my body loved it, so I continued eating chicken for all of that year. I started to eat a little beef then too, and lamb. I found my body loved lamb and still continue to eat lamb, but not beef and very rarely chicken It has been my experience that the body knows exactly what you need and when and for how long.
Wow! That’s a fascinating turn of events. The body is just so unbelievable if we let it do it’s thing.
Thanks Dianne for your blog it opens a whole new way of looking at food as a medicine for our intelligent body.
Wow awesome blog Dianne, it really showed me that our bodies do know best.
I love the feeling of what you propose Alison – everybody in the world simultaneously listening to their bodies. The world would feel and be a very different place.
Great honouring of your body Dianne! It is amazing what it tells us. Sometimes my body craves tomatoes, then I cannot stand the smell, taste or texture of them and years go by before my body needs a tomato. I haven’t eaten meat for 25 years but lately, on occasion, that is what the body wants. I do not add salt to my cooking but, especially in summer, my body wants extra salt so I will add some to my diet. The body IS truly amazing.
It’s so simple really … heed the clear signals from our body and override that skeptical, dismissive mind (instead of the (usually) other way round!), and you feel good, love it! Thank you indeed!
A beautiful sharing of how the body knows best, if only we listened more.
A simple message “Listen to your Body” that contains so much wisdom.
If everyone in the world simultaneously listened to what their bodies were telling them the world would be a very different place. We may even evolve as a race! Now that would be something!
Learning to listen to my body is still something I am gaining confidence in. Some days better than others, depending on how connected I am feeling and the awareness I have in that moment. This is a constant work in progress which I am dedicated to unfold with, it is bringing the love to this process that is key, knowing there is no perfection and loving myself even if I make a choice to not listen to the wisdom of my body, but knowing in the very next moment I have the ability to make a loving choice immediately after that. How cool is that.
Any time I start ‘over thinking food’ I feel the essence of what you shared Dianne. Then I choose to bring how I feel in my body in the forefront of the decision process instead of the forefront of my mind.
Definately Sandra. I’ve experienced this recently when noticing that my body was not liking my favourite food. It tastes great as always but my eyes would feel foggy and I’d have a stream of mucus. I know it’s that as when eating other things it doesn’t occur. My mind wants to carry on regardless but my body is giving me a clear message to stop – early warming signs!
Thanks for your blog Dianne. It’s amazing how the body knows what’s best for it, and how often we override what the body is telling us.
I have often wondered where the common phrase ‘follow your nose’ came from & I feel you’re onto it Dianne. It’s so true how clearly and loudly our body talks to us if we allow ourselves to listen. We are so conditioned to not listen to the body but instead listen to others or research, or the so called experts. But right under our nose resides such wisdom.
I can very much relate to the story you share here Dianne, often eating foods and not knowing why, but clearly feeling that the body has asked for it.
Thank you Dianne for sharing – this is an inspiring and humorous blog showing how much our bodies know. The key is to pay attention as to what is needed in any moment.!
So glad you shared these amazing experiences. The intelligence of our bodies is amazing.
I love the simplicity of this blog. I can still feel how strongly I at times adhere to the rules I have around food instead of the freedom to just be still and let my body choose. For some reason I had the idea that the body was something to deeply distrust, that the mind had to rule over it as if it was a separate part and knew better. Perhaps this was just a reflection of my relationship to myself in general, however over time I’m learning to just go with what my body indicates and drop all the knowledge about “what’s right”.
I love this – a great insight into one woman’s journey with food – thank you Dianne. It makes me wonder what the body does if we override these simple signals? Surely they must ‘bank up’ in some way. Very interesting indeed.
There is no doubt in me Amelia that ignoring and overriding these signals definitely ‘banks up’ and congests both our bodies and our lives.
What a gorgeous blog! Not only is your body so smart it knows what it needs but where to get it! This just proves we don’t need to follow the latest nutritional research or diet to get what we need. Your experience also shows how what we need is constantly changing. We just need to keep up with the messages.
I love how you bring it all back to the body. How amazing is that to live true body science!!
Wow, Dianne, I love your super clear funny come-to-the-point style of writing! Awesome You!
I really love reading this blog Dianne, thank you so much for writing it. A real life confirmation that there is an all knowing wisdom in our bodies and if we’re willing to listen, we can know exactly what it is that we need. It’s also amazing that both times with the cheese and Spam you were feeling unwell. I always find that when I am unwell I am acutely sensitive to what I need. The fact that your body knew what foods would support your healing process, again is mind blowing.
This blog made me laugh Dianne – how ‘absurd’ and ‘illogical’…how perfect and sensible. I love it that a scientist knows when to get her head out of the way and listen to the real ‘boss’ (the body!) True science.
Yep…the body holds the true science and is the REAL BOSS. It may taste good in the mouth for 2mins, but what does the body say an hour later!
Thanks Dianne,I love your blog
What an amazing vehicle the body is; your blog has inspired me to listen at a deeper level to my body
Thank you Dianne
Dianne I was truly transfixed by your story. It just shows us that if we really do listen deeply to the little messages our body is sending, wonderful things can happen. The body can really prescribe its own medicine.
What an awesome blog Diane, thank you. Our bodies are amazing and they communicate so clearly ~ we simply just have to surrender and listen.
It’s true our body is the greatest science we have.
Diane, I love what you’ve shared, Simple yet Powerful. Bringing it back to the body without arguing with beliefs and ideals in the mind. Body knows what it wants so keep it simple follow the body! Thank you.
I loved reading your article Diane. How awesome is the body, great things happen when we are connected and listening with ears of love instead of listening to the mind which can lead us astray.
I so enjoyed reading this again and lots of the comments too. There is a sense of freedom and space in this blog – surrendering to the body and letting it inform the mind feels so vital and refreshing….even if it does lead us to smelly cheese on a rare occasion.
How amazing that when you connected to your body in full it walked you straight to what you were needing. A confirmation of your connection and commitment to oneself.
Brilliant Tracy – Connection and commitment to oneself = Connection and commitment to ALL.
Katrin, that is a great spark of honesty you have shared. Our body is a 24/7 constant committed companion, always telling and showing what is going on.
You have reminded me I can be a bit selective, about when and how I stay tuned to what it is I am feeling in my body.
I love this Dianne, very playful. Yes the message is simple! And so can life be, if we listen to our bodies
Dianne I love your blog. It shows so obviously that concepts made up in our mind do not work (e.g. ‘being vegetarian’) and that we don´t need those either. We have the best marker with us, always, 24/7 – our body. As you say our ‘body knows best’.
A good illustration Dianne of the importance of feeding the body what it needs at any given time
Learning to listen to our bodies and not overriding it with our minds is a really difficult thing to do. I know for me it is something I am re-learning, as I have allowed my mind to make decisions on behalf of my body time and time again, that my body has struggled with the after effect of those choices. It is something I continue to feel into each and everyday. Thank you for this great story of how you really have listened to you body.
Raegan I have experience the same and I know that when I listen to my body, that it then makes it easier to listen to the next time it is telling me something. Where did this overriding energy come from? And for me it’s well overdue that this be nominated and called out as not being me. Trusting once again the intelligence of my body.
I love it Dianne, you really show how deeply we can listen to our bodies. Complete trust and connection can lead us to the healing required.
Very true, very inspiring and very magical how our bodies can navigate us!
Thank you Diane, it is very clear that the body knows and it is about honoring that knowing.
Dianne, I have to say you have really shattered a silly belief system of mine based on a need to stick with a certain diet that works for me without exception or deviation. I love how you just completely trusted your body to know what it needed, regardless of what you usually felt comfortable eating, and was shown how perfectly it suited you at that time. It gives me a new perspective on giving myself a break and being more lenient with my food choices (within reason) in an experimental way, to see and trust what my body is asking for in every moment, rather than eating certain foods out of obligation (as in “well, it’s here in the fridge so I better cook it up”). This is liberating for me and beautiful to see how our body always knows what it wants to heal itself.
I am hearing you Michael, my silly belief system about food is in a million pieces on the kitchen floor. I better clean it up and put it in the bin where it belongs.
What a great story. Its very liberating to not hold on to: ‘I don’t eat that’… when your body is saying that you need it to feel better. Its very inspirational.
How amazing that the body will always know what is truly right for it!
How can you argue with your very personal experiment on the body knows best and then trusting what your body is telling you and actually following through. Great story Dianne.
When people used to tell me, listen to your body, it knows what good for it, and what is not.
Eventually I listened, and boy what a difference it made. I feel totally refreshed, have more energy, and have dropped a few pound(Kilos) without trying.
When people used to tell me, listen to your body, it knows what is good for it, and what is not.
Eventually I listened, and boy what a difference it had made, I feel totally refreshed, have more energy, and have dropped a few pounds.
I tend to get the same old list of foods without considering what my body wants. I know what I get is healthy and I usually like it…but not always. I know I’m mostly shopping and eating with my mind and can be influenced by the latest health food trends. After reading your blog Dianne, I’m going to trust my body a lot more and see where that leads.
Dianne I love what you have shared in your article and the extra snippets throughout the comments pondering on food and eating. Allowing your body and your observations to be your living science. Beautiful…
Dianne what an awesome blog – I loved every bit of it. I have similar stories to yours and constantly am in awe of my body and what it knows – often well before I do. It is my biggest teacher and protector, it knows when not to go to that party or get in that car or check on the dish that is about to set the kitchen on fire, seriously that has happened. Our bodies do not get anywhere near the recognition and attention they deserve. I have been to University and have what is described as an intelligent mind but I can honestly say nothing is more intelligent than my body and when I listen to it I always come of best, when I don’t… well that is another matter all together. Let’s just say I have learnt to listen to my body as it definitely does knows best.
I agree Caroline, the body knows it all, the trick is listening to it
Love your blog Dianne – so easy to follow the body when we listen. Sometimes I feel there is something I would love to eat again and I might try a little bit. Often it doesn’t taste at all any more how I used to remember it tasting, and then the ‘off-button- gets activated again. Thanks for sharing.
Dianne what an inspiring blog. Listening to your body’s signals and trusting what you intuitively felt to eat. How easy it can be to override the body and choose what we think we should eat.
Dianne, that’s a super interesting blog. Makes me wonder, because when I am sick I always think that I don’t know how to look after myself or what to eat… Might just try and trust that my body can show me..
Diane I really appreciate and enjoy following your blog and the deeper levels of awareness that I get reminded I have with-in me.
What you share here is an absolutely beautiful and simple point of wisdom:
“I wonder if I should eat this?” Aha! Doubt! Gotta look at that…. If I have to ask the question, the answer is already there – I doubted, so it must be a wrong choice, coming from my mind and emotions. Something in me knew already.”
I’m going to use this from now on as my wisdom detector support.
Indeed our body does know best! I’ve had similar experiences with food as well over my lifetime and have often felt very sick from eating something that I thought was healthy but not what I felt my body truly needed (and ate it anyway!)
Awesome Dianne. What absolute trust in what your body is telling you. I too have done the same thing with food, but have not admitted it in public, because of feeling guilty about eating what is on my/others mental/acceptable ‘no eat’ list!
Quite a few people have commented on the ‘cravings’ issue – when’s a craving really a true need by the body for nourishment, and when’s it an unhealthy craving for something harmful or even addictive? Tackling this one myself, I notice that there is always (if I’m alert for it) a tiny voice that tells me instantly if something about my impending choice isn’t right for me. It’s so fast, it comes even before the mind could have time for a thought. Then the mind will make a thought like: “I wonder if I should eat this?” Aha! Doubt! Gotta look at that…. If I have to ask the question, the answer is already there – I doubted, so it must be a wrong choice, coming from my mind and emotions. Something in me knew already.
Awesome. Thank you for pointing this out Dianne. It is very true also to my experience and relates not only to food choices. When I am not alert and ignoring the little voice I feel, how any thought then can come in to counteract what I initially felt. A timely reminder to honour my first feeling by allowing myself the space to feel it clearly.
Dianne and Sarah, what you have both shared is great – thank you. My awareness to the little voice has just deepened and as you say a thought/doubt comes in and then the head is running the show. The split second I’m thinking the connection to the true impulse is gone.
Great point Dianne as we could easily go down the path of using our cravings as an excuse to eat something that is not going to nourish our bodies. Why wait to feel the discomfort in the body after eating from the head, when we can simply make the choice from the intelligence of our body. But hey, when I do eat from the head or to counter an emotion or numb to not feel, I cannot escape the results of my choices that are there every minute of the day with me circulating my body.
Great point Dianne thank you; I will use this to help counter the voice that tells me to eat when I know my body isn’t asking for food.
THIS IS SO TRUE Dianne, so true. Doubt as the great telltale. Creating the spaces for those micro first thoughts to get more airtime is massive – with space comes clearer, more loving choices.
Diane I love the playful way you tell a story – and you are so amazed at the marvelous workings of our body. I even had a chuckle. The body we have is divine – it knows what it needs and can support us to get it – even if it is spam!
Amazing Dianne, to listen to your body and act on it to that degree. I think if it had happened to me I would have said to myself …”.Why would I want to buy that it can’t do me any good?” and ignored my intuition,yet you knew Dianne that your body knew best and that whatever was in the cheese was what your body needed to heal. Thank you Dianne for sharing, very inspirational.
This is such a fascinating blog Dianne and I just have to share how inspirational it is for me to see how you allowed your food choices to come from your body – and importantly, you weren’t hard on yourself (or your body) for wanting something that you normally didn’t eat or that you said no to something your body craved for a belief that there was some reason why you shouldn’t. Love this – Thank you.
Awesome and playfully written article Dianne. I remember reading an article somewhere that the bacteria in our gut put out chemical signals to our brain that greatly influence our eating habits. Essentially when we are satisfying a food craving we are actually satisfying the cravings of millions of microorganisms that live in our gut and are telling us what they want to eat. That’s great, because now I can blame my corn chip addiction on those little buggers in my gut!
Marshall I love your hilarious reference to corn chip addiction! Seriously though, it’s true. If we have unfriendly gut bacteria or protozoa (little parasites with wiggly tails) that want carbohydrates as their energy source, they can and do corrupt our thinking and make us want their treats…. Not only that, but they steal our nutrition and energy supply, leaving us needing more food and calories. This highlights the importance of keeping your gut flora in good shape by choosing the healthiest ways to drink, eat, going to bed early, reducing stress, proper hygiene, taking probiotics after antibiotic treatment, etc. Our ‘friendlies’ actually thrive on very healthy choices and foods, and will keep the ‘little buggers’ at bay!
Thanks Dianne, this is huge when you think of the number of antibiotics that are prescribed throughout the world and certainly a follow up of probiotics was never suggested to me.
So true Dianne…I have experienced this myself…a parasites’ diet is different to my version of a healthy diet, but when they invade in high numbers it absolutely corrupts the intelligence of the body…its like a computer virus that just takes over!
Great analogy Marika. It is a form of corruption. My experience, in the past, has been one of allowing the corruption by the way I was eating in the first place. This was very much contrary to what my body would have chosen. So my lack of listening and respecting my body set up the entire problem in the first place that then made a very happy playground for the ‘little buggers” that ask for more of the same please.
Ah…the vicious cycle! Stopped by common sense and care for this body as outlined by Dianne.
Interesting blog! I used to have very clear “green days’ when, rocket, basil, spinach , kale, etc it would be a deep craving and they would be consumed and I would feel more balanced. It felt like a very clear message to eat greens…and then there were also the chips and cheese days and then my body would feel sleepy and numb and I would have less anxiety for a short time…I am learning to discern what my body requires and what is actually provoking the particular craving…it is interesting what comes our way through our internal impulses, if we are open to the impulses they can tell us and show us so much about what we truly require and how we really feel. Thank you.
This blog blows my mind, your ability to listen to your body astounds me and is really inspiring and educational, thank you Dianne
Hi Dianne, this blog keeps coming back to me as I find my impulse to eat certain foods varies, and I have to discern if it is what my body actually needs or what my mind thinks I should eat. Either way I am learning to be more accepting of where I am at in terms of what I eat – if I am craving and eating more fruit, I know I’m tired and need to look at how I am living that’s making me tired. When I’m working in the sweet shop serving fudge and I start fancying the fudge, then I know I’m really tired and needing a sugar fix. I can resist the fudge with ease, but there is still an occasional calling from chocolate . . . I eat some and then don’t touch it for another year or two. Looking back at the times when I’ve eaten it, it is when the weather’s been cold and wet, or I’m travelling by plane, so there’s a pattern.
That’s great Carmel! Good science you are doing there, paying attention and consciously looking at what your observations are telling you. Recognizing patterns is a scientific foundation for understanding nature’s workings. I’m sure you will have lots of eye-openers and fun as you continue exploring your patterns with regard to food, and will learn lots of useful human physiology and behaviour and how they connect to the rest of nature. Nature (of which our body is part) is our best teacher, after all !
I love the way that you honoured your body and didn’t allow your mind to influence your decisions – I feel I can go forward with a deeper understanding of how my body supports me to make the most loving choices.
Thank you Dianne for this sharing.
Just this morning I was going for a walk. In my mind I knew where I wanted to go, but my body almost pulled me a different way. And so it made me wonder – if we get our minds out of the way, does our body then completely know what to do and what it needs. It feels like a HUGE yes to me.
Your example of food says it all – that we should allow our bodies to choose whats needed, and not our heads.
There has been a lot of talk about how Universal Medicine ‘tells’ people what to eat. But that is not true for a second – and my feeling is that as I listen to my body more and more – it is the only thing that can tell me what to eat. And as I trust that more and more, I find I’m drawn to foods that support me rather than foods that just fill me up. It is a beautiful cycle to be part of.
Hannah thankyou for putting this truth into words. I appreciate the honesty it brings and the light that shines on what I’ve only allowed myself to slightly contemplate –still trying to keep the truth hushed from myself!
“And as I trust that more and more, I find I’m drawn to foods that support me rather than foods that just fill me up. It is a beautiful cycle to be part of.” This is a gem!
Wow Dianne – this is so interesting, how things (taste, smell, etc) can change depending on what your body needs. If this is natural, then how is it that we can then override it and create an idea where you can eat everything, except if you’re allergic to it?
It is natural, Jessica. Animals have it ‘down pat’. I love to watch chickens foraging. Even when there is a big pile of something yummy that they like, they will just have some and move on. They wander this way and that, having a bit of various things. And put a mixed meal in front of practically any animal, and they will use their noses to determine which thing to eat and ignore other things, even if they are edible. And that choice changes according to what their bodies need. Dogs, however, like we humans, seem to have the ability to override their bodies and sometimes eat foods that are not good for them, especially if their human companions are eating it! As human beings, we can often over-ride our bodies and eat something we want to, and we can also force ourselves to eat something we know isn’t right for us. Both these put enormous stress and tension into the body. It’s no wonder the whole of humanity is in a mess right now.
Dianne love your observations about how animals discern what they will eat from all that is available to them.
Thats so cool about the chicken thing, I have noticed how chickens forage but never really thought too much into it. My dog is a very choosey eater though and never overeats.There is a specific type of weed that grows in England that she quite often seeks out and eats which has always intrigued me. I did try collecting a bunch of it for her but she wouldn’t touch it coming from me. She can’t have needed what that weed had to offer at that specific time. Thanks Dianne I always love what you have to say
Kevin what you said reminded me of a Blue Heeler dog I looked after on a farm for a month while her owners were away. She had a delicate tummy. She also had lots of psychological damage and was fearful, aggressive, loud, wilful, stubborn, disobedient and quite difficult to manage. She clicked with me, but boy was she a handful! She was not allowed out into the paddocks with the horses and cattle, and stayed around the house yard. But one day I felt something was wrong, even though she didn’t ‘tell me’ what it was. Suddenly I felt what it was – she needs grass! The house yard was full of grass…. so that was an ‘odd impulse’ you might say, not logical at all. I took her out into an empty paddock where fresh grass was growing. She became very gentle and looked at me gratefully as if she knew we were doing this especially for her. She dived onto a particular little clump and ate some, but not all of it, and began looking around. I could see that the grass she ate was subtly different from all the others she ignored, and went off to find some more. When I found some I’d call out ‘Ruby, here’s some’ and she’d come bounding over. She never ate more than a few blades from each clump. (I guess that leaves the grass alive and strong.) She knew I was helping her by finding her special grass and we shared a very lovely communion together ‘on the hunt’. It shows me that each living being receives messages from its body about what it needs AND messages from the food about which one is right AND how best to use it. It shows me that we can feel that in others too. We are all connected.
What a lovely experience and confirmation of the potential of the connectedness that is between us, our food and others. thank you
Diane thank you for the continued wisdom you share on food and All Beings ability to inately know what we need to support us. It is the listening to the nautral intelligence with- in that feels importtant. The dog and the chicken stories are delightful,and humbling that a chicken has more natural smarts that a human.
Wow, Dianne, just WOW
How about a lizard story? A little off-topic, but perhaps not. I used to do field ecology with my partner on the home ranges and food preferences of wild Sleepy Lizards (aka Shinglebacks, Stumpy-Tails). It was an art catching them to glue transceivers on their tails! One roasting, shimmering, dry, hot summer day, we were sitting on the tailgate of the HilLux having lunch. Out of the bushes toddled a wild lizard, who came straight towards us. She stopped fearlessly at our feet, put up her head, flicking her tongue and practically begged to have some of our juicy yummy lunch (stewed peaches). I’ve never seen a totally wild animal come so boldly and with no fear take food from our hands and sit there eating it at our feet. She had smelled water, and fruit esters indicating the energy she needed, and she would overcome any obstacle to get them!
Here’s an aspect of listening to my body that I feel to share – the fun of it!
Most people like pleasant surprises? Well listening to my body’s messages about food has certainly produced some of those, like a lucky dip every day. It can lead to new recipes and food combinations I had not imagined before.
I enjoy experimenting with what my body needs to eat and I ask “OK body, what now?” when I prepare a meal. Sometimes it’s a particular veggie from the garden or different spices. I listen and stir through what my body is telling me. The result is exactly what my body wanted, AND delicious, despite the sometimes odd combinations of ingredients. My body is a master chef and I’m just the kitchen hand doing what I’m told!
Dianne that’s lovely. I often wonder how it was found that various foods were edible, should be cooked etc…presumably like this, by people who were doing what you are doing now, letting their bodies be their guide.
Interesting Dianne. I used to follow recipes really precisely and the result would be a scientific concoction, not bad tasting but a bit mechanical. Now, I would feel more into the process of cooking what I would like to taste and how my body feels. I love the humbleness you have with your body when you prepare your meals !
This is lovely Dianne. Being open enough to ask your body what it needs and going with what it shows you. I find it difficult sometimes to really know what my body needs and eat what I feel like eating-not always what is needed.
I too love to cook by feeling my way and experimenting…I never measure things, but how the food looks and smells seems to guide me to know what to place in the pot and how much. I have definitely come up with some great recipes this way. I love your line…’My body is a master chef and I’m just the kitchen hand doing what I’m told!’
I love this blog, I come back to it to remind me to feel first, then eat, not think about food for ages before the meal or just enter the kitchen and cook out of habit. It also reminds me I can break the rigid rules I have made for myself about food.
This is such a great reminder to trust our intuition and follow our own body wisdom. Thanks Dianne.
Totally Elaine this should be a part of the curriculum in school across the world. The Body’s Wisdom.
The power and intelligence of the body is awesome and staggering and I see how few people listen in the way that you do, Diane. I imagine if people were able to listen to their body, there would be less of a health crisis as there is.
Your blog continues to support and remind me to listen to the wisdom of my body, Diane, this is a great healing for me after a life time of rigid diets, thank you.
Dianne. Amazing how the body talk to us, letting us know what is right and what is wrong in what we eat. It’s a process of elimination and finding the foods for our body eventually.
That’s an interesting observation Dianne. When I first heard that the body knows best and that it is capable of communicating with me, my first reaction was – what? Pure science -fiction! But as I steadily observed how my body reacted in certain situations and to foods that I ate, I began to have an understanding of what that communication looked like. I still sometimes eat things that my body does not like, but it is relentless in its honesty, if I keep the dialogue open.
This is a great blog, Dianne. It helps to truly start to listen to one’s body and not rely on what we think the body needs, should eat or should not eat. It feels likely that being overweight or dealing with other digestive illnesses would lessen with having a deeper level of self care.
I agree Kerstin, well said.
Great example Dianne of the fact that our bodies are speaking to us and teaching us many things all the time if we but stop and listen to them. I would say from my personal experience of my own health and also from being a health professional and witnessing many patients that developing a strong loving connection with your body and awareness of that ‘conversation’ with your body is the key to good medicine and good health and wellbeing.
Dianne is quite amazing how your body showed you what foods it needed and then by staying listening to your body it also showed you when that food was no longer needed. Even things you’ve never heard of or eaten before!
Great point David and it also told Dianne where to look for the food that was needed!
Thank you Dianne for a great confirmation that the body knows best and speaks loudly to us. I have become closer and closer to my own body and listened more and more what it had to say. I have also come to realise that my mind/head has been ruling me for a long time and the teachings of Universal Medicine has helped me to connect and feel my body and who I really am.
My ‘scientific feeling’ is that there are 2 kinds of nervous tension associated with hunger, food & eating.
There is the natural biological one that is designed to ‘amp’ us up to go out and hunt/search for food, which requires a higher level of alertness than just sitting around.
Then there is the modern life nervous anxiety that is ongoing whether we are ‘out hunting’ or ‘just sitting around’. It seems to cross over and inappropriately trigger the genuine biological feeling of needing food. It’s like getting the wires crossed when you hook up a trailer to your car: you put your foot on the brake and the trailer’s indicator light comes on!
The mix-up between the normal biological tension and the modern life tension and how they impact our eating behaviour goes to show how unnaturally we are living.
Another interesting view of this process is that in modern life we don’t actually have to go and hunt/gather to get our food. It’s just a lazy, barely conscious stroll to the fridge or pantry, or into the nearest cafe or supermarket. That makes it dreadfully easy to respond to the modern life tension by eating, rather than looking at where the tension is coming from!
Perhaps that’s where the ‘stop and come back to yourself and be honest’ method can be of most help to us. Hungry? Stop! Am I really hungry? Am I tense and anxious? Why? Is it the normal tension of being very hungry and needing to fuel my body, or is something else going on? If I bring myself back to stillness, does the hungry feeling diminish? If it does, then boy oh boy, does that tell me something!
I also noticed within myself a few years ago that I’d eat at the first feeling of hunger. As if it is a matter of urgency to eat the moment a real, genuine hunger is felt. But physiologically, it’s good to be hungry in a cyclic balance. Not to be hungry all the time, refusing to eat when you need to, and thus depleted of energy; nor to be full all the time and never feeling hungry. It is natural and healthy to be hungry for a while and then eat the right amount of the right stuff. Then our body is in balance and knows where it’s at. We can then be healthier, neither too fat nor too thin, neither sluggish nor nervous, with a level of alertness appropriate to each situation.
Thank you Dianne this is sooo useful. I love the explanation of the cyclical balance. I have been so easily caught up in the urgency to eat. I did smile when reading about the ease of strolling to the fridge – it reminded me of the animal parks where they hide the food to encourage the animals to use their skills to work out how to access it.
This Dianne is such great advice! I am seriously one to grab grub as soon as I feel hungry but by waiting a while there is more chance of feeling what I actually need instead of just quickly filling a hole. I love how you bring science into everyday life with so much ease and practicality.
Hi Dianne and Rachel, thanks for bringing in the link of nervous energy. Recently I have relised that the URGE to eat is triggered by being in nervous energy. Understanding this feels like the start for me to go deeper into why am I in nervous energy…it’s an unknown area at this stage cause it’s pretty well masked and suppresed with eaing as a way of dealing with it. Time to explore what it is that I’m really needing – it could be very simple and even fun.
Thanks Dianne, its always great to get the ‘science perspective’. It is very interesting to know that we don’t need to eat as soon as we are hungry and that it is better to wait a while. This makes sense as it probably gives us the opportunity to feel what to eat and how much to eat.
A dear and wise friend directed me to your blog post Dianne and I have to say it is a breath of fresh air to read it. I have scoured the comments as well only to find more gold nuggets of inspiration. Your words clear much anxiety I have had around what food choices to make. The understanding I have come to from reading this is to ‘use your body as a compass’ when it comes to food and I get the feeling that the more that I commit to listening to my body the clearer I will hear what it is truly saying.
For too long I have put ideals based on what is ‘good’ for you, ‘good’ for the environment and ‘good’ financially ahead of how my body feels. I look forward to seeing how my body responds as I honour it and how it feels above all else.
Heartfelt thanks for sharing your insight.
Beautiful Marian – “For too long I have put ideals based on what is ‘good’ for you, ‘good’ for the environment and ‘good’ financially ahead of how my body feels. I look forward to seeing how my body responds as I honour it and how it feels above all else.”
Thank you Dianne for your explanation of the cyclical balance. You are bringing my awareness to a very common behaviour. I used to rush with my food when hungry and I still catch myself doing it from time to time.
This is so true Dianne, the ease with which we get our food has made it so much more likely that we eat even when we’re not hungry. I rarely stop to ask myself ‘Do I really need to eat now?’ or ‘Why do I feel the need to eat now’? Snacking can be a problem too, the stomach isn’t given a chance to rest in between meats and it can be a way of numbing the body so as not to feel. I agree with you when you say ‘its good to be hungry in a cyclic balance’ Often we want instant gratification, wanting it, whatever it is, now! Your sharing exposes how modern life is dictating our relationship with food. It is also a contrast with Sierra Leone, my country of birth. Traditionally, we eat a lot of rice, fufu (from fermented cassava), yam, rich stews cooked with palm oil and a variety of very nutritious greens, meat and or fish. All fresh, nothing processed. But quantities of food eaten at a single sitting ( for those who can afford it) can be excessive. I have often felt that for Africans living in the west with kitchen aids and who can casually stroll to the fridge there isn’t a need to eat such heavy food and in large quantities. When I attend family gatherings, I have the occasional taste, but rarely cook traditional food at home. I can appreciate the difference between my life here and the lives of many Sierra Leoneans. Life is precarious, still very labour intensive and physical: people grow their own food, walk to market, walk to school; pound yam and cereal in mortars, wash clothes by hand, clean homes with out electrical aids-their diet reflects the energy expended to grow , harvest food and carry out daily tasks. It isn’t the case for those of us who now live in the West. Here it is about feeling what we need to eat rather than eating foods because it’s custom or tradition.
Thanks Kehinde, very interesting reflections about your experiences. I studied ecology at uni and we did a thing called ‘energy budgets’ for animals including humans. Basically, for a healthy, living creature the energy they take in from food is balanced by the energy expended in collecting it and living. As modern humans with food and other resources ‘on tap’ we have indeed broken that balanced input-output relationship, with dire consequences. Coming back to feeling what our bodies really need and are asking us for, is the road to recovery for the western world in our food choices.
I had another realisation around overeating very recently. I am prone to going into nervous energy and anxiousness during my day. My understanding is that the bowel/digestive system and the nervous system are very much connected and related to each other in the body. Apparently when we begin to feel hungry we can feel a heightened nervousness, so as a natural response trigger I tend to over eat to stop feeling the nervous tension. I have watched myself do this… when I am hungry I feel the nervousness increase from a level I am already in and there is a relief of it from eating… I’ll often say to myself… “that feels better” because I have quashed or dulled a layer of nervousness. To now know that overeating is just the symptom of the nervous tension and really what I need to look at is why I allow nervousness to be part of my day.
This is gold (I do this too), thank you Rachel.
I have a history of poor digestion and a very dodgy digestive system. Sitting with a friend and her family at dinner last night, my dear buddy despatched her entire meal before I had consumed 10% of mine. This was brought to my attention when she sat back with a groan and said: ‘I ate so fast, crazy, look, I’ve finished mine and you are hardly into yours, why do I do that?’ She was remorseful about the amount she had eaten and the excessive speed with which she’d eaten.
It feels to me that a sense of urgency and over-eating are often driven by an anxiousness, the feeling of always being rushed and the sense of wanting to finish and perhaps escape, needing to fill the emptiness or eating to keep ourselves protected etc. I made a simple comment about my own slow eating being to appreciate every mouthful, while giving my sensitive stomach time to process the food…
Then this morning I had a realisation of a deeper level, that I wasn’t really aware of before. The slowness of my eating allows me to sense when my body has had enough DURING the meal instead of too late afterwards. I was giving myself TIME to tune into my body even during lively conversation, and know when to stop putting fork to mouth, and pack the rest of the meal for another time, or not. There’s always the chooks who provided the eggs for dinner, and would appreciate my leavings.
I’m far from perfect in eating the perfect amount and don’t always do so, but now that my awareness with this has jumped, I’ll pay more attention and do it more often with more consistency. Another great idea from my good old, eternally-wise body!
I have found that eating with chop sticks slows me down and ensures I pay attention as I negotiate ‘loading’ the chopsticks and then getting the food to my mouth. It also gets me considering my food at the cooking stage, when I cut up the ingredients and decide how to present it.
But considering whether I should stop eating during a meal is a whole new ball game – so many old patterns of needing to clean my plate. Many thanks to you Dianne and your ‘good old, eternally-wise body’ for adding another dimension to mealtimes.
There is a lot we (I) can learn here, thank you Dianne
Thank you for opening up this topic more this morning Ariana. This is exactly what I’m noticing in my body, the want to keep eating even when I can feel that my stomach is full. Other times though, I have eaten but my stomach hasn’t really registered the fact and I’m wanting more food.
I love the science you live Dianne. So full of love and joy that can be felt in the beautiful way you write about it. I am still smiling about medicinal Spam…hilarious.
A few years ago, well after I had stopped eating beef I was walking down the meat aisle and my eyes landed on a particular cut of beef…one specific package to be precise. I could not look away, so I bought it and cooked the three very tiny pieces of meat over the next three days. My mind went into a bit of confusion (but I don’t eat beef!!) but I felt great and whatever my body needed was supplied by those little pieces. I have had no urge to eat beef since that time…but if that happens again I will not hesitate to do it again.
What an awesome blog and comments! The words, ‘The issues of food scarcity, overeating, reward, etc passed down the generations. There’s both the direct ‘growing up with it’ thing, and also the epi-genetics of inheriting in our very DNA the experiences of our parents and grandparents. All set to screw up our attitudes to food and make it a difficult emotional and mental issue instead of a natural body process!’ really stood out for me.
The other thing that came up for me was having to eat everything on your plate. I didn’t get the ‘think of all those starving children’ spiel, but was expected to eat everything I was given to eat, as were most children in those times. There was no ‘listening to my body and what it felt to eat’ encouraged. No wonder food has been central to so much of what I need to unravel for myself.
This brings attention to the role parents have in starting their young one’s relationship with food. Having the body guiding the ‘what’ and ‘how much’ we need to eat is there as a guide for all from birth and shows how vital it is for parents to respect and nurture this in their children’s lives as well. To eat for true nourishment rather than for reward, to celebrate, to appease, to numb or out of habit is definitely not the way to go for ANY BODY.
It feels great when I listen to my body and eat from there. I have however noticed that when this happens I can then try to control things, so if I skipped breakfast as I wasn’t hungry and felt great for the morning, I will tend to want to hang onto this feeling and so I will think, ‘I mustn’t have breakfast anymore’, instead of feeling each moment what my body wants. I have been learning to allow this rather than control, but it’s a tricky little trap sometimes!
I can very much relate to this Laura. When I make a true choice because of what my body is telling me and I then feel great I can very easily go into thinking that that is what I need to do or can do all the time. This is then a controlling thought from my head that imposes on my body what I think is good for it! This does not work.
I love this article and its story illustrating the intelligence of our bodies. In my case, I just have to be careful to discern if what I might be craving is true or part of an old pattern of eating for comfort or to numb myself.
This is so true Carmel. I had been craving lamb for a few weeks now and kept feeling unfulfilled by what I was choosing instead to eat. I didn’t go with the lamb as I had eaten this in excess previously, due to the comfort and numbing you speak of, however on this occasion it is what my body needs as after a blood test my red blood cell count is low – even more science here as you state. It really is about discerning (lightheartedly) why we are wanting to eat certain foods and listening to our bodies intently. Our body does show us the way.
I love the way you express here Dianne it is so refreshing and I love how you show us how the body does really know best. Awesome.
Hi Dianne After a week or so since I read your blog I’ve realised I’d not fully appreciated how amazing the knowing of our bodies is and how amazing you are to go with what it was telling you. To know to eat that weird cheese you’d never eaten before, where to get it and for how long to eat it is remarkable.
Thank you for sharing. You’ve made me appreciate my body does know what’s best for my body far beyond what limited knowledge my mind may try to say otherwise with.
That’s it Karin. A particular food may be for a particular time and it does not mean that we need to eat like that forever. To stay stuck in one’s diet, eating the same things in the same way for a lifetime without checking and refining our diet, stops us from evolving.
I regularly get cravings for broccoli and when I eat it, it just tastes like the best thing ever. Exactly what my body needs at that moment.
What an amazing blog post, I totally relate to this but often lack the trust in myself to honor the feeling, it is common for me to look for someone else to give me the answer, so thanks for the reminder that my body does know best.
What a lovely inspiring blog Dianne, and I love the follow on comments. This has inspired me to take this whole area to a new level.
An inspiring piece Dianne! I’ve have always been able to eat most things,
probably because the paltry diet thrust upon us by post-war austerity
meant that fussy eaters just didn’t eat. However I have experienced these
‘body knows best’ moments and they’re very powerful.
Dianne your blog totally inspires me to trust my body!
We can learn so much from this one experience.
I have been trusting myself more and more, with the help of universal Medicine and Bina Pattel. By clearing out old patterns and beliefs [which have dictated how I have lived my life], it has allowed me to listen to the true me. I have eaten pretty much what I wanted most of my life, with little side effects, I thought. But I realize now that alot of eating was to keep from feeling. Now that I am feeling more truely, I am trusting my body more, and making better food choices. Thank you
I love this blog. From auto pilot governed by a list to real consideration for what my body truly needs, food shopping has become another simple joy in my life. Thank you, Dianne.
Your style of expression through this writing makes me chuckle, I could read all day, I want to come hang out with you…no nonsense, straight to the point but quite clearly true as you cannot argue with it or the power your body wields and speaks to you so clearly from.
Dianne I love your playful blog providing such great insight. Everyone has these nudges and signals from within. For a long time I would only hear the wisdom and guidance offered by my body when I was desperate – either too ill or too intoxicated to be able to fight it. So many of us do that, yet as you state we have such a wealth of wisdom right inside of us. The examples you give illustrate this beautifully.
That was also my experience Golnaz, only looking at nudges and signals from my body when I was ill… they were more than a nudge really, but really a big shove! Learning to feel the subtle signals is a learning process for me.
Diane thank you for such simplicity from such complications of food and all it brings. Great to have the science simply too.
Dianne, thank you for this simple and commonsensical blog about food and our habits with it and how easy it actually becomes when it comes to food and what our body needs when we allow ourselves to simply listen to our body. Now, this is science and I like it.
Great blog Diane, off and on over the years I occasionally would get a craving for lambs liver and like you, I would eat a piece everyday until I couldn’t stand the touch, smell or taste of it – then I could go two or three years before I would want it again. Usually I don’t like the smell but in those moments its great.
Also salad peppers make me feel strange; when I am cutting them up they make my head and stomach feel nauseous but once they are cooked its easier to be around them but I still don’t like eating them. Somehow my body knows that there is something it doesn’t like about peppers. I would love to have this awareness with all the foods I eat – generally what happens is that I would have to taste the food first and feel my stomach and my head for any discomfort.
Diane, your light playfulness is infectious, and for one who could be so bogged down in theory and science this is truly awesome to behold. I am bowled over by the complication we have created around food and when I read your first blog I am struck by it simplicity – if this is how we can self medicate then their is so much more to tap into. We are all knowing.
Great, great blog Diane! Thank you for shining a light on this one! I’ve realised for sometime how much my days revolve around food so I decided to go on a bit of a detox. Wow…the feeling of discomfort that came up for me was huge! I felt just how much I seek to numb myself from feeling using food as my comfort. Bringing my focus back to eating to nurture my body rather than ignore and abuse it, I feel much lighter and in tune with me.
Thank you Diane for sharing your story, especially for me being French, cheese was a hard one to let go of!
I used to indulge in it until I was 30 and I am now 44. I feel so much better without it!
I can relate to the words of Rebecca that “food is the ultimate starting point” for healing. I suppose it can also work the other way around that, “food it is the ultimate starting point of harming” depending on which choices we make?
So true Rachel, food can be harming or healing depending on which choices we make.
Absolutely Rachel. We can totally harm ourselves with food. We can be just as clever about that!
Not long ago I had two Aha! moments about food. First one was when Serge Behnayon was talking about travelling and he mentioned that he and Miranda don’t eat during a flight. It made me recall my last journey and how hungry I was feeling that I ate all what was offered apart from bread and felt awful afterwords. It tells me that mind and body need to work in unison and listen to each other to avoid harmful experience.
Second one was from Natalie Benhayon presentation about quantity of food we eat. Imagine the place of that extra lettuce leaf we eat could be taken by soul? So it is super important how much we eat as well as what we eat.
I also totally agree with Serge that every food has certain vibration and that is why we feel cravings when we are tired, upset, out of harmony.
I feel to share something simple I’m doing that addresses one of the problems I have with changing the way I eat. As we are discussing here on this blog, I find it hard to throw away good food that I’ve paid for, and used to eat it all even if it’s not what my body needed. Now my simple personal solution to this problem is: give it to ‘someone or something’ else.
It’s true that we, especially Westerners, waste horrific amounts of every precious resource on Earth: food, electricity, fossil fuels, water, materials… when there is a whole planet of people, plants and animals that also have needs, and whom we are not considering when we waste. As we are all one, I feel that giving my excess food (or anything else) to others is as much giving to myself. An old buddy once said to me: “What’s given to a friend is never lost”. Well as one human I do not know everyone personally nor every plant and animal, but we are all ‘friends’ in the most basic scientific sense of all being one. All are part of the continuous cycle of life, no separation. When my excess food has gone a bit old for human consumption, I give it to the Earth in the form of compost rather than bound up inside plastic bags where it may sit for decades unavailable to living things (even microbes) that need it, and would put it to work in the ecosystem if they could get at it.
I found a lovely part of the sharing thing whether it’s food or any other resource: sometimes I can ‘feel’ who to give to. If I let go of self and separation I can sometimes suddenly feel a particular person, even an unexpected one, to give something to and it turns out to be exactly what they needed right then. However then it becomes a matter of their discernment whether it is right for them, and it may not be, regardless of how it seems to me. One day when we can feel others’ needs as clearly as our own, as if there were no boundaries between us, won’t that be awesome?
Amazing blog Dianne, I love your words of simplicity.
To listen to our bodies in this way is like a true love affair. In tender attentiveness to every sign, nuance and communication we are forever unfolding back to the wisdom, grace and sweetness that we naturally are. Thank you, Dianne.
Beautifully put Matilda, and yes, it is indeed like a true love affair.
You have made feeling what to eat so clear in your blog, Dianne and I was fascinated to read it. In one of your comments you have also written about the full fridge syndrome and I so recognise, “I’d better eat so I don’t get hungry!”, as almost a panic sets in as to how I will cope with my day if I feel really hungry. As other people have shared I have also eaten left overs even if I didn’t quite like them, so as not to waste food. The simplicity of feeling what your body needs and to honour it is a new way of being that I am beginning to build and take notice of. Your blog has opened up the possibility of me taking even greater awareness of what I choose and how I choose it. Thanks for sharing and writing.
Over the last couple of days I have been observing how my body feels in the morning from what I have eaten the day before. One night I overate and the next morning I felt heavy, depleted and a feeling of not wanting to get on with my day… a little lethargic. At dinner knowing how I had been that morning I was resolved to not overeat. I was quite hungry and usually on feeling this I give myself permission to “fill my self up” (usually to bursting!) I allowed the feeling of hunger and only had a very small snack, still the feeling of hunger was there but not overly uncomfortable. I awoke in the morning actually not feeling any more hungry than the night before. What felt great though, was that I felt refreshed, lighter and more able to get on with my day. I ate a gorgeous breakfast that felt truly supportive, taking care to eat enough, but to not overeat! It was good to let myself feel hungry… to not panic about how I would function in my day and great to realise the support of light eating gave my body!
Hi Rachel, thanks for sharing this, I found it inspiring. We often feel bound by the three-meals-a-day rule, and eating light is not always attractive, but you show us the benefits of eating light by how your body felt the next day. That’s really cool.
I know that when I overeat it is definitely to “fill myself up” to numb and block emotion that I don’t want to feel…then of course my body cops it and has to digest it all! It is great to feel my body when I eat light.
Hi Rachel. I know what you are saying about over-eating in the evening. The evenings when I eat hardly anything or nothing at all I wake up the next morning feeling light and fresh and ready to go. When I over eat in the evening I feel very lethargic in the morning and don’t want to get out of bed.
Recently I have been taking much more care to eat lightly, and as a result I have been feeling my body more. This feels great, but also challenging because I can feel the effects of what I do to myself when I hold back. This feels extremely painful. The temptation to overeat then comes back in because I don’t want to feel it.
Food seems to be the ultimate starting point for healing. When I’m doing well with food I feel amazing and am able to feel what is going on in my body. When I’m not doing so well I can’t feel a thing, so I am unable to feel what is there to be looked at and healed.
Every time I see, read or hear you express something I know I am going to be fascinated and sit in wonderment and joy. You bring an awesome amount of love into what you share. Thanks Diane.
I agree Phil. I love your contribution to the world Dianne.
Since reading this blog the first time, I have been playfully making sure I am really with my body when I shop for food; as my guide (which aisle to go up) and my wise voice (what will serve my family and me over the next few days). It has been super fun and has simplified the whole shopping experience hugely, thank you, Dianne.
Sounds great fun Matilda. I really enjoy playing with flavours in my food, what spices I want to put in my food, how much of this, how little of that, so that the same dish can taste completely different from one another.
Truly amazing and inspirational. I still struggle discerning what my body wants and what my mind is telling me my body wants, but this is a great confirmation that you don’t need the mind to rhyme or reason it, the body just knows. Thanks Diane
I love this blog Dianne. I know that when I ask my body what it needs I can very often end up eating combinations of food that I would never normally think of. So life becomes interesting and exciting as I never know what is going to come next! Also I have experienced that food tastes much more delicious when it is just the thing that I need. When my food choices are from my head my food tastes bland and boring. A dead choice instead of the Living choice that is possible…
That is so helpful, Rebecca, how food tastes bland and boring when I have chosen to eat it from my head. I know that feeling well, and it is a great marker to bring me to a halt and feel. I have never dared to throw a whole meal away when I have brought it to the table and suddenly felt that dead feeling in me and the food. But there is always a first time, and that would be so much more loving than ploughing my way through the meal out of Pure Habit.
Lovely article Dianne. I in the past would buy things that we had had been eating and stock up when on sale. There would come a time when we would eat our way to the bottom of the freezer because it was full so I could start the cycle again. I now only buy a week’s worth of food. My freezer has vary little in it now. As you have said the body will always let you know what it needs… if you but listen.
Wow Dianne, you have shared with us some really tangible examples here of how the body communicates so clearly to us what is needed. I am constantly working on deepening my connection with my own body, but your sharing has allowed me to see more clearly how we can sometimes override the bodies feeling for the sake of an ideal or belief we hold (‘no I couldn’t’ ‘don’t need that’, ‘it’s bad’ etc etc). Great blog, thank you.
Beautiful article…so playful and so confirming that our bodies really do know best. Thanks Dianne.
I really loved reading your blog Diane, so honest and well straight to the point. That you have learnt that even if you don’t know what is going on, your body is willing and very able to show you what you actually need at that given moment to support you. Incredible the power that we have if we choose to listen to it. It’s building that Trust within ourselves and to let go of what we think is right or told to do and do what feels right for us, whatever that may be.
Spot on Natalie, I agree completely.
A powerful tale of the benefits of following the true wisdom of the body and how our mind is not the great know-all that we’ve believed it to be. We need to put the mind to one side much more often and defer to the knowingness of our bodies to guide us in what’s truly right for us.
This is brilliant Dianne and so helpful. What myths and rules I have built up around food and eating. I love the way you follow the intuition of your body. I did have one such similar occasion recently when I suddenly started feeling to drink dandelion tea, so I bought some. I then heard from the doctor that I was low in sodium. I did not get the link till I shared this with my daughter who told me that dandelion tea supported the sodium/potassium balance in the kidney function, and at that moment I was drinking the dandelion tea!
I love what has been shared in regards to the wisdom of the body. I still find it amazing when I am food shopping and find myself being pulled to buy something that doesn’t fit in with what I plan to make over the next few days. I have learnt though to go with it and almost every time it is exactly the ingredient I need later or the next day. The blog also exposes how we can be going against ourselves and our healing when we hang onto following a particular diet and not being open to other foods and what the body, not the mind, needs . Thank you, Dianne.
Wow Dianne that is an amazing story. Love how clearly your body showed you what to eat and when enough was enough. Depending on the food, how I’m feeling and how sweet it tastes it can take me a little longer to listen to the off switch!
Hi Dianne, thank you for this artcile. It is amazing how knowing and sensitive our bodies are and a great reminder that our “body knows best”.
I can certainly say from experience that it really pays off when I listen to my body and I truly pay for it when I don’t!
Thank you Dianne for your sharing and making our food habits so true if we stop and listen. Exposing how amazing our bodies are and all they offer us to truly look after ourselves if we respect this. Making the time to listen to what we feel and not override it and the amazing healing we have for ourselves inside ourselves all the time. You write with so much joy and fun that i feel so inspired to pay more attention to feeling why and what cravings i have on different days and how that can change so much and learn to respect that for myself.
Very confirming and timely, thank-you Dianne. I’m teaching Home Ec. on a temporary contract at present (not actually trained in this subject!) and so I appreciate the focus you bring to honouring our bodies first and foremost. There are so many prescriptive rules out there and opening the door for kids to cook from what they feel to cook and reminding them that they actually do know best what is right for their body is pretty inspiring stuff! I am also feeling confirmed by your article as I, too recently allowed my body to do the cooking the other day. What started out as a simple breakfast of greens wrapped in an egg omelette soon became a stir-fry of an assortment of vegetables, enough to feed a small nation! I ate what I felt to and then had plenty left over which I had in various ways over the next week. It felt truly supportive as most evenings I’m home late and on the odd occasion I fall back on soups rather than prepare a complete meal. Food is medicine and more and more I’m listening to the way in which my body would like to eat in order to heal. A fantastic blog!
Yep, listening to the body does make it easier to make right food choices. True health I guess because it’s the body that has to deal with it all thereafter.
Dianne, thank you for sharing this beautiful wisdom and knowing we all have this in our body. Food sure is medicine and medicine is food. The body truly only needs very little if we listen to its messages.
Excellent Dianne!! Thank you for sharing with us that the body when listened to is our best physician. How amazing is that! Inside as we listen to our bodies we are able to act on our own prescription. For years I also did not eat meat and when I first gave into the craving of lamb curry I could feel my body rejoicing! My mind still wanted to play that it was not right but there was no denying my body needed it. I am now more open to feeling what my body wants rather than listening to a set of ideals of what I should and should not eat.
Hi Dianne, it was with great amusement, relief and inspiration that I read this wonderful, ‘hit the nail on the head’ blog. You have said it all – the body has all the wisdom we need to listen to.
Hippocrates (500 BC) considered to be the Father of Western Medicine said ‘Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food’. How is it that we have wandered so far from that wisdom? In the 21st Century we tend to rely on pharmaceutical drugs to suppress symptoms rather than supporting our bodies innate healing ability with what nature so graciously provides. As you so beautifully express Dianne, if we listen to our body it does know what it needs as food in order to heal itself. With much gratitude to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for teaching that Lifestyle is the Best Medicine.
Great point Fiona. We have lost our way when we just allow food to be a filler and not medicinal nutrition to keep the intricate workings of our body in good order.
Awesome, Fiona! It is amazing how we have developed technology to let ourselves ‘get away’ with not supporting our bodies (for a limited amount of time) and eating what our mind wants, instead of using the innate wisdom we already have to fully support ourselves.
Great point Fiona, like many aspects of life, food and drink has become another area where responsibility has been given away. Most of us will take the option of eating and drinking what we want with no regard to what it is doing to our bodies knowing that there is always relief with taking a pill or other remedy.
This is such an inspiring and refreshing read I have never read anything like this before in such a way that you show us how our body can tell us exactly what it needs, and what happens when we honour this. This is work in progress for me.
I agree Vicky. Amazing and so inspiring!
This short and very simple Blog is truly inspiring and exposes how how we tend to override what our body tells so clearly if you choose to listen truly. I certainly will allow myself to feel deeper again when it comes to these odd feelings popping up and allow the playfullness to experiement with it. Thank you Dianne for expressing this to all of us. Awesome to receive and very confiming.
Wow Dianne this is life changing for me (and maybe others too). Just like your other article https://everydaylivingness.com/food-energy-cravings-beyond/ you are saying that there is a field around us and we are constantly picking up/tuning into things. What you confirm here is that you were tuning into the vibration of what your body needed and from here you were brought to exactly what it needed. On a personal level reading this I feel it has given me permission to honour more what I feel, as we all do know the truth of what we feel, we just have to honour and trust this more..
A top article Dianne and a great reminder that that our bodies, rather than our minds, always know best
I fully agree Tim, great article and perfectly summed up.
Wow Dianne. This is amazing. This really illustrates how our body clearly communicates what is needed to support and heal. I love how you actively allowed your body to lead the way around the market and trusted it’s wisdom. Super cool.
A fun reminder how we can get so tangled up listening to the mind about what to eat or what not to eat when the answer is already there if only we take time to listen to our body.
Awesome to read how you trusted your body to know what it needed to heal and provided the means for it to do so. My body is currently speaking to me very loudly that I ate too much yesterday and feels really uncomfortable. Reading this has inspired me to feel into what it needs even more and let go of more ideals and beliefs around how much food I really need to eat. Thanks Dianne
This is a brilliant article and really highlights for me the importance of listening to our bodies. It has comprehension of our needs way beyond what most of us accept and far surpasses any outside food guide. With so many confusing messages about healthy eating and the correct diet to follow, what simpler guide can we be offered than listening to our bodies. Thank you Dianne, excuse the pun but this was great food for thought.
Of course: ‘what simpler guide can we be offered than listening to our bodies’, and how liberating not to be trying to get it right, trawling through books or seeking advice.
This is the food guide that has been saying to us for a very long time ‘look no further’.
Thank you Dianne, I so feel your joy and inspiration when you share about nature. We need look no further for absolute confirmation of our magnificence as we too are a marvel to behold, a sacred being and that is just our human biology!
LOVE, LOVE LOVE it!
Thanks Dianne, your writing also opens up to the awareness of where there is a stuck-ness in actually eating the same food out of habit. Thanks for the reminder to check with the body what food is truly going to be the best support for that moment.
Hey Dianne I love the way you are using your body as an all-knowing source; as an experiment. Proof being your body becomes vital again after following what you sense your body wants to heal. Amazing. Tuning into what is needed is seriously good medicine!
Great medicine indeed. I will certainly pay more attention to any unusual food requests from my body now – always discerning where they come from though and noting the ‘off switch’.
Thank you Dianne for your experience of your scientific experiments of the body’s own wisdom in action. It is clear what our body says, but it’s whether we listen to and then act on what we are hearing is the key – no matter how strange it may seem to our mind that is set into a way of thinking. I also remember becoming vegetarian many years ago after following the advice of a yoga ‘guru’. After a couple of years I began to feel unwell and I started to crave meat. I shared this with a practitioner I was seeing at the time. This enabled me to see that my body was communicating with me loud and clear and all I needed to do was listen. Which I did.
Beautiful Dianne, I can just see you stalking the isles in search of the special ingredient, nose twitching in anticipation! Yes how incredible that your body said “Take Me To Adelaide Market” – where does that come from? And you followed it and responded to your body’s calling, which is very inspirational. I too know that there are times when my body demands particular foods and its amazing how our sense of smell is very powerful in helping us choose what is right in the moment. Your article does much to break down our self created beliefs, rules and regulations around diets and eating regimes. Thank you.
Dianne, What amazes me is that every one of us must surely have this same ability to, not only know, but to listen to what our body needs to realign, as we are not that different from each other. This poses a question: So, why do most of us ignore this inner wisdom until we feel blind and desperate as to how to restore harmony?! What has gone on that could take us so far away from TRUSTING our inborn design to know just what and when we need to eat to be well?
Great question Jo!
That’s amazing Dianne and I love how you hand over to your body and follow its prompts, no matter how weird it might seem. And I especially love the way you have these strange substances in small medicinal amounts – no gorging, no craving, just the solid knowing that there is something in this stuff that your body requires to get better. That’s very inspiring science.
Hi Gabrielle and Dianne, that is what I really got from your sharing, it is not only about listening to the body but eating whatever the body is asking for in small amounts, almost like a medicine. I think that is where I have gone wrong in the past I have gorged on something, as if I were eating a chocolate bar until the food is finished. I have been doing this recently with raspberries, I could feel there was something my body was asking for from them, but looking back I can feel that the gorging was over-riding the small amounts that were needed to get my body back into harmony, very inspiring I got to understand food to another level.
So many years of being told to ‘eat all of what is on your plate’ and being reminded of those in the world who do not have enough to eat… and the reward for a clean plate, yet more food. Many thanks for all the comments to support me in undoing this deeply ingrained pattern.
Yes, Alison and Monica, so true. I can definitely relate to this, to have honoured myself re food my body was asking for, but then to eat too much…. goes against the food being a support for my body in the first place.
The body really does know best and isn’t it interesting that if we listen to our minds, we can totally override and ignore what our body is saying rather loudly at times. I was vegetarian for years, and was very run down and tired and I would crave meat, but there was no way that I was going to eat meat! After all I had made a choice when I was 18 and I was still sticking to it even if it wasn’t really the best choice for my body at 32. I can be so stubborn at times!! But you know what is really awesome, is that we don’t have to stick to any choice, or behaviour. We can make changes and we can listen to our body and stop those obsessive thoughts that come in to our minds over and over. It is our body and only we can really know what it needs.
Amazing Rosie, and very true, we can change the choices we have been making for years, especially if it comes from feeling the need to change in the body, because it gives us a physical reason to do something about it.
It is awesome that we can change our minds, or, rather simply let go of beliefs and thoughts that are simply not true.
Thank you Dianne for sharing this – the wisdom inherent in our body never ceases to amaze me.
This is a subject I have experienced many times over, in the last two months going from craving really fishy fish to dark greens then seaweed etc. What I was reminded of when I read this blog was the feeling of the ‘off switch’. As soon as my body has said enough I have been able to feel that negative pull like magnets fighting to avoid each other. Just holding a piece of kingfish in my hand now as I pull it from the freezer and consider eating it from my mind my body feels heavy.
In the past I would hold onto these stored foods from cravings, not throw them out and eat them anyway because I held onto a fear of ‘wasting food’ regardless of what my body wanted at the time. With this in my awareness now I look forward to going along with what my body wants to eat NOW rather than eat from past cravings.
I totally agree Leigh, I often eat the last of a food, despite feeling that it’s the last thing my body wants, simply because I have bought it and I must finish it.
The ‘amounts’ issue is quite important. I used to stock up every week and fill up the fridge. And I know friends who do that too. We all ‘think’ it’s normal and find reasons to justify it. My argument used to be that it was a lot of petrol and time and driving to go to the shop more often than necessary, especially in a busy life. And of course that’s true. But then I began to notice that the friends with constantly full fridges had loads of food going off. These were people on very tight budgets and I could not understand why they over-bought and ended up throwing large amounts of costly food away on a regular basis. I began to question what was going on and realized there’s another intention behind the full-fridge syndrome. And that is: fear of lack. Fear of not having enough. From that fear comes the comfort of seeing a full fridge! And then there’s pressure to eat what you’ve bought, and the stimulus to over-eat.
Lots of things come rolling into my mind about this fear of lack. One is that in my family and probably lots of Australian families, my grandparents were poor going through the Depression and so getting enough food for the family became a big issue. Food was such a valuable commodity that you expressed love for your kids by lavishing food on them, and using food to reward good behaviour. Thus my parents grew up in an environment of fear about not having enough food, and conditioned to deriving comfort from too much of it. One of them reacted by over-eating and becoming very fat, one of them reacted by self-sacrificially starving to feed us kids, and running on nervous energy… The issues of food scarcity, overeating, reward, etc passed down the generations. There’s both the direct ‘growing up with it’ thing, and also the epi-genetics of inheriting in our very DNA the experiences of our parents and grandparents. All set to screw up our attitudes to food and make it a difficult emotional and mental issue instead of a natural body process!
OK that’s one issue (well, a big one with lots of branches….)
Having recognized this, I now keep a pretty lean fridge: only what I can eat lightly in a short time, nothing going off, no pressure to eat more because I’ve bought it and it’s there. It has lots of advantages: not over-eating being a biggie, but also the fridge is way easier to clean and stays nice and fresh! Also, when I do a ‘fridge review’ before going shopping, it’s easy to see what I have enough of and what I need to buy. No more trawling through endless containers and glad-wrapped mystery bundles and throwing out rotten stuff to try to get down to the shopping list!
Then there seems to be another issue of being afraid to feel the messages from our body that prompt us to act. Genuine hunger is uncomfortable – it is a natural biological sensation designed to make us vigorously seek food when our bodies need it. But in modern life it can be very inconvenient, getting hungry and short-tempered and hyper-aroused in the middle of working, meetings, etc. So we prevent the feeling by keeping ourselves topped up, ie over-stuffed, all the time! ‘I better eat so I don’t get hungry’, that kind of thing. But that sabotages the physiology, the natural process of the body using nutrients and energy and signalling when more are required. So the body’s signalling systems go whacko, and the brain ends up thinking and believing and acting upon all kinds of wrong impulses. Impulses such as: I need more food; I need chocolate; I’m hungry (even though I’m not really); I need chips. etc. And once we yield to those impulses, they screw up the physiological signalling even more. Fatty tissue itself screws up the signalling, making us feel more and more ‘hungry’ the fatter we get. Our bodies know the truth, but we have made it very difficult for our bodies to actually communicate the truth to our brains. What a vicious cycle we have created!
Absolutely Dianne. I am discovering if I allow myself to trust and allow the ever constant reasonings of my mind to abate that my body tells me exactly what it needs. And I always find it a delight.
Wow Dianne this is a great article and the questions it is has raised are numerous. I love your explanation in the last paragraph above.
The body does know best and all we have to do is listen and respond. Awesome bodies we have.
I love the way you write and express these things Diane… direct and uncomplicated – its very refreshing.
Hi Dianne, what a great article and comment – I love having an almost empty fridge – the food I eat is now cooked fresh every day instead of being something I prepared a few weeks ago and put in the freezer, and it feels very different. ‘Our bodies know the truth, but we have made it very difficult for our bodies to actually communicate the truth to our brains.’ So awesome how you truly listened to your body each time and let it direct you to where you needed to be.
I have just started letting go of the full fridge syndrome that you describe! It really is a new way of buying food, and having a lean fridge that has simple ingredients and picking something up on the day. It feels much more freeing and like you say no food going off in the fridge, which has driven my husband mad for years : ). So we are all much happier!
Very true Dianne, like a lot of people I grew up with the saying ‘ waste not want not’, so until a few years ago I was always reluctant to throw anything away. Also, because I chose to only shop once a week I was buying more food than I needed ‘just in case’ or having the intention to cook and freeze but finding time was not on my side and again having to throw it away. It took me a while to work that one out!. Now I do my shopping on a more frequent basis and only buy what I need with the consequence that hardly anything gets thrown away, there is less chance that you will overeat and as you say its easier to see what you have in your fridge.
Wow, what you have shared Dianne was something I didn’t realise, that over eating can mess up the signalling so when we are full we can still feel hungry, it makes so much sense! Thank you.
Wow Dianne, you have really nailed a few things here regarding our abusive relationship with food. I can relate to all of this. I grew up in a Caribbean family where food is a big source of enjoyment and the way that you express Love for another. I remember my grandmother loving it when I would eat her food and I would receive enormous praise with “Eat, Eat” if I wanted more. What I have seen is an unhealthy relationship with food from a young age to more recently. Food has been used to numb and stuff myself, to bash myself in times of self-loathing, to smother my feelings and then there has been the other extreme of a restrictive diet bordering on an eating disorder. By listening to my body my relationship with food is changing a lot. It is now clear to me what I want to eat, when I want to eat and what my body wants. It has become a JOY to be with, cook and eat food.
I love this Jane, simply a body that navigates around the supermarket.
Hello Dianne. I can relate to this as I would go shopping and buy more of what I went for and put it in the freezer. When the freezer got full we would have an ‘eat our way to the bottom of the freezer week’ so I could start the cycle again. I now shop for the day or two. There is no longer a need to do colour checks in the fridge – ‘it was not that colour when I bought it’!
Hi Dianne, Thankyou so much for explaining this, it really helps me to understand a lot of what is going on in general with food in society but also with my own behaviours around food as well. Very much appreciated.
That’s a great sharing Dianne, it unlocked things I hadn’t begun to see about a half empty fridge, that I generally have, but feel bad about! What if someone comes and I don’t have the ‘right’ food or ‘enough’ to offer them. Will they look at my half empty fridge and think I’m broke! Gosh how deep some of these things go. Thanks for prompting a pondering on my fridge behaviours! Just in case syndrome. 🙂
Yes, I can relate to what you are saying here Dianne. You bring some great points through to reflect on – thank you.
I so agree with everything you have said about hunger Dianne. I often eat out of a fear of getting hungry. It makes me feel a bit anxious about being hungry and not able to eat. Also, the overfull fridge is another interesting ploy, as it is then so easy to cook something that is not actually what my body wants to eat, just because it is there. My family used to have sayings like “Waste not, want not”, and although they did not talk about the starving people in Africa, there was pressure to eat everything on the plate…or you might starve, or be too thin.
Years ago I was addicted to sugar and I agree with you in full about the signals going ‘whacko’. I could not get enough chocolate into my body, but it was as though there was a true need that was being misinterpreted. I let go of my chocolate “life-line” 6 years ago, and have not craved it, yearned for it, or secretly wished for it for 4 years. My body is far clearer about what it truly needs. One vicious cycle has been conquered.
Wow Rachel, eating ‘out of fear of getting hungry’, a real light bulb moment for me, thank you. It has brought so many of those comments from childhood about needing to eat a big breakfast to have enough energy for the day back. I now realise that I have a ‘fuel tank’ fear around my eating, not wanting to be stranded with the gauge on empty down a dark lane at night.
Diane I found this addition to your blog very interesting. This is something I have fallen for in thinking I better eat now as I won’t have time later or I might waste the food I need to take with me when away from home. This is definitely something I am going to challenge in myself based on the wisdom of the body you are presenting here.
Wow, that’s pretty awesome Dianne and makes a lot of sense. I have felt that reaction to not wanting to feel hungry because of the apparent inconvenience. Is it a true inconvenience or does it just not fit into the lifestyle we have created so the ‘three meals a day’ idea boxes up a bodily function of ‘you can now eat in this moment and not when you actually feel to’. I can also totally relate to what many others have commented here about keeping a full fridge ‘just in case’ when most the time by mid-week I don’t actually feel like eating anything I have bought!
Thanks Dianne for your amazing insight into amounts of food. I always wondered why family members had a need to have the fridge full. It makes sense now.
Fear of lack stemming from the post war times when food was scarce, and the European winters where you were stuck inside for months and needed to preserve food to get you through the winter months.
And I agree once you have a full fridge you tend to eat more so as not to waste food; or excess food that isn’t eaten gets thrown out.
Best advice to buy what your body feels to eat.
Awesome Diane. You have touched on so many things that I can relate to. Lots of pondering to come on full fridges, throwing out food, fear of lack, over eating – the list goes o and on. And yes I agree that our bodies do know the truth and speak ever so loudly to us, we just need to take the “ear-plugs” out and then we’ll be able to hear the messages.
Ear-plugs out for sure, Ingrid. With a bit of As Above So Below humour, here we all are wondering if God can hear us when we want something, and all the while our own little cells are ‘wondering’ if their big human can hear them when they want something! And of course we can ‘hear’ them with our brain which is also a bunch of cells!
I can certainly relate to your “mantra”, as I too would make sure that I ate leftovers and felt guilty if I didn’t get around to it and they had to be thrown out. I was born a couple of years after you Elizabeth, and up to now I never related the food shortages that my parents experienced to the way my parents treated food. The cupboards were always full, we had a big veggie garden and everything that could be bottled, preserved, and stored for later in some way was. Thank you for shining a light into this little corner of my life.
Yes I’ve caught myself doing this one. I came to the realisation that if I eat food just because it needs eating I am then treating my body like a dustbin! Ouch!
Great blog Dianne…a wonderful reminder of why we need to feel what our body needs…and then listen to it!
I’m also so guilty of that. It’s such a bad habit that we justify because of the expense or because of the idea that throwing something out is a bad thing to do. But this choice to push on and eat something you don’t actually feel to eat is to our detriment.
So true Leigh. Brought up on the ‘waste not, want not’ I still find it hard to throw out perfectly edible food just because I no longer feel to eat it. I now realise that makes me no different to the dustbin!
Exactly Mary … Leads us to the question, why are we treating our bodies as disposal units based on an ideal of wasting food. This dumping ground is closing down!
Mary & Leigh, I’m smiling to myself after reading your comments because it’s just so true!
I can totally relate to eating something just because I feel I don’t want to waste it – even if it has a catastrophic effect on my body. I have found I have a certain type of attachment to foods especially if I’ve spent what I’d consider to be a lot of money on it. It’s like I put pressure on myself to eat it because I know if I’d have been aware of what my body wanted WHEN I BOUGHT IT – I wouldn’t have it in the first place – so I feel I need to justify the purchase by consuming it.
Hi Cheryl, yes, I’m learning this one too – it seems I have a pattern of buying masses of something just before feeling not to eat it any more and not wanting to waste it. In a recent example it was sunflower and pumpkin seeds – fortunately the birds in my garden loved them so they weren’t wasted! A few things I can simply throw in the bin, but some I feel to eat rather than waste. Friends often pass me foods with the “are you still eating XYZ?” and I find it interesting to observe how our bodies can tell us what to eat or not, but we override them with our thoughts and beliefs and anxiousness to please.
I know that one Carmel. Eating to fit in, to please, or because it’s there.
I love this Mary! Actually it does make you different…you are not full of the wrong food!
I know exactly what you mean by not wanting to waste food. Just the thought of putting it in the bin used to wind me up. Now it is more about feeling into how much I actually want to eat and not over doing it when preparing the food and trusting myself that what I have prepared is what I need. This one I’m still developing as it changes so frequently to where I am at and what is going on for me at that moment.
A few weeks ago I had an “Aha!” moment about food waste. My friend and I had a dinner, there was plenty of food and everything was delicious! We didn’t finish some salad and I offered to finish it. My friend asked me: “Are you still hungry?” I said: “No. I just don’t like waste.” Then she said:” So instead of putting it to the bin you put it in to your body?” It was strong – thinking about my body as a waste bin! So we found a solution by putting salad in the box for later. It was a good lesson which I learned.
I agree Leigh, when we eat food to not waste it, we just turn our own body into the garbage bin.
It’s crazy what I will put into my body for fear of wasting food. The body knows exactly when it has had enough; it’s a matter of how present I am with my body and listening to it.
Dear Diane, I have recently had this experience with banana. For a while now I have chosen not to eat it, because I feel my body become racy. However just recently I really felt it is what my body needed. So I bought some. The thing that surprised me was as you said after eating a banana a day for a couple of days, I then no longer wanted it. I still had one left though and ate it. This then opened up a thought where I thought oh, maybe my body doesn’t actually get racy with banana, I will buy some more, which I did – all the while I was eating these bananas though I could feel that I didn’t really want them, I found that when I ate them I actually had to force myself to eat them and after eating them I felt bloated and uncomfortable, it is when I felt this that I realised that I was eating them to comfort me, eating them to make my body feel full and bloated, to dull other things that I didn’t want to feel. A great learning. Whatever is in banana was what my body needed then, but not after I felt that I no longer needed it. A very honest practical blog. Thank you.
I’ve had that experience many times Leigh – when the body asks for something specific but then I carry on with it for alot longer overriding that feeling of being bloated or sluggish.
I love Dianne’s description in part because it gives me a reflection that YES the body can discern what it needs, and equally NO, the body also tells us when to stop eating something. If we can stay consistent in listening to our bodies that it will always be a surefooted guide in supporting us with our health.
Lovely clarifying Simon. I was observing that I sometimes am not clear whether it is my mind or my body wanting something. I may opt for something sweet when I am tired, but my body may actually need rest! And Leigh’s example is great: I may start with something that is beneficial, but I may carry on eating when my body would rather I stopped.
Your comment is great, it is not just about listening to the body saying when it wants something, but to learn to listen for the “NO” or “that is enough” as well.
Thank you Dianne, Leigh, Simon and Golnaz, the ‘no’ is as important as the ‘yes’…a complete listening relationship with our bodies.
Great summary Matilda. The yes and no are equally important.
Great point Matilda. Listening to the yes and the no feels super important. Our bodies are constantly communicating with us, not only about what type of food or nutrients it needs, but also what’s needed to keep it clear and light to support me to be more and more open to receiving the wisdom it so generously shares with me.
That is my experience too, Golnaz. I like your example of the mind wanting something sweet, but the body wants to rest. Thank you.
Hi Leigh, Great that the body is so honest for what we need and what we don’t. Great blog Diane.
A great comment Leigh and one I can relate to. I have done the listening to my body and eaten what is required and I have also gone beyond that too and found that the thing I ate that was ok yesterday is not ok today, no matter how yummy I think it is in my mouth, my body just does not require it any more. The tricky bit I find is really being truthful with this and truly listening to my body when it says stop!
Thank you Dianne and Leigh. You’ve brought to my awareness something that I can do – continue to eat food well past my body’s need for it. I’m onto it!
I too have had similar experiences Dianne. The body is truly amazing and I’m learning to listen and trust what it tells me more, rather than overriding its messages.
Yes Debra, me too. Our bodies speak to us so loudly and clearly when we do actually stop overriding the messages and start to listen. For me it’s interesting to notice what’s been happening in my day that leads me to reaching for certain foods.
Wow what an amazing experience. It really helps to explain those ‘weird’ times when you suddenly want to eat something, and then a few days later can’t stand it. It just goes to show how listening to our bodes can do us so much good.
I agree Rebecca it does help explain when my body wants something different to what I usually eat. I remember when I was studying nutrition that sometimes children eat dirt to get iron from the soil, fascinating how innately our body knows exactly what it needs.
Well said Rebecca. Truly well said.
Very true Rebecca. This will be interesting to keep experimenting with. The body feels very specific in its knowing.
Inspirational blog Dianne, thank you. Now I have a greater understanding of why, sometimes when I am doing my weekly shopping, I feel to buy a certain food, which I eat once or maybe twice, and after that when I see it in my fridge, I go YUK! Wow, I will appreciate more now, just how loudly my body is communicating, moment to moment, with me, what it needs.
I agree Elizabeth, this article has made me re-consider the messages I have at times ignored when my body is drawn to certain foods. Great to bring this to awareness and really take notice of all the messages from the body and truly honour the voice it has.
Yes Beverley and when the body sends us signals like this not to ignore it because we think it’s something we ‘shouldn’t’ be eating. I was a vegetarian for years and towards the end my body was telling me eat chicken, roast chicken but I overrode it for a long time because of my attachment to being a vegetarian and what animal flesh stood for in my mind. Eventually my mind got the message and I did eat the chicken and my body was very grateful, bye bye vegetarianism.
Amazing to read Dianne. Such a relief for my brain. The body rocks!
Hi Dianne and Matts,
You two said this perfectly, simply and right-on. I feel that as I put more pressure (stress) on myself for ‘eating the right foods’ (rubbish) or ‘needing to be perfect’ (rubbish) and not just listening to my body, as a guide, the worse my symptoms get. I can feel what foods are right for my body, and know what the truth is: claiming that now. My body is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Thanks so much…I am deeply and truly inspired.
I agree Shayla, my body too knows exactly what it wants. I just need to give myself the time and space to listen to it. Matts, the body sure does rock and as Dianne said it knows exactly what we may or may not need to help support us. Far more intelligent than the brain!!!
So true James, how beautiful our body is.
Something so simple but the line “give myself the time and space to listen to it” really helped with developing my relationship with food. As before I used to feel how I felt after foods, but now I’m starting to realise how I can determine the outcome before eating it.
Brilliant Oliver, bringing hindsight forwards, love it!
Thank you Oliver for this re-minder. I too feel how when I give myself the time and space to feel I choose, prepare and eat in a very loving and supportive way. there’s no space then for doubt or insecurity and food is not used to fill a gap in me – just something my body needs which can be enjoyed in it’s loveliness like any other thing I do when in true connection.
Brilliant Oliver. I realise I’ve never trusted my body enough to do this. Thank you
Very inspiring words Oliver. You have reminded me it is a choice we are always free to make.
Yes Oliver, this is a great turn around. Instead of constantly feeling the after effects of eating the wrong foods, if we do take the time to listen to our body first, it develops us to really be able to discern what we put in our mouths. We may still get it wrong, but the development of this discernment is the key – as Miranda said “feel what to eat, not eat what you feel”.
Awesome Oliver. I’m learning this too. I have looked for the response or reaction after food but all of this can be reduced or removed when we connect to what our body is telling us and take a step away from the robotic/ automatic food choices.
Love it!
That’s so true, we know if a food will affect us before we eat it. I know I’ve even had a stomach ache from thinking about eating something! The body definitely gives signals in advance.
I second that “the body is far more intelligent than the brain”. My body has given me the proof and the truth.
I agree, and Dianne’s example highlights what wonderful unique connections with our body are possible when we listen and trust deeply what our bodies are saying to us.
Hi Shayla, I couldn’t agree more. The more we try to tell our body what it should be eating, the more we silence its natural wisdom and our ability to hear the body’s wisdom.
Well said Shayla, well done for claiming that one. Our bodies are amazing and oh how we take our digestion for granted. My motto is, just eat what you feel without stressing and if it doesn’t suit you then don’t eat it any more, simple.
I get this Shayla, we are already out and allowing a lovelessness before we even start judging ourselves for what we are eating or thinking we need to be perfect… so we get a double whammy to our bodies. We all do know what foods support our bodies and what don’t. I agree how bodies are amazing and constantly confirming!
I totally agree, Shayla, James, Amina and Matts.
Awesome, may I have this dance?
Great how you honoured what you felt at the time, particularly as a vegetarian. I am learning now to listen to to my body, not override my impulses and am having some amazing surprises.
Yes I agree Michelle on both counts. It’s an eye opener that Dianne went with her body even though she was a vegetarian. This confirms we can limit what we need in any given moment if we label who we are. If Dianne had stuck with, I can’t do that because I am a vegetarian, none of us would be having this conversation now.
So true Shevon. And I feel that is a great insight on us ‘labelling’ ourselves, not just vegetarian, but anything in life.
So great, Michelle, yes. After 15 years, my body told me it didn’t want to be vegetarian any more after seeing some slow cooked lamb – or else it had been talking to me before and I hadn’t been listening. Gorgeous when we let the body speak.
Hi Dianne, what a classic. How beautifully you debase what we as a society generally think about diets and following certain food regimes based on what another (individual, organisation, so called experts etc.) has told us. In this ‘instruction’ or following the ideals of another, we have totally forgotten about the body in fact being the first thing we should pay attention to (not the last!), to such an extent that we herald the advice of journals, magazines and publications or heed the advice of friends and family.. ahead of what our own bodies are telling us it needs. How ironical that we rely on others, and in fact fervently seek them out, when we have our own natural resource within, without having to go anywhere outside of ourselves! I love how you bring this back to the body… not just ‘any’ body, but ‘your’ body at every given moment. Too too true ‘So I’ve learned: body knows best!’ I’m with you on this one!
I love the way everything comes back to the body. That way we can never be fooled!
I agree Shevon, I found out that the body is wiser than the mind. After a course many years ago, I poured a glass of wine as usual with a meal to find my body would not go there. It tasted of vinegar and from that day on I could not tolerate alcohol. Wise body! Great blog thank you Diane.
So true Shevon. No longer paper lists for shopping but body awareness. Shopping is much more fun and spontaneous with some surprising results. Food for thought takes on a whole new meaning!
I had a similar experience Lorraine, after not drinking alcohol for a sometime I decided I would ‘celebrate’ some big news with a cold crisp beer (which in the past I thought I loved) but it tasted revolting, my body just said no and I saw alcohol for the poison it is.
Isn’t it great Fiona when our body speaks loud and clear.
And no more hangovers, puffy eyes, headaches and complaints from the liver! And another bonus from drinking alcohol, apart from the obvious side effects, we get to remember the night before….
I was in Japan once after no having alcohol for about 6 months. I was parched and though I purchased a lychee and orange juice from a restaurant. It was served on ice and looked like juice. I swallowed a full mouthful, suddenly there was a burning in my throat that intensified as the liquid travelled into my digestive system. I could feel every millimetre of it. Turns out it was lychee liquor with orange juice – my body completely rejected it and I felt nauseous. Interestingly a few months earlier I would have considered this a mild beverage. It is amazing to experience how much my body had changed in over the months I stopped drinking.
Not only is shopping for food become more fun Lorraine, so does the cooking of it. Feeling into what my body needs in terms of how the food is cooked or what herbs and spices are need.
Yes Jenny! Love this
I agree, cooking is fun. For me is an ever evolving process, becoming more aware of how certain foods feel in my body is the key to truly nourishing myself and it is still work in progress. I have also found that how much, and how quickly I eat my food makes a difference to how I feel too.
I just had a little giggle as I had a picture of dozens of shoppers standing in the supermarket aisles with their eyes closed “listening to their bodies’ and waiting for the impulse as to which section to head to next. Body listening would certainly turn shopping into a whole new experience, and a lot of fun, as you wrote Jenny.
The supermarkets would go broke if we did this Jane, just navigated around the supermarket following our body’s calling like Dianne has done! Imagine what a trip to the supermarket would be like! I am sure there would be a lot less in our trollies and what was in there would be much more nurturing for it!
Lorraine, I like the reference to the ‘shopping list/paper lists’ that many of us could not go without when ‘food shopping’. I hadn’t really thought about it, but yes, I have found that to be true for me also. So much easier to feel what your body would like, rather than the mind telling us we need that and that item in the pantry/refrigerator – just in case.
Yes, the ‘just in case’ illusion. How quickly I fall for that one ever so often. Like I’m preparing for my life in a bomb shelter and I may not see junky food ever again.
I love what you are proposing here Jane, Lorraine and Dianne, it shows me how much I still choose food from my head – from knowing what is good for me. But what does my head know? It can only remember what was good or not so good for me last meal but maybe I need something else today than I needed last week… so really I should listen more to my body.
Lorraine it’s so true what you say about no paper shopping lists. I have them for the essentials but as far as what I want to eat goes I pretty much stand in the vegetable aisle and let my body guide me.
My body navigates around the supermarket really quickly. There are aisles I just don’t go down anymore, and it makes me realise how much convenience food there is and how much packaging that needs a blow torch and sharp knife just go get into the packet. Such a waste when all we really need to eat consists of unprocessed, fresh, natural food that is not tampered with in any way, shape or form, some herbs and spices and viola! Just buy what the body needs and not what the mind thinks it wants.
Just avoid going shopping when hungry. I find out that in this case especially buying food for whole family my mind sometimes override the body without shopping list. I keep practicing.
I completely agree Shevon.
Love this Ariana, a great set of encyclopaedias that we have to learn to open and then read! Not just keep them on the shelf.
I totally agree Shevon, brilliant comment!
So true Shevon, and as long as we keep the focus on our body, our food choices become very simple and supportive – no diet plan or program required and perfectly tailored to each individual!