Statistics and news’ articles about food and obesity in our world today are regular features in our media – for instance:
- “The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day – 2014.” (1)
- Overall, roughly a third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted per year, which is 1.3 billion tonnes. (2)
- “Worldwide, obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese.”(3)
- “Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” (4)
It may seem that our world is bountiful in some ways – and certainly in my life we have more variety of foods than we did before the 1960’s. We have countless books, videos, TV shows, internet sites all about food, recipes, cooking, and even eating disorders and obesity or dieting – and in many of our health systems we have healthcare practitioners such as dieticians and nutritionists to support us. We also talk about food a lot in our daily lives, in our homes, and in our workplaces.
Why then is so much food wasted? And why are we already in an overweight and obesity crisis worldwide?
One of the things that strikes me is the type of education we have about food in our homes, families, schools and workplaces. I am not here saying it is all bad, but if it was ‘hitting the nail on the head’, these statistics would surely look different.
What if we were raised to understand the truth about food, around what is needed, the addictive nature of certain foods (e.g. sugar), right down to our relationship with food; the process of eating, from the way we shop, to preparing food, to the way we eat it, why we eat it and looking at our ideals and beliefs about food. Food is a deeply revealing and important study for us all.
Animals in the wild eat only what is needed, yet we as humans – who claim to be the most intelligent species – eat so many foods that aren’t good for us, we buy food we do not eat and waste it, and we eat in such a way that we become overweight, obese, developing diabetes or other ailments and conditions, seemingly seeing these things as ‘normal’ today despite the shocking statistics e.g. in the rise of obesity. Why is this?
I don’t know about you, but whilst in my family home we ate reasonably well-balanced meals (meat or fish and two veg, always freshly cooked), and my mother taught me to cook and prepare food, and at school we did have cooking lessons, I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body – and whilst I was taught about calories, and not to overeat certain foods (e.g. salt, or certain fats) – I was also never taught that the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.
More so, our physical body actually knows which foods truly nourish it and which foods deplete or burden it. And whilst I have felt indigestion, or got tummy ache after eating certain foods, or felt sleepy or bloated when eating gluten or a runny nose when eating dairy for instance, it never dawned on me to listen more to my body about what it had to say about food and nourishment – and I kept on eating those same foods day in day out, despite the obvious symptoms they were causing.
That raises a few questions for me:
What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?
What if we were shown that there is a ‘cause and effect’ of food so that we can learn for ourselves how to listen to our body as a marker? And if we were supported and encouraged to experiment for ourselves from a young age – to feel for ourselves the impact of foods that make us sleepy, foods that make us bloat, and foods that feel truly nourishing?
And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing – ‘The Body Is the Marker of All Truth.” Serge Benhayon (5)
Given the exponential rise of illness and disease in our world today and in particular the rise in obesity (3) (4) and diabetes (6), isn’t it time we started the conversation… to talk about these issues and our attitudes towards food? Only when we understand and build a true relationship with food will the statistics on obesity and diabetes, and on related issues such as food waste, be different.
By Jane, London
References:
- Thomson, J.R. (2104) The World Consumes More than 11 Million Pounds of Food Every Minute of Every day. Huffington Post. March, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/world-food-consumption_n_4978947.html
- Endfoodwastenow.org (2013). End Food Waste Now – Facts. http://www.endfoodwastenow.org/index.php/resources/facts
- World Health Organisation (2016) Fact Sheet – Obesity and Overweight. June. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/
- World Health Organisation (2014) Fact files on obesity. May. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/obesity/en/
- Serge Benhayon. The Practitioner. Sergebenhayon.com. http://www.sergebenhayon.com/the-practitioner.html
- World Health Organisation (2016) Ten Facts about Diabetes. April. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/diabetes/en/
Further Reading:
Food Choices – From Eating for Taste to Eating to Nourish
6 best ways to lose weight authentically (hint: it doesn’t involve fad diets or gym memberships)
What is living medicine?
The human face of sugar addiction
We are taught that food gives us energy, so how come everyone is not energetically rushing around rather than the sedentary existence of many in front of a screen?
Just recently I had a greater understanding of just how sensitive we are as human – beings. We are able to sense energy that surrounds us at a very deep level. When we are first born we do not see so well but we do sense the world around us and over the years we dull our sensitivity and one way of doing this is through food we know which foods dull our awareness so that we can get though life. So is it possible that those people who are over weight are actually very sensitive people who live in a society that sub consciously attacks anyone who shows this natural ability to be sensitive to their surroundings? And if this is a possibility then why do we do this ?
If we looked at one day lets say Christmas or any day that is considered a celebration and take a deep look at how we feel after that meal and the over-riding tired-ness or sleepy feeling / siesta period would we not say I am not going to do that again!
I feel this needs to be taught in our schools ‘What if we were raised to understand the truth about food, around what is needed, the addictive nature of certain foods (e.g. sugar), right down to our relationship with food; the process of eating, from the way we shop, to preparing food, to the way we eat it, why we eat it and looking at our ideals and beliefs about food.’ Along with this for companies to take more responsibility of what they put in their foods and the foods they produce but then this comes down supply and demand and if it is demanded then it will be supplied.
Could it be all that is needed in a super market is a green grocer / frozen fruits and vegetables and a butcher / fishmonger, with specialty items in True-health food section or shops? And is this not going back to the way it used to be before big business and profits took over!
Jane you are onto something as we can all learn to listen to our bodies more and what it is telling us especially and initially when it comes to what we put into our mouth. At present is almost like we are starving and we eat what-ever, when-ever we have an opportunity and have the rational to back up our patterns of consuming foods even though we are lacking the most basic health markers.
“Food has become a medication” much misunderstood but true, many use food as a salve to soothe the effects of life’s hurts and disappointments. When we don’t realise our greatest medicine lies within, we reach instead for the fridge door or kitchen cupboards.
It is incredible how blindly we continue to consume so much that is detrimental to our health and also staggering that we waste a third of the food we produce each year – that is an enormous amount of resources that are going into producing food that will never be used. A complete overhaul of the way we produce and consume food is long overdue and a great place to start would be with children and encouraging them to listen to what their bodies communicate with them but for that to happen we need to recognise how far we have strayed from our connection to our bodies’ wisdom that it never ceases to communicate with us patiently waiting for us to be ready to listen.
I feel some children and adults do listen to what their body is communicating to them, but they have a bigger trigger to numb this communication, and so will eat to try and silence their body and what it is saying.
I agree with you Helen. Recently a well known large supermarket in London had all of its fridges break. For about 3 days there was hardly any food in the shop. When I spoke with an assistant to ask her what did they do with all the food she said they threw is away!!!!! Crazy when we have people using food banks and are scraping by with what food they can afford that the food was not passed onto to people who could use it. Such as waste and also shows the lack of connection and communication with the community that we currently have.
Food has become an indulgence so it is no wonder obesity has increased in our society but food and the variety of food we have today is not to be blamed but the relationship we have with ourselves and the need to overeat to comfort ourselves as opposed to eat to nourish the body.
What is not considered is that it is our relationship to food and other substances in life which are not really talked about. If we understand that way that we eat and also what we eat can change our awareness of our feelings and connection to life, then we have the possibility of choosing differently.
There is nothing like the personal experience of knowing how and which foods have a detrimental effect on our bodies. But this so often gets ignored or overruled so many times by those that think they know better because they have evidence to say otherwise. There is nothing like anecdotal evidence to portray the absolute truth of how something affects us.
I find it always interesting how that when I eat out for example in a restaurant versus when I make a dinner at home the nourishment of home-cooked food far outweighs the dining out experience whatever the cost of the meal or however fancy the restaurant. Nourishment comes from preparing, making, cooking in the quality of love; a love that you can always taste when it’s there and also when it’s not.
What is truly nourishing is developing a relationship and connection with our bodies that is self-caring and self-loving.
Many of the health care systems, like hospitals and community care givers are having to adapt to a growing population of people who are becoming obese, with larger beds and chairs, scanners and other machines, as well as special training on how to manoeuvre and take care of a person during their hospital stay. This is all in response to what is happening with people’s bodies, with our bodies. And while I do not feel that anyone is to blame, I am concerned that as we continue to think up better and better ways of managing the situation, the real causes are perhaps not being addressed.
It seems that we only scratch the surface when it comes to being educated about healthy food. As you say, we are not educated in the types of food that are addictive, or why we want to overeat, binge eat or even gulp our food down and then there is all the cultural associations around food that we uphold which may not actually be supportive for the body. To get deeper with this topic and how our relationship with it affects our vitality, wellbeing, the knock-on effects that we tend to ignore is a very needed thing.
If as a society we got this one single thing right – the effects would be enormous.
We clearly are not eating to nourish our bodies for the potential of our Soulful beingness to shine through. It in actual fact feels like we are doing the opposite, that we are deliberately hindering our living true potential. Food has become a medication, a form of entertainment and an addiction in order to escape from the emptiness we feel from not living in honor of who we are within. If we were taught and fostered from a young age that our bodies are the marker and truest guide to knowing all that is true, then our relationship with food would be naturally honoured as one that supports true nourishment for our body, as medicine.
A really supportive sharing on food and its effects on us that we are not taught and the addictive nature of so much being added to it . The reality that we are what we eat and how we eat is very real and so it is easy to see the healing power of food and our living way in life working with us and our health and well being from here.
Jane I was listening to a video talk on food and genetics and was amazed just how much of the worlds illness could be transformed by adjusting our food, something I’m sure we all know. What I love here is that we have to look beyond just what we eat to heal the reasons why we turn to foods. That transforms insights into a living way that is medicine.
The whole education system could be overhauled to be based on teaching children self care, including nutrition, cooking and respecting their bodies. It’s necessary to teach children knowledge so they can work and contribute to the world as adults, but what’s the point when we have tired, unwell and overweight bodies, and the misery of not knowing our value and worth? If we only use self care to function but are unable to care for ourselves in a way that supports us to live truly vital and joyful lives, then we need to reassess how we parent, educate, and care for human beings.
If food and true nourishment was taught, then we would have to look at all that does not work. That would mean we would have to change… this we do not want to do. We want to hold onto all our comforts (that are in truth poisoning us) with everything we have got.
A rather glaring omission from our education both at school and in the home is to listen to the wisdom of our greatest teacher, our own body.
I absolutely agree – and the nourishment we need from food also changes day to day, according to our work load, and things going on in our lives and whether it’s a quiet week and we need to eat lighter or a busy week and we might need to rebuild at the end and how our bodies are feeling etc. There is so much detail we need to each personally feel into to know the exact nutritional nourishment we need at any particular time.
There is so much about food and the way we eat it, that does not support true nourishment. We are not taught about the need for flexibility depending on what we are living day-to-day, how our health is and what our bodies actually need. Instead, (I also include myself here) we often eat not to nourish, but to comfort and dull what we don’t want to feel. The end result is that our bodies have to cope with the double whammy of the un-dealt with emotion and the food that wasn’t needed.
Yes Jane, what is missing in our education system is the connection between food and our relationship with the body eg. we are told vegetables are good for us and eating x amount of vegetables per day prevents a particular illness or disease but what if that particular vegetable made us feel bloated and our tummy uncomfortable or the way in which the vegetable was cooked eg.it is recommended that we steam or lightly cook a vegetable but this way of cooking has an adverse effect on the body making it unsuitable to digest for whatever reason then that particular food is not going to support the body. We need to be educated to take responsibility for the food we eat and the impact food has on our body.
Does our relationship with food reflect our relationship with life? That nothing matters beyond the moment, so there is no need to pay attention to foods and how they feel in our body.
There is so much research on the harm of gluten and dairy on the body – why is it that we are still teaching the food pyramid in schools which has been shown to be nothing short of a lie?
There isn’t true food education in the world – which really should be our own bodies and how we feel after eating certain things, but humanity is at the point where we are numb to feeling the effects of foods. Serge Benhayon has delivered the quality behind foods, what supports the body and what dulls it, makes it racy or congested. With this wisdom, I am becoming much more sensitive to what foods support me and it is a very enjoyable journey.
The indulgence of food of all various kinds that are available, is quickly becoming a world wide addiction in the developing countries, how disgusting it is that part of the world throws out more food than what is available to those facing poverty and starvation. If we understood the true purpose of food and ate that way the huge food industry would definitely shrink, and so would obesity and food related diseases.
It has been a revelation to learn that we get most of our energy from the quality of how we choose to live day-to-day not from the fact of eating. The more gentle, unemotional and steady I am the less food I want to eat. The more toughened, emotional and in a state of flux I am the more I want to eat. To feel this has been fascinating. I can also feel how much I can drain and dull myself with certain foods.
“Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught” – and also what is not taught is the importance of being in connection with oneself and with one’s body … and then understanding it; how it works and communicates to us to develop self-relationship. Because if we are nourished in this way, by this relationship, we would select foods that match that nourished level of already digested vibrational care and love.
There are some things… So blatantly obviously out of balance in our society and this is certainly one of them
I feel that our body naturally knows about nutrition and about how much we need and how often. Could it be that we are not willing to listen to our body because it means we would have to live more responsibly?
There is a lot of glamour around food. Food preparation, food ingredients, food presentation, tastes etc. So it makes sense for how hard it can be to educate on the real purpose and meaning of the different foods.
If I had been taught how to truly nourish myself I wouldn’t have needed to live with the levels of exhaustion that I have. What we eat and the way that we eat makes such a difference to the level of energy we have in our bodies.
Like you Jane I had cooking classes at school but nowhere in those classes was any education regarding the quality of the food I was eating, was it nourishing my body and how to tell if my body couldn’t deal with it. It’s crazy really when you consider that we take so much care to make sure we put the optimum fuel in our car but not in our body.
Yes, we are so far from that at the moment that it will take a while to put such considerations on the table. Sadly we now need to contend with vested interests wanting to keep the status quo because it suits corporate income as opposed to considering the health of the people first and foremost. Yet they can only justify the supply if there is still a demand, so perhaps by educating and starting this conversation demand will dwindle and supply will have to respond.
There is so much misinformation out there about what it means to have a healthy diet or what constitutes healthy food. Much of the so called ‘healthy food’ is more sugar laden than a piece of fruit and packed with preservatives and additives. And even if we think we’re eating healthily, if there’s any part of us that is eating to match a picture in or heads of how or what we think we should be eating, instead of eating what our bodies need and feel, then this is also an abusive way of eating, that is soon reflected back to us through our body.
When we use food as a reward or a comfort we disregard the effect on our body but when we eat and drink as nourishment for our body we are aware of the responsibility of nurturing our whole being.
Currently food is widely used as a form of comfort in our society and from reading the stats it is clear that this is affecting many lives. ‘…2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.’ When we truly listen to our body, it is very difficult to abuse it with food as it will guide us to eat in a way that nurtures our body and our whole being. So, it is worth listening to our body to nurture it instead of abusing it.
With the ridiculously vast variety of foods that are available in our civilisation today we are clearly not eating for nourishment and sustenance alone. Food has become an indulgence, an entertainment even an addiction, highlighting that we are desperately needing to ‘fill’ ourselves up with something. Take the indulgent food away and what are we left with, could it be that we feel the lack of love in our lives, that we feel for ourselves and with others, or the lack of connection to who we are and the abuse that we allow yet know deep down is not who we are? There is much for us to explore and much for us to re-learn about how we can live the true potential of who we are with the vitality that we are designed to live.
Beautifully expressed Carola. We use food along with many things to complicate and mask the emptiness we often feel from living with lack of love. When we reintroduce love back into our lives I feel this would change the way we treat our body and change our relationship with food.
Filling our emotional needs or rewards with food is a short term highlight and satisfaction. But what compromise do we accept in our body by having, only for a couple of seconds, a beautiful taste in our mouth? Is it truly worth it?
Understanding our relationship with food, the impact it has and the far reaching effects on our long term health and wellbeing, is one of our responsibilities as members of society. We simply have a duty of care to ourselves and the wider world.
Yes it is a great message to give that we do know what to eat, what not to eat… we know it exactly if we listen to our bodies. The thing is that we learn that food advise comes from outside of us, from books and on the internet and if we are really lost we have to visit a dietician and nutritionist to support us. I am not saying this is wrong but I feel we should be more empowered to know we do know these things inside out ourselves because of the fact we have a body which is responsive to food and everything we do in life.
I am very aware of the effects of food but I still on a daily basis choose to dull this awareness.. I wonder what it would be like if I nailed food for one day and honoured my sensitivity and awareness. I don’t think being super-aware killed anyone.
So true Arianna – the ‘hiding’ of the true ingredients in food will one day be exposed as one of the all time biggest scandals – dwarfing anything around cigarettes. With so many lies being told, all the more reason to only listen to the only truth-teller in the equation – our bodies.
I just watched a documentary about Sugar. There was a plethora of fascinating stuff in it. But something that really stood out for me was the speed at which the body recovered when the presenter cut sugar out of his diet. Our bodies are incredible and amazing and, if we start to make responsible choices, will rapidly start to return to their natural vitality.
Our bodies are true miracles- I agree! On the other hand, the fast recovery of the body gets misused by many as it is the perfect excuse to continue consuming food or substances, that does actually harm instead of nurturing us. Because they know and play with the fact that after a certain while the body will recover.
In the animal kingdom food is used to fuel the body, in the human world its used as a reward , its used as a bribe , its used to impress people, it has also been used in blackmail , its also been used in punishment and a lot of this expressions are seen in advertising. So the education need to start with the adults and works its way down.
I used to believe that a little bit of everything was a good thing. There are 2 problems with this way of thinking. One is that it completely ignores the body’s communication, the other is that I never really knew what a “little bit” meant. I feel this is the same for the majority. A “little bit” is purely subjective and different for everything.
“More so, our physical body actually knows which foods truly nourish it and which foods deplete or burden it.”
This is a true way of education because it comes from the truth of the person, if kids were honoured, in their response to food, this would be a starting point of truth education.
I agree it would be invaluable to be taught from a young age re the purpose and value of food and nourishing ourselves, ‘to feel for ourselves the impact of foods that make us sleepy, foods that make us bloat, and foods that feel truly nourishing?’ With the understanding, and feeling the impact food has on us, we are free to make new choices.
The current reality of how people often use food is that it is used like any other illegal drug, in that many people numb themselves by eating heavy glutinous foods, stimulate their nervous system with caffeine and sugar, and over-eat to dull their senses. We have all used these techniques from time to time to not deal with an underlying issue, but in my experience the effects of food/drink used in the wrong way has similar impacts as many illegal drugs on our body.
“Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” (4) ”
This is very incredible to think, we are the being with the highest intelligence and 2.8 million of us are overeating and killing ourselves.
I agree that this is an astonishing statistic. But it is important to look much deeper than just the notion of ‘over-eating’. We are living in a way that separates us from our innate vitality and joy and thus we crave the ‘highs’ of food to compensate. This need from us combined with the incredibly scientific and purposeful way in which food manufactures (or should I call them drug dealers) deliver us that exact ‘high’ means that it is much more complicated than just ‘over-eating’ and until we look at it with a full understanding we will just keep going around in circles, getting rounder!
To be taught about the true value and purpose of food, how it is for nourishing us would be an invaluable teaching in schools.
Great call to look at the responsibility we have for all aspects of our relationship with food, buying and preparing it, consuming it for nourishment and then listening to the messages our body feeds back to us so that we can constantly refine what is required.
As there has recently been research done with restricting the diets of those with diabetes with encouraging outcomes in the reversal of the condition it shows what is possible when we become willing to recognise what we are doing not just to our bodies but also to the planet.
A little bit of what you fancy is the general method used concerning what we are taught around food, we have nutritionists saying some sugar and loads of carbs work, we have yoga teachers saying this pose is good for a hangover.
We have to get real concerning the message we get around well-being and discern for ourselves what is true for us, we need honest accounts of what food supports and the difference between what we want to eat and what actually supports our bodies, this can also come together if we begin to appreciate caring for ourselves.
Hmm, using our body as a daily barometer is something that would give it all away. We so avoid doing this and so often overwrite what our bodies are communicating because our mind can justify our behaviours or simply allow us to not see or notice the impact of our choices.
Having just come through the Christmas period and have observed the yearly panic, aggression and last minute rush in the supermarket as if there are food shortages. It does seem bizarre that for one day we stock pile to the hilt and massively overeat.
I agree there definitely needs to be more awareness and education with food and the addictive nature of it etc especially education within school. Shocking statistics and makes me feel what a greedy world we currently live in. That alone tells us something is desperately wrong with how were are living that we can have increased obesity yet at the same time people still starving.
What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body? Well for starters so many health problems would be avoided and people would be living in a way that allowed them to be true to themselves and by not numbing the body with over eating or the wrong foods, the bodies messages would be loud and clear.
Jane, it is so common for us to do this and yet reading it like this makes me realise how crazy it is; ‘it never dawned on me to listen more to my body about what it had to say about food and nourishment – and I kept on eating those same foods day in day out, despite the obvious symptoms they were causing.’
Wow imagine where society would be now if we had all had an education that fully covered healthy eating and how our thoughts and movements affect us. For sure we would be in a much better place one that had less suicide less depression and less loneliness. Get our foundations right – sleep, healthy eating and positive feelings and we have all the rest covered.
“….the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow…” – brilliant Jane, agree, and the simple elements to foundation: what we are today we build for tomorrow..
I was with a group of health professionals yesterday and the amount of chocolate/cake/salt etc that was consumed was enormous. Surely nutrition ought to be an important subject in the education of health care professionals?
I agree Elizabeth. However, maybe there is an element of us not wanting to know too, as that means being asked to look at what we do eat?
Leadership through inspiration and example is the only way to truly instigate change.
Imagine being taught that the way we eat, the quality of our movements and what we say all can impact on whether we truly nourish ourselves or drain and exhaust our lifeforce.
If we get the foundation of eating well right in our early years this can support us throughout our life time in so many ways, get this wrong and we will be forever playing catch up with our own evolution.
It is shocking to read the figure of so many who are dying from being overweight or obese. and it is sad too, because each person has left behind people who loved them, and this is revealing, because to feel the love that is there for you is actually very fulfilling.
“…and at school we did have cooking lessons, I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body” -agree Jane, they were the same for me too… i remember home economics classes being bland, boring, functional, one size fits all, and as a result dropped the class as an option as soon as i could. Food can be medicinally nourishing and magically interesting when it’s used to support the body in its harmony and flow… and delicious when that’s consumed.
“What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?” Such an important lesson to learn. Questioning as to why I feel hungry when I know I can’t truly be so gives me an opportunity to nominate how I’m feeling. The ‘hunger; then disappears! |Magic!
It’s true Jane, we can eat driven by our emotions to indulge and distract ourselves from feeling what we don’t want to feel or, we can eat to nourish and fuel our body.
It is clearly evident that our bodies are not coping with the onslaught of food that we are submitting them to. The explosion of obesity, diabetes and other food related illnesses that we are experiencing today is sending us a strong message that we are on the wrong track. For not only are we championing and advocating indulging in overriding our senses and the communication from our bodies but we also continue to consume foods that are known and proven to cause us harm. Our current understanding and relationship with food and our bodies is not supporting us to live with the optimum health and vitality that we deserve. As you say here – ‘Only when we understand and build a true relationship with food will the statistics on obesity and diabetes, and on related issues such as food waste, be different.’ For there is far greater vitality that we can be living with and it begins from developing an honouring and loving relationship with the truth in our bodies.
If we were taught from an early age, or educated about the true value and purpose of food then we would see an entirely different society to what we currently see.
Food to be used purely to nourish the body. As opposed to eating to drown our emotions, to numb or stimulate us away from our awareness. That our sensitivities need not be attacked by feeding the body substances that make it feel sick. These conversations are much needed in the world today.
If I don’t eat well my whole out look on life suffers, I become moody and have less energy. It makes such a fundamental difference to eat healthy to absolutely all areas of our lives therefore it is imperative we receive the true education around this subject which when we get it right will support us throughout our life.
Our excessive and rather indulgent nature with food reveals more about our lack of true honesty and rather stubborn and arrogant attitude than it does about our lack of intelligence. We all have the smarts to know when we are over eating or not yet we stubbornly continue to eat more than we need or eat the wrong foods. We are not dumb but maybe we are deeply sensitive and on some level “need” food to ‘protect’ or rather dull ourselves from what and how we truly feel.
Just imagine if we were all so in touch with our bodies that we only ate what we needed, bought just enough to do this, and kept staying in touch with our bodies in this way. The world’s supply and demand of food would be extraordinarily different.
Most of us live from meal to meal – what sort of quality of life is this when our highlights of the day is all about food?
Why do we not live in such a way where we eat to nourish and support our bodies? It would suggest that we stopped listening to our bodies and are driven many times by our ideas and beliefs or strategies to protect ourselves from negative emotions.
We seem to be slipping further away from having a healthy relationship with food and our bodies and yes our health stats are indicative of this… when I view my body as a vehicle I am more practical and respectful about the care of it, just as I am with my car, ensuring that it can support me to get about.
Great analogy Matilda. As we don’t feed our cars with the inappropriate fuel to make it work, we can’t eat what sickens us to be healthy.
I know myself how something that tastes good and is considered an ‘every now and again’ treat can end up being a daily pattern. It is is so very easy to fall into negative eating patterns when we A. do not have true healthy role models , B, are not told the importance of food on our physical and mental health and C. do not look at the real cause of why we eat certain foods. Without true education of this vital subject we are all left floundering.
I remember years ago when I was taught anatomy and physiology (with a new age slant), that food only gives a certain percentage of our nutrition, I had no idea what the presenter was talking about (and I still don’t actually). But what I do know is that the way we move, breath and thus live can be extremely nourishing. The way we move through our day connecting back with our body and staying present with ourselves can change health and well-being immeasurably.
Thank you for this reminder – that is so true
Eating well is the absolute foundation if we want to have true joy and true success in our lives get this right and we have the building blocks for everything we could need.
Until we humans (the intelligent beings) get to realise we are creating “junk food” and then eating “junk food” nothing will truly change, the illnesses will get worse and worse. There should be no need for education of our children, it should just be a learning. Perhaps we could learn from our “not so intelligent creatures” on how to do it. Eating is a learning for each person once each person learns this, then children will have a knowing of what is already built into their body.
It is really interesting, and very much to the detriment of our health and wellbeing that food has become so much more than the nourishing necessity it is and has become (many centuries ago) a symbol of wealth, affluence, celebration, comfort, reward, punishment, indulgence, fun etc… By loading it with all these other meanings we have lost sight of its purpose and that is to support our body, our vehicle of expression, to be harmonious and express to the fullness of our potential to the best of our ability.
2.8 million dying every year of obesity is extraordinary statistics. Even though there is a lot of research and evidence on what nourishment is and why we need it. For me it feels that this is not really being looked at and shared so it is accessible to anyone at any given moment when they want to take responsibility for the health of their body by what they put in it.
When I was growing up food soon became all about the taste and sweetness of it – though I remember that when I was very young I would at least listen to my body when it was full and leave my plate in whatever state it was. So it is at that moment when a child is still very honouring of the body that true education like you described Jane would be super beneficial. Because without the confirmation of how great it is to leave your plate when you had enough and not eat things that don’t feel good in the body, at some point you give up (at least that happened for me) and join the eating for pleasure that many people do.
When the food industry is truly studied and deeply observed one would see that the only reason false information about food can be so easily advertised and propergated in some cases as legal truths which they are not (such as sugar and fats) is because the masses are swallowing the lie hook line and sinker. In effect to have a true and loving relationship with food one must be very willing to be open and responsible with how they are with food.
Very true, we can’t blame the industry solely because they are supplying a demand. So why have we demanded this in the first place? Looking at why we want sugar, salts, fats etc helps make sense of the bigger picture.
Food has become a total commodity and not something that is there to support us being in physical form
We seemed to have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous now, where a good lifestyle is all about creating and eating amazing creations of food dishes. Moving from eating to nourish ourselves to a form of entertainment and a past time which delivers emotional fulfilment.
Having spent the day recently in school with teenagers I have been surprised at how unhealthy many of them are, the impact of poor eating can be seen in many ways not just the physical, many of the teenagers I spent time with had a lack of vitality and zest for life. Could it be that what we choose to eat has a greater impact on our mental health then many care to notice.
Thank your Jane for starting the “conversation that we need to have”. There would also be other benefits for everyone in more awareness of what we eat and that beside the waste factor we would have more savings. Then there is the thought of the waste that could instead be going to those in need and not landfill.
Quite often the need for comfort can outweigh the obvious benefits of listening to my body’s messages. But this can only last for so long because eventually the messages become so loud and clear, making the choice to listen that much more necessary. And this is perhaps simply how we learn, through the varying degrees of the loudness of our messages as we pick and choose which ones we will listen to and which ones we will override. Constantly developing our sense of self and of what works.
How amazing it would be if we were all taught from a very early age that “the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow”? I feel it would be revolutionary, paving the way for a population that would be living with a much greater quality of health and health statistics that are nowhere as shocking as the ones you shared. I am going to take this with me today and take the time to observe whether I am considering that the food that I eat is an true investment in my life.
Thank you Jane I like this part “Animals in the wild eat only what is needed , yet we as humans – who claim to be the most intelligent species ” Think about it this ” intelligent species ” creates junk food and if this is not silly enough we even sell it , eat it and market it . It makes one wonder .
A healthy diet is essential if we want to have real joy in our lives, if we just eat junk then soon or later our emotional and physical health suffers.
Or we could turn it around and say that our emotional health is what is determining what we eat. When our emotions are choosing the foods we eat, they won’t be choosing what our body truly needs, but what is needed to keep the re-action going.
This makes me question how intelligent are we if we choose to over eat to a point where it is slowly killing our body. When we connect to the intelligence of our body it guides us as to what to eat, when and the nourishing quantity. It is when we ignore the intelligence of our body that leads to illness and disease.
‘The way You way today is an investment in tomorrow’ Absolutely brilliant. Love it!
with 2.8 million people a year dying of obesity, surely this is the writing on the wall that governments must be able to read despite the ongoing reinforcement of institutions like the sugar industry to keep the old status quo.
Only this morning I heard on the radio that a survey was done and children thought cheese came from plants!!! This alone says we are not talking and discussing about food, nutrition, health and well-being enough as well as far too many processed foods being eaten.
Wow! That really does indicate just how far removed from reality we are. We have a responsibility to educate ourselves and our children so at the very least we can make a clear choice. Next comes the quality of the choice and the honesty about reasons why we choose to eat what we eat.
That even one person in the world is dying of obesity is a sad indictment of our society’s relationship with food. Our body does know which foods nourish us and how much to eat yet we are still not fully listening to the wisdom within.
What is really disturbing is when one reads of how things like the sugar industry in America conducted a relentless PR program to get the population to change to sugar from fats, and how sponsored scientists eventually became the head of the whole American agriculture Department. When we choose to feel into what is actually going on in this world it gives us the opportunity to actually empower ourselves to be who we truly are by making our own decisions and our choices.
In the past I ate a vegetarian diet because it thought it was good for me I knew dairy didn’t agree with me so I cut it out and also sugar, these days my diet has changed as I connect to my body and feel much more the effects of certain foods on my moods and vitality, it is a continual learning of listening to the wisdom of what the body shares and making loving choices.
Over the years I have eaten to comfort, to soothe, to socialize/for entertainment, to fit in, to be good, to show appreciation, for an ideal way of being [as a woman], as opposed to nowadays eating for myself, to nourish and support my body towards a vitality aspect. When we eat for the body not the mind or emotion, not only do attitudes and buying decisions when it come to groceries change, but so does the body and shape too, and with it our personal or self-relationship.
To nourish requires a relationship with ourselves.
From early on our relationship with food is not fostered in a true way. We are told the foods we are going to eat, the ones that are treats and the ones that we plainly just don’t want – but are forced to eat. If we aren’t taught about paying attention to the effects that certain foods have on our body we will eventually be burying these feelings and takin on the ways of those around us. And then when coeliac disease or IBS arrives 30 years later or even sooner we are stumped as to why, and will see making dietary changes as difficult or a struggle but its because that foundational relationship with food is not being developed.
The sugar industry should pay for what is done to society the same way in which the tobacco industry had to pay for their lies. People are chronically ill and dying because of the sugar industry, and they tried to falsely accuse fats as being the bad guy.
There is so much to learn about our relationship with food, as we tend to use food for all the wrong reasons! The purpose of food is not to comfort us but to support our body so that it can enhouse the soul. If we look at food from that point of view we would not even consider having most of the food that is on the market.
Everyone knows they need food to live, and so everyone knows at some level food is nourishment, but we grow up learning to use food for any number of other things; to escape, to numb, to socialise, to spend time with family, to avoid life.
Thanks Jane…. The stand-out phrase here is … ‘… being taught about …the true purpose and value of food’. This would of course mean that the presenters of this information would have to be living in a way that demonstrated this… otherwise it would not be a true presentation but simply more words… this will surely happen one day… bring it on I say !.
I can’t believe what I have just read ‘2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” (4)’ WOW this show we have so much to heal!
My relationship with food being nurturing has been very poor to say the least, I see food as a necessity not something I particularly enjoyed. I am changing, but only through my connection to myself am I inspired to be more lovingly engaged with food and I am only at the beginning of that journey, I am 45! Imagine if this was taught in schools my life would have been very different!
The thing is when you are growing up and you receive meals from home and the school meals, this all sends messages to the children that this is what meals comprise of. It wasn’t until I got a lot older that I realised that having home made chips and egg, a weekly assortment of cream cakes, sweets and chocolate (along with many other unhealthy food) everyday after school was not healthy for you. Yes we did cooking classes but again the food was sausage rolls, jam roly-poly, jam tarts, which rarely made it to the dinner table at night because it would be eaten on the bus on the way home.
To get an understanding of where my parents were at and the level of understanding they had with food, I would have to take into consideration that they were brought up in the second world war and went through rationing. They did have healthier meals in their childhood because both my grandmothers knew how to cook and one of them was in service as a cook, so no excuses there. It seems that when there was an abundance of food from all over the world available it was freely eaten without any understanding of calories, fat content, sugar content, and like many others they slipped into unhealthy eating patterns. But again as adults we cannot blame our parents as there is so much information with books and the internet, so the interest to cook healthy meals and to educate ourselves ultimately lands in our own laps.
‘Only when we understand and build a true relationship with food will the statistics on obesity and diabetes, and on related issues such as food waste, be different.’ the need and emptiness people feel make that their relationship with food and also with their body is not true, and so we abuse the body with all kind of foods as way of reward, distraction or trying to numb the pain with all kind of excuses as ‘you only live once’ ‘enjoy as long as you can’. We have to start to be honest with ourselves and each other to see where this is leading to.
I love the practicalness of this, Elizabeth. Taking care of what we eat – attending to the quality of the what it is and how we prepare it – whilst also understanding that it is simply one of the ways we sustain and nurture our bodies so they are fit and well for life.
This is certainly an invitation to start the conversations we need to be having about food and how we behave around it. Although we do have a tendency as humanity to ignore all the signs until we are at the precipice, I wonder what our health stats have to look like before we consider we are there.
A revelation to food – the message is that we are needing to change the relationship we have with food to a healthy one , so that we truly use it where it is meant for , purposefully so.
The problem with food is what is that we are feeding with it. What is good for US is not necessary equal to what is good for us. And not always who makes the decision about food is US; often times is us. So, what we ask food to do for us varies depending on who is asking.
Over the last year or so I have cut out a lot of “unhealthy foods”, however recently I have come to realise just how important every single piece of food we put in our mouths actually is. A couple of days ago I was at work and wasn’t hungry but decided to get something to eat anyways. When I got my avocado and rice crackers, my colleagues kept commenting on how healthy I am. However, was I really healthy? I sat with it and came to the realisation that no, regardless of what I eat, it is not healthy if it does not support the body, if I don’t feel good afterwards, it is not healthy.
Food has such a powerful hold over us when we let it, our pleasures and sensations are stimulated to the nines yet we don’t seem to care what the outcome of this will be on our bodies, mind and state of being. When we take responsibility for what we choose then we will start to realise that how we have been living is what is causing all the pain and devastation.
‘What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?’ This would change everything from the billion pound food industry down to the regular conversations on diets around the tables in our canteens at work.
How do we educate others? By the way we eat ourselves and our own relationships with food.
Jane all those points you make about growing up and food with the supportive education in your home around salt, sugar, and in my case e-additives, sweeteners, sounds very familiar.. we also always ate well, healthily, good produce, though would often joke about feeling bloated after delicious Sunday roasts in particular, having eaten too much and also pudding, kipping later in the afternoon… so there was awareness of the effect of food, though not anything more than that as in how come one ate that (large) amount, or consideration whether the food was ‘working’ to cause bloating or sleeping later.. Awareness with food is awareness with our body, and is the nourishment of life.
It’s interesting to compare this to our cars. Would we put petrol into our car that was full of impurities and poisons? No. And if we did we would we accept and understand that our cars wouldn’t run as smoothly and may even break down? Yes. So we already have the basic understanding that it matters what you full you put into a working machine – thus why on earth do we care so little what we put into our own bodies. All the more insane when you consider that a car is utterly replaceable or repairable – but we only have one body. It really is madness and a gigantic denial of what we all absolutely know.
Let’s say we eat 3 meals a day and live until we are 80. That is nearly 90,000 meals that we consume in our lifetime, 90,000 times (not including snacks) we put the fuel into our body to sustain us. It makes no sense at all not to deeply consider and discern what that fuel is and how it might affect our ‘engines’.
“‘The Body Is the Marker of All Truth.” this definitely should be taught in schools, that our bodies are a wise tool that we can use at all times. It is speaking to us, but it is up to us to learn to listen to it. Imagine if we were taught to really listen to our bodies and not override what messages it gives us, lovingly so. We would have a lot less illness and disease i am sure of that.
My life has changed so much since I changed my diet and continue to refine it by listening to my body of what truly supports and nourishes it. My figure and body weight changed to its natural shape and weight, but the biggest change or benefit was; ‘I can feel more’, and my awareness has expanded, now that I am no longer numbing my body with comfort rich dairy and sugary foods which made me feel sleepy and lethargic.
Our true connection with food – is it about who we truly are or is it a distraction that keeps us from the truth of who we are? If we had a true relationship with food and ate responsibly it would be about listening to our body to evolve, unless evolution is not on our radar.
With the death of many relatives when I was young, I became aware very early that nourishing my body was important.
Then I discovered – through the presentations of Serge Benhayon – that we also need to truly-self-nurture our bodies, so we can be of service to humanity at all levels and not just about using the physical body, because we are more than the physical body. Learning we are just not this physicality has been the greatest tool for me to start to over-come the lies my mind feeds me about what foods are good for me and how much to eat.
Thank you Jane, I love the facts and figures that you have shared as it brings a reality to what is going on, and as an intelligence we have to be open to every possibility and it seems more is at play than meets the eye. If it were all about the physical and nothing to do with our soul connection, we would just make the correction and hay presto, no more chocolate as one example.
I think the reason for why it’s hard to educate on food is because we all use it for different reasons. Some to dull the sadness or maybe to keep us from being more still in our bodies and sometimes to simply keep us awake. But as you say when we start to listen, truly listen to the body it’s easier to see what is that current status. One might be shocked how tired one is. I know I still use food to dull myself.
I agree Shirley-Ann, being honest with regards to what you eat and why is the first step to understanding why we eat foods that do not nourish us. Even being honest about whether we even care or not what food we put into our bodies is a place to start, because deep down there is some awareness of what the foods are doing to our bodies no matter how numb we feel within ourselves.
This is such an important subject, if we were educated by an unbiased true system set up by actual experts it would solve so much of our health problems relieving the stress on health systems all round the world.
“What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?” – Awesome question as it would show that our need for foods that serve comfort or needs based on emotional states appears to be huge , and the level of sickness and disease in our world reflects just that.
There is so much to discuss around food. Our relationship with it … be it very unhealthy in many cases. How we use it not to feel. How much food we waste. The abuse that is in the world with regards to food and growing it .. the abuse to animals, to people, abusing nature and gosh the amount of rubbish/pesticides that goes in our food. How in some areas of the world we have obesity (which is on the increase) and food is wasted yet in other parts of the world we have malnutrition and people are starving. This latter reality alone is enough to tell us something is seriously wrong. Those statistics are truly shocking. This is a great blog .. time to have the discussion that I am sure people are having around the world but we need to bring this more into education as you say .. that it is not just about calories!
I am constantly amazed at the conflicting information there is around food and nutrition and how much of it doesn’t make any sense. Basically what harms, or what supports the body is common sense. Why does the food chart still exist in its current form? The uproar would be huge if we started addressing food facts that keep our bodies truly healthy, clear, vital and responsive to energetic awareness.
For many children now cooking and nutrition is not taught at schools, and home life consists of convenience foods rather than home cooked meals cooked from scratch. It is both children and parents who need to learn about true nutrition and cooking, and also our responsibility to share what we know about food with others.
I have been really observing my relationship with food recently. More so about the choices I make to the food I eat and then how I eat it. I have been observing feelings of hunger as well and noting that when I feel hungry, I am not always hungry. It could be that I have not expressed something during my day or that I am desperately wanting to fill an empty space which is there because I have disconnected from me. I have also noted that I eat out of reaction, because I have taken something on during the day. There are many beliefs around food and eating and undoing those is not a matter for mind over matter or force, but of a loving discipline.
I have also found that my mind will tell me I am hungry when I also know that it has to be impossible because of how long before (2hrs) and how much I had eaten (5 HR. breakfast) so I simply nominated this fact and the energy of hunger left. I had never considered that hunger was an energy that is felt, and it had obviously come from out side of me, so most times hunger is never a true interpretation that will serve the body? Thank you Jennifer, for there is much to deeply ponder on, as this is a revelation that has just deepened my connection to the true inner-me.
For more on the inner-me go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=INNER+ME
Am I hungry…or am I craving relief. A dedication to asking this question has changed my eating habits and also invited me to see so much more of what is at play during the day. Eating when not hungry is dishonesty – a choice not to feel what is actually going on.
The very fact that this blog needed to be written shows that the belief systems we have held about what is “right” and “wrong” when it comes to food such as with the food pyramid or seeking to live a fat and sugar free diet are not it! Or at least not the only part of the picture.
Jane, you raise some great points in this article, I observe that food is something that mostly we do not eat purely to nourish our bodies, I see that often we go for taste over pure nourishment and that overeating is common and so is eating foods that we know are not good for us. I can feel how important education is on the truth about food and nourishment so that the patterns of overeating and eating dulling or bloating foods does not becoming ‘the norm’ for children as they are growing up.
How sick do we have to become as a society before we start to look at our food choices and why we choose what we choose, and also start seeing how advertising and marketing really pulls us in to buy certain products?
So true, what an unbalanced focus we have on food. There are so many cooking shows on television, all full of sugar and indulgence. There is more food avaiable in the shops and yet there is idolisation of thinness. What a bag of mixed messages we offer people, no wonder they are confused. Each and every one of us has to make the choice for ourselves what we put in our mouths, how we feed our bodies and whether it is nutritious or not.
Unfortunately the food industry has become so powerful that it owns many sectors of society. The only way this will shift is by exposing the lies that are told and the greed that is so prevalent in the industry.
Yes the food industry has a huge responsibility. Alongside that I am inspired by the impact we can have in the choices we make. This is a supply and demand chain. If we shift the demand (stop buying the products that are ill-effecting us) then so too will the supply change.
I totally agree food has become such a focus in our lives and and obsession for some. It has moved from something we need to survive or nourishment to a source of entertainment, stimulation, connection and dulling of the feelings we cannot deal with.
It’s really hard for me to get over how much food we waste when we have people in the world dying of starvation. We humans seriously need to look at our intelligence. Jamie Oliver went into schools to try and educate about nutrition and healthy eating and changing the school menu and he had parents passing their kids cheese burgers through the school gates.
It must have been a shock to the system for some of the pupils and the parents to suddenly have the option of healthy meals presented to them – a change from what the children were used to and for the parents to look at their own unhealthy choices.
We have also made ourselves unaware of the lies that are told about food, and there are many. This is of our own making as the appeal of our taste buds overrides the wellbeing of our body. I once thought that a little bit of something didn’t matter, but everything matters and nothing is nothing.
It’s evident to me from reading your words Jane that we look to food as a constant reward from the misery we experience in life. Rather than stop munching and see the reality of what’s on our plate – our main tactic just seems to be to stuff our face. So what if it’s not just our view of food that is past it’s sell by date, but the way we see life and the ‘problems’ we face? What if we embraced these ‘issues’ instead of burying our head in the sand? I feel our food choices would naturally be truly healthy then.
As always, there is so much we can learn from nature and animals. Animals are true to their body and don’t get addicted to substances like sugar or suffer from obesity as human’s can do. Imagine a lion getting greedy and overeating – he would soon be too heavy to hunt for the next meal. The only animals often seen to be overweight are domesticated animals whose owners feed them too much and they can develop obesity or diabetes……hmmm, we are not as intelligent as we like to think we are.
“Animals in the wild eat only what is needed, yet we as humans – who claim to be the most intelligent species – eat so many foods that aren’t good for us, we buy food we do not eat and waste it, and we eat in such a way that we become overweight, obese, developing diabetes or other ailments and conditions, seemingly seeing these things as ‘normal’ today despite the shocking statistics e.g. in the rise of obesity”.
Eating to truly nourish is a true investment in our bodies, in our health and well-being – and in our future. Living in the world’s spin can be a challenge – why not support ourselves to hold steady in it, rather than letting the world rule us by enjoining the spin and craziness with sugar and caffeine, or numbing ourselves with overeating and unhealthy food choices..
Jane, this is a great question, ‘What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?’ From what I observe there is very little taught about how foods affect us, and eating a healthy diet to keep us feeling well, this seems like such an important subject and if it were taught could bring huge benefits to children’s lives.
equal to eating foods which nourish us, is preparing, cooking and eating in a nourishing way.
This is such a great article Jane, If we did eat purely for nourishing our bodies like our so called lesser species on the planet it would solve so many health problems, food waste would be minimal and the planet would be far less polluted.
The old saying you are what you eat is a very wise old saying. I was remembering back to my school days when I ate white bread butter and some filling every day for lunch, loaded with salt and sugar and probably very little nutritional valve, no wonder I couldn’t concentrate that well in the afternoon.
This simple equation of what we eat at lunch equalling how we feel in the afternoon makes it so easy to see the folly and blindness of our current relationship with food
‘We… talk about food a lot in our daily lives, in our homes, and in our workplaces.’ We sure do – way too much. We have a global obsession with food, whether we have too much of it or not enough. What a great distraction it all is. If we allow ourselves to be worried about / obsessed with food half (or all) the time, there’s little to no space to be with what lies beneath. It’s a ploy our spirits love, a ruse we willingly buy into to keep our souls, and the capacity to live a truly soulful life – at bay.
We have a wider variety or more nutritious foods than ever before and more knowledge about nutrition than ever before and yet we have a global crisis of obesity and diabetes. This does not make any sense. There must be something we are not willing to see when it comes to food and your excellent blog Jane is a great conversation starter in this direction. We need to be having more conversations like this about food and questioning what we have been told about it and whether it is really true or not.
I have just been doing some study and one subject was nutrition, it was really interested what is being taught. We are being taught the old food pyramid that has been around since the 50’s, that its important to have lots and lots of carbs, protein a little less and then less again of sugar. This may seem really normal, and perhaps still an ok guide, but what it doesn’t say is that gluten, dairy and sugar are not great in our bodies, that we operate much more with ourselves when the body doesn’t encounter such foods and more importantly, not once did it say what the energetic understanding of such foods have on the body, this was definitely missing in my studies and the impacts.
It is amazing how – when our bodies are constantly telling us, and there is so much black and white evidence around – we are still deliberating over what is healthy and what is not. It feels more like we are trying to justify our comforts in life and wanting to hang on to them at the expense of our true health.
It is truly astonishing to consider the fact that in 2014 “The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day”. I mean, if we really stop and look at just this one line – what is it telling us about ourselves as an entire human race? What immediately comes to my mind is to ask in what proportions was the food spread out across the globe? Especially as it is estimated that the world population at the time was 7 billion, so who was eating and who was not and why?
Why do schools provide foods for sale that stimulate, dull and numb children from their awareness? And what does this say about our education system?
So well said Jane,yes it is long overdue the conversation about food and our relationship with it. In this fast paced 21st century we have more variety of food then ever yet it seems like we have less wisdom then ever. Lack of responsibility permeates our food culture from the producer to the advertiser to the consumer none of whom are willing to truly look at the mess that is being created by overriding what our bodies truly need in regard to real nutrition.
Even starting out in life, once a baby can eat solids, most are given dessert… desserts are what you can find in the baby food isle everywhere… so from the outset we are shown that there is food we have to eat first (as its seen to support the body or is healthy) and then there is food that we follow up with after and everyone gets excited about and everyone changes after they eat it. Imagine if from when we were born we were able to decide what we drank and ate, from our bodies, my feeling is, we would not have the statistics that we have now.
I have been so interested to see how I need less food when I eat food that my body enjoys and can use, rather than food that dulls the workings in my body. An example would be sugar, once I got through the withdrawal phase, I actually want to eat less. I would say there are 2 reasons – the first being there is SO much sugar in manufactured food! the second being I am simply less hungry!
Perhaps society as a whole is not yet ready to admit the reasons behind the food choices made, only when this begins to change will the truth behind food choices be taught in mainstream education.
Maybe there are more insidious reasons too, like industry bodies not wanting people to know the truth as then eating habits would change and this would in turn mean less revenue for certain companies and industry bodies, even job losses. Maybe it’s a case of individuals collectively thinking only about themselves rather than the well-being of humanity as a whole.
Until attending the presentations at Universal Medicine and listening to Serge talking about food and it’s true purpose and how it affects everything about us, I was happily eating what I wanted and seemingly not being affected. Now that I am much more aware, my body tells me all of the time what does and doesn’t serve it, and if I don’t listen, it’s not only my body that pays but how I move and conduct myself is then but shadow of my natural vibrant self.
The irony of teaching children the value of food is lost in most allegedly developed countries where meals are provided that have limited budgets and or mass produced for cost reasons and just re-heated. Jamie Oliver tried to show and instruct schools that it was possible to provide quality nutritious meals inexpensively but has still had an uphill battle convincing the school boards. There are European countries like France, Norway and Italy that provide quality school meals. Until we practice what we teach about healthy eating and stop serving stuff that is far from it, we are just vacillating!
We have a culture of those who love to cook and those who can only boil 2 minute noodles, the comparisons not my point the point is even the so called role models we have showcasing cooking demonstrations and releasing books are doing it for appeal and for popularity, never are they about true education, or true nourishment. I look forward to the day when this is a part of cooking shows and books.
You raise a good point Harrison, chefs are always trying to do something a bit different to separate them from everyone else. When it’s your livelihood, you’re only as good as your last dish. However, if someone chose to truly educate people about the innate wisdom we have and to listen to their bodies and cook nourishing food, I feel they would be immensely successful in every way. It’s incredibly powerful when people have no agenda or expectations other than to share truth, with love.
The relationship we have with food is extremely revealing. We can use it to nourish our body or effectively abuse it by overeating, eating foods not designed for us and using food to get something from it being stimulation etc.. there is no one size fits all diet and the more we become aware of what we are eating the more we see how much we can be and are affected by it.
“The way we eat today is an investment in how we will feel tomorrow.” This truth is constantly reminding us that we are always choosing how we want to feel and that it is not up to chance.
Clearly this is a supply and demand situation. We the consumers have a demand for these foods and therefore, the supply is readily available, and as a lot of business trades purely on these goals, and we the consumers, are not holding them accountable because they supply what we say we need by our purchases.
The type of education we receive about food is clearly not ‘hitting the nail on the head’. If it was, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are currently in with obesity and obesity related illness and disease. The real problem is that there are very few people who are living in a way that means their diet is exactly what they need and therefore very few who can share and teach what is needed to support people out of the mess. This livingness does not mean studying and having initials after your name. It means being sensitive to the body, aligned to their soul and tuned into what is needed rather than the desires we have to change the way we feel with food.
The statistics do show a grim picture around food, an excessive lifestyle and the way we are using food. It would appear that at least in the west, we have fallen for gluttony in a big way. While we might be satisfying our taste buds, and temporarily numbing certain uncomfortable feelings like emptiness, lack of purpose and love, we are doing a lot of harm to our health. I notice anytime I overdo anything, whether its shopping, eating, exercising or work, I am trying to avoid feeling something and the choices I make with food are never that great. They are driven by what will quell these feelings rather than the nutrition and quantity my body needs.
It seems that there are two sides to this story…the manufactures who lack integrity and want to make money and the consumers who don’t want to take responsibility…if both sides made food about nutrition and health perhaps our health statistics would not be as high!
One of my favourite classes during my school days was home economics but we never really discussed true nutrition or how the body feels when we eat certain foods that has been my own exploration and learning over time. It would be so beneficial if not only school valued this life skill but also as parents of children we shared this because it would not only benefit children for their whole lives but its also so much fun too.
Oh yes I love that expression too – it is so right on the money: “’the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow.” It all comes back to choice, every moment all of the time…
“And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our well-being – ‘The Body Is the Marker of All Truth.” Serge Benhayon” – Anyone can do this, it is to allow a true awareness and monitoring how we feel after certain foods, immediately and many hours later – we have this gauge, all we need to do is read it.
I’ve decided this weekend to lighten the load per say on my body, and eat light meals like soup and salad because I’ve been feeling very heavy, sluggish and bloated from the food choices I have been making. It’s amazing while doing this how much time you have because your not thinking about where to go or what to eat. It has shown me how much I use food to fill a void that I don’t want to feel.
I’m still blown away by the fact that we have whole careers and specialties dedicated to nutrition and the things that we eat, but to talk about the way and quality in which we digest is it still seems radical. I’ve read a few things about ‘slow food’ but that doesn’t come across as feeling quite right, so having read your words today Jane I am inspired to try living my life with a diet of appreciation – making each mouthful about nurturing and supporting me.
Every day I am learning more about the expression of myself, and therefore every day I am learning more about how this relationship with myself is related to the relationship with food. I am enjoying discovering how little this relationship has been developed and how I don’t want to be honest about this relationship sometimes, but at the same time I am constantly inspired in go deeper with this all in utmost appreciation of everything.
To quote Miranda, ‘eat light to be light.’
There is so much research, expert advice about food ( often contradictory and dependant on who is conducting the research) but few voices saying well how does your body feel? It’s like our trust in ourselves has eroded but is this because we don’t want to look at our reliance on food to get through the day emotionally? How is so much information available but we’re side stepping the conversation about our relationship with food. Like how is it that when I feel stressed I want to eat or not eat?
When considering these statistics and the way my approach to eating has shifted to where I eat to nourish my body so that the amount of food I eat has at least halved and the fact of how much food is wasted the world over, then world food production is more than enough. This is a fact that needs considering because I was never obese. The closer inspection of what is going on is needed and could it be our own intelligence is causing us to overindulge because a lot of smart people are obese, so much so that it is not only food that effects us? Could it be that energy controls our thoughts and we eat according to the energy we are aligned to?
I used to use food as stimulation. It was an easy thing to do. Now I have a daughter and up until recently I was feeding her sweet fruits because she wanted them. But then I realised that isn’t actually supportive and I am getting her into the habit of eating sweets. So I stopped eating any sugars in my diet, and then hers. So I can be a reflection to her. And I feel amazing and she looks amazing. So food needs to be discussed and people need to feel it for themselves – what supports and what does not and the role of food as an escape or stimulant.
Yes indeed, Jane. There is a completely different way to be in relationship with food, which comes from a deep care and nurturing of the body, rather than abusing ourselves by using food to stimulate or numb our emotions.
The real value and truth about food and what and how it nourishes us is not really taught to us amongst the complexity and so called facts that is out there . No wonder the confusion and also the desire to stimulate our taste buds with sugar salt and everything to not feel what is truly going on for us and how our body really feels and is affected with eating and the way we are living. The ever increasing Illness and rates of disease is so telling and the true simplicity and love we can return to by feeling what to eat for ourselves from making loving choices to our lives can be amazing and supportive to being all we are with a health vitality and real joy from this consistency and commitment to ourselves.
Some dogs for no known reason would eat themselves to death. There is another animal that has mastered this ability… Us! The dogs are speculated to have gotten their traits from being domesticated wolfs and pack feeding patterns. This was just an observation from dinner last night at an all you can eat buffet. Some would graze, others would eat only one or two items till full and then were the ones they were eating when we arrived and still wolfing down food when we were leaving! If they are trying to bury something, they have mastered the technic… their feet have already vanished from view!
Are you talking about trotters or shanks Steve? I feel as I was at the same buffet that the stampede was felt by most, and from what I felt and went into was that I / we were going to miss-out. I know that I was one of those who returned a few times and over indulged, it was like I was a Leopard returning to the kill to top up my reserves. OMG how lost was I to not feel the energy I was going into so that I became a part of the pack. Thank you Steve, great points you have raised that have brought me to a deeper understanding of myself and that has opened me up to healing through the way I approach sustaining my vessel.
Good point, Steve…are we eating ourselves to death? A sobering but important consideration for us all.
“What if we were shown that there is a ‘cause and effect’ of food so that we can learn for ourselves how to listen to our body as a marker?” What an enormous difference this would make to our relationship with food, how and what we ate, and consequently the effects this would have on our overall health, not to mention the positive impact it would have on the National Health Service. Surely this is something that needs further investigation.
So much evidence, a plethora of statistics – and yet we still can’t grasp the full impact that food, and the way we eat food has on our lives , health and wellbeing.
When we as a society are out of balance as is the case with the rates of obesity and eating disorders present now we miss the point if we stay focused on eating well or portion size. Much better to look at what we are trying to fill ourselves with in terms of emotions or avoid dealing with as unpleasant as that may be.
Whilst we have so many seeming ‘developments’ and ‘advances’ in life – our relationship with food is clearly showing us that we have not advanced as we would so like to think.
Food used to control my life and at times it still can, it can be the first or last thing I think of each day. All food to me now tastes so yummy so that it is still very easy to over eat. Food is very much a work in progress and to the best of my ability I am eating only when hungry, then not to overeat and to eat to nourish my body to be off service to humanity.
Jane, you’ve inspired me to educate my children about food and nutrition. Also to start the conversation with people about our relationship with food and what is going on in our world.
We all know food is for living, for nourishment, but it has also become much more than that, it is our focus, our entertainment, our excuse to see friends, our way to check out. Starvation is still a big issue in the world while in the west we watch Masterchef and delight in chocolate balls that melt perfectly under a sauce. Something is very wrong in our way of understanding food, but thanks to blogs like this we can come out of the fog and begin to look at it differently.
I really like that statement Jane that food is important study for us all, it is sonething I have started to pay more attention too. My relationship with food is a wonderful reflection of where I am at with my relationship with my soul.
I love that Vanessa, that you have said our relationship with food is showing us our relationship with our Soul. It is our Soul that gives us the very simple messages of what foods work and don’t, when we are full, when we are denying ourselves or even when we are controlling and making our food a mental ideal. It’s all there to be seen.
‘Animals in the wild eat only what is needed, yet we as humans – who claim to be the most intelligent species – eat so many foods that aren’t good for us’ Animals listen to their body – we don’t. But thanks to Serge Benhayon we are beginning to understand what listening to our body means and the incredible vessel of wisdom it is.
Jane absolutely agree, teaching children from a young age about foods that are nourishing and those that are not, is the best way to go. As when you get older it becomes a struggle to let go of foods which are causing lots of problem, as you get so caught with the taste of foods.
‘ I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body’ No diet book or class teaches this gem of truth either, preferring to offer suggestions of rewards or treats, cementing the opposite, that food is there to satisfy our taste buds regardless of the fall out.
Whilst food is so widely used within society as a way to numb ourselves from what we feel or do not want to feel, to avoid our awareness and ability to know the truth of the stations in life and there is big business profits behind the sale of unhealthy foods there will be resistance to truly healthy relationships with food.
Such a great point if food education was working we would not see the obesity and malnutrition that we do…the ‘nutrient debit’ that many have is critical to understanding that we need to look at nourishment rather than comfort as the purpose for eating.
Jane its a really good point to question the type and quality of education around food at every area this comes up because we often don’t think we are being educated whereas the media, the TV, the internet are full of advertising that is deeply influential and educational around food. It shows people that fast food is the way or that it is not, but nothing that I’ve seen talks about the quality food is made in, why we turn to food and to help eat light to stay light. There are lots of diets out there but nothing that offers a true support to people around food.
Those statistics paint a pretty unhealthy picture indeed. We as a society, really are in need of some serious education and understanding around food and its real purpose, and this needs to start from a young age clearly. If children were taught about food and the true role it plays in our lives, and how to tune in to their bodies more when they eat, perhaps this would see much less weight and diet problems with many young children.
This is wonderful, Jane, and highlights that there is a different relationship to be had with food once we become more responsible for the way we live, which does not leave us needing stimulation, comfort or to numb ourselves from the day.
Jane – I recently did a stock take on how I was living and knew with every cell in my body that my food choices came from not wanting to be sensitive and from wanting to self sabotage. So I started to look at appreciating myself a little more, and I am now in a hotel where there are huge buffets – and it is amazing the difference I feel in my body and how I am not drawn to wanting any and every food because I can come back to the self appreciation and say ‘ do I want that to numb out or is it truly nourishing’ – what a joy it Is to be able to have this marker in my body.
I’m appreciating the prompt to consider more deeply ‘how’ I shop for food, if asked, I would say I’m not particularly keen on it, I love to cook and really enjoy buying nourishing food, but we are a family of 5 and food gets eaten very quickly! Sometimes it can feel quite exhausting, but maybe this isn’t so much due to the shopping, but a reflection of how my body is actually feeling and rather than recognising that I am tired and resting, or shopping locally for a few things that are needed, I have chosen to push on with a larger shop so I don’t have to go so often. If I am ignoring how I am feeling when I buy the food, even feeling exhausted by the time I get home, it stands to reason that this energy may then carry forward into the preparation of the evening meal. Until now, I haven’t truly appreciated the significance of my responsibility, not only to myself but to everyone I am cooking for. I love how with everything we know, there is always space for us to go so much deeper and expand our understanding.
“One of the things that strikes me is the type of education we have about food in our homes, families, schools and workplaces. I am not here saying it is all bad, but if it was ‘hitting the nail on the head’, these statistics would surely look different.” This is sadly so true. We spend so much time learning to regurgitate useless facts about everything else and so little time spent on actually discussing important things like self care and nutrition for our bodies. If these subjects were covered more thoroughly we would see true education returning to our schools.
In truth, I feel there is actually great resistance to us ‘knowing the truth’ which is why we are where we are. The food industry doesn’t want us to know the truth and to take greater responsibility for the way we are eating as it will affect their bottom line. We all know more than we think, especially when it comes to food, however, if we want to get honest and start to make changes, then the starting point is self love and self care. This is the impetus for real change. The more we deepen the relationship with ourselves and choose love first, our food choices will naturally change and it won’t be the struggle we imagine it to be.
There is so much that people attach to food but never this – “ the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day”. The really sad thing is that we all know the truth of the above statement; we know that when we eat certain foods that we feel dull, want to fall asleep, or want to continue eating even if we are not hungry. I know from my own experience also that if I do not want to feel something that eating certain types of food will guaranteed that I do not feel what is there to be felt.
It really does just boil down to education, I remember as a kid having loads of sugar on my porridge every morning, I’m talking ridiculous amounts and that is what took me off to school everyday. We just didn’t know how bad that actually was in those days, but we do now but still we have mountains of refined sugars in our diets, and obesity and diabetes is still on the rise.
Since I’ve cut out processed sugar, I’ve been very aware of how I’ve also stopped the grazing pattern which I was very much in before. I now have periods in the day when I feel hungry and it’s shocking to realise that when I was eating sugar, I rarely seemed to have these, unless I skipped a meal entirely. In my choice to eat foods that are truly nourishing, I am also reducing the amount that I eat, not because I want to loose weight, but because I’m listening to my body and it doesn’t need any more.
“What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?” This would be such a turn around from where we are today. With no home tech anymore, life skills are not shared and developed which is crazy, considering what we are raising as parents and educators are soon to be adults, who are ill prepared to live in a way that supports their bodies and souls. Rather they are left to flounder and reach for whatever takes their fancy to dull and numb the fact they feel so ill prepared and anxious about life!! Time for a change, but a true one.
The amount of food that is wasted, not to mention all the wasted resources gone into producing that food that will never be consumed, is absolutely outrageous. If we are indeed the most intelligent species on the planet, why do we over eat and eat stuff that has absolutely no nutritional value, and produce food we know will get wasted when we have people in the world dying of hunger. If we don’t do something about the way we view food and with growing world populations we might one day all find out what it is to be truly hungry.
Why do we diet? I have tried countless diets in my life, but none of them worked, not because I didn’t loose weight, I did, but it didn’t last and, in truth, the feeling of dis-content crept back in before the weight gain. This feeling of not liking the way my body felt had nothing to do with shape, that’s the reason I gave myself, but the reality is, I was feeling empty, I was dis-connected to my gorgeous self and, therefore, everything else. Rather than punishing myself with a rigorous diet with the expectation of feeling better when I can see a difference in my shape, I now know the true answer is to choose to re-connect, to feel and appreciate the love that I am. From this place of love, my food choices are far healthier, and therefore, so is my body. I am not perfect, however, I can say that I have a far healthier relationship with food now than ever before in my life, I love my body and know that it is just as it is meant to be. I am listening to what my body needs to nourish it, rather than what I think I want to eat.
This blog really raises the question, why do we eat? I’m not sure that many of us could, honestly, answer, simply to nourish our bodies as without food and water we would die. Food and drink means SO MUCH more to us than that, it seems that with each passing decade our relationship with food becomes more intense, our dependency deepens, our ingenuity increases as we look for substitutes for ‘bad’ foods rather than looking at why we crave them in the first instance. Our relationship with food is abusive, rather than eating and drinking for nourishment, we use food to avoid dealing with our stuff, so much so that in many instances, we are killing our selves with food, putting an untenable strain on our health system. Until we want to look at the real truth behind the problem and reconsider our relationship with food, the statistics will continue to worsen.
We have more food and knowledge about food on offer than ever before. However, it is our relationship with food that is highlighting the tension of our relationship with ourselves in life; and has not been developed in accordance with what our bodies are truly asking for.
In the hospital near where I work they are trialling sugar free vending machines, however the diet options are still on sale and flavoured milk which contains 16 teaspoons of sugar is sold as a compromise. And that is what it is all based on a compromise of our health. If we were really intelligent we would only drink water, because that is all we need to hydrate us, just as we would discern what food is right for us by responding to our senses. What intelligence we have the opportunity to return, patiently waiting, when we finally decide enough is enough.
With the over consumption and wastage of food in some countries and severe shortages of food in others, it’s as though, energetically, those that have are hoarding their booty, not wanting to share for fear of ‘running out’ of food for themselves, creating over-indulgent behaviour. The more we can appreciate that the worlds food resources are finite, and connect more deeply with the true purpose of food, maybe we will start to feel into what our bodies need as opposed to what we ‘think’ we want.
The statistics are interesting, ‘Overall, roughly a third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted per year, which is 1.3 billion tonnes.’ This is shocking and sad when so many are starving, we really need to re-evaluate our way of living and being in this world.
If we do the maths, its easy to see that with all the food we throw away, and the overeating that we do, there is really more than enough to go around, and no one in this world should be starving.
‘Food is a deeply revealing and important study for us all’ – This is so true Jane. Not only does this case study reflect our overall relationship to our bodies, but also our relationship to wasting things, cooking/looking after others, the world’s resources and more.
Maybe part of the reason we waste so much food is our lack of connection throughout the whole process from the buying of the food, the preparation, to sitting down and eating it. If we are not making choices from a place of wanting to truly nurture and care for ourselves, we are being fed by another energy leading us to over buy and over eat, we are using food to numb how we are feeling. When we overbuy, inevitably food gets wasted.
Learning the cause and effect of food is something we are aware of, but our relationship with food is another matter. It can be so easy to override what we are feeling due to emotional eating and ignore the effects in our bodies.
‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.’ …. and the next and the next and so the snowball starts and gains momentum and before we know it food can literally take over our lives. I know for myself, I feel my deep rooted ‘patterns’ with food are the hardest, most challenging, to break. There are layers, as we expose one, another lies underneath. However, it comes back to our choice, whether we are choosing to eat to care and nurture our body, or indulge and numb our body.
Gosh, what a brilliant blog and a very important conversation to have started. Absolutely agree with all that you are sharing here, Jane. The fact that we have SO much knowledge around food and immediate access to a plethora of nutritious recipes, yet statistics confirm that we are vastly overeating, actually, killing ourselves with food, shows there is something else going on. What are we missing? We are mis-understanding the true purpose of eating food, to nourish our bodies. It feels like food is our go to fix when we are; unhappy, hurt, stressed, anxious, depressed, bored …. it’s a treat when we want to indulge. Our relationship with food is why we are seeing the rates of obesity and diabetes sky rocket all over the world.
Last night I ate about half my normal evening meal and felt as though I was not only nourishing my body but also nurturing it.
One of the tricks we play with food is misinterpreting what the body needs to have or reading the bodies needs correctly but still making or consuming food in a way that actually dishonours and dulls us. An example we can a relate to is feeling our body needs a particular vegetable such as broccoli, but because we are in a rush and/or not giving ourselves the space to lovingly make a meal, we undercook or overcook the food in such a way where the broccoli is either tough and hard to eat or too burnt which denatures its nutritional value. We can do this with food in so many ways but at the end of the day we are the ones that face the consequences of these unloving choices.
The statistics speak for themselves, a reflection of how deeply unloving humanity has become from the food that it produces to the food that is eaten, our palates have become sweeter and our cravings more unhealthy than ever before. Less and less families now eat round a table on a daily basis at the same time, and share a home cooked meal, it feels we have given in to convenience rather than feeding ourselves and our families in a healthy and supporting way.
To have a true relationship with well-being and self care would be the basis of a great relationship with food, as the body would soon let us know if we were off track with what nourishes us.
“And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing – ‘The Body Is the Marker of All Truth.” Serge Benhayon
It is true you could say that there is more ‘education’ about food out there than ever before if you include the plethora of diets and cooking shows and books etc as well as the focus on eating healthy in schools and workplaces etc but have we actually changed anything when it comes to understanding and changing our relationship with food?
We know that certain foods are not good for us, there are plenty of studies supporting this for gluten, dairy, sugar … however, I’ve yet to see a cooking show/competition where this knowledge is actually acted upon and people are choosing, or asked, to cook dishes which eliminate these foods. There is so much scope for the amazing creativity that we have for new dishes only using foods that will truly nourish us. How awesome it would be, to be offering ideas for genuinely healthy meals in these TV shows, that have enormous audiences, showing that it is possible to cook interesting and appetising dishes while giving your body the nutrition it needs.
When we bring this awareness to ourselves then we can start to see that something that we took as being fine to have we start to realise that it is not actually supporting the body. I started to feel this with sugar and how this made me feel racey and on edge. Slowly taking this out by using natural sugars was a great transition but over time I started to feel how these still had an impact with my body. Getting to know ourselves and listening to our bodies is key and to keep remembering that they are always refining and not to get caught up in an auto pilot relationship with ourselves.
It is interesting to see how we go about with food, in fact we can say we have a poor relationship with it and are not seeing it as something very delicate and needed to the body. No, instead our food choices are mostly driven by our taste and our moods and not so much by what our body really needs. To me it feels good to start the conversation on this as to my experience this aspect of life has never been addressed to me other than the general dietary advices about using different types of food and about calories but never about what my body needs in its specific configuration.
It is interesting to look at why we eat food. Is it to care for, support and nurture our body or for some other reason?
These are conversations well worth having. There is so much love of food and people get excited or even completely blank other people when food comes into the environment – reading this allows us to stop and do some simple math. More focus on food than every before + rising rates of lifestyle and diet related illness and disease = something isn’t working or there’s more going on than we are shedding light on currently.
Listening to our bodies as a marker – this is key. Because at the end of the day, no matter how much we are educated about the different foods available and the affects they can have, until these are felt in the body, this education can be just words and knowledge. The real educator is life itself, and what schools can do is raise the awareness of this, and help children to listen to and honour what they feel, so that the journey is their own.
Oh Shami, this would be so beautiful when we would be taught about our relationship with food from young. For instance it is important to know that we can use food to numb ourselves, for instance when we have grief or sadness we tend to search for certain foods, that in fact do not do any good to our body other then burying the underlying issue.
I work in health and see a lot of nutrition messages delivered, I listen to dieticians, but the best dietary advice I ever heard was feel what you eat, and consider how it affects you, don’t stick to the health plate or any of these messages, but make your own mind up about what is right for you. That is the only message we need.
I totally agree Jane it would be incredibly supportive if we broadened our education of food to how we prepare our food, the way we eat, what we eat and how this then nourishing our bodies. Having the barometer of how the food is effecting us and that no two people are the same. To be encouraged to listen to your body and what it is that is asking for is something that is being looked over and with those statistics could be the answers in how this could change.
I have found one of the best ways to find if somthing is right for me to eat it, i to take it out of my diet for a while and see how I feel, then eat it again – kind of like e science experiment.
You know it would be a great experiment in school – how does this food feel in your body? Kids love to explore by experimenting, and that would be an amazing way for us to begin to learn about food and the effect it has on us.
Great blog with even greater questions. Food is so much more than food. It is related to emotions, to not feel, to not be aware and as a distraction to ourselves and others. We are indeed not taught about food and nourishment, but just as much not taught to listen to our bodies as you point out in your blog: “listen more to my body about what it had to say about food and nourishment” – that is the key. The more I do that, the more my body has to say, and it can guide me to the right food and right nourishment.
The comfort related to certain foods is something we learn at a very young age – there is a great responsibility for us as adults, to reflect something else to those who are growing up. We need to stop saying we didn’t know, we all know if we choose to honestly listen to our bodies. How well do you feel in your body after an indulgent meal or treat? Vital, full of energy?
Such a needed and interesting conversation. Lately it’s become even more apparent to me just how much my food choices are affecting my sleep, my nervous system and how I wake up in the morning. I know for a fact that had all of what you’ve talked about here Jane was taught earlier on in my life, I wouldn’t be dealing with the exhaustion I feel today (it’s not all food related, but I’m just talking about the effects certain foods have on me). Because in the same way I stay away from fast food like McDonalds, I would also stay away from other seemingly healthy foods that don’t support me personally. But without that understanding, we just carry on blindly.
I remember at the age of around 11 my mother suddenly discovering ‘healthy’ food. This was an education that set me up for a life of being aware of the effects of my food choices. But it was the early 80’s and it was not the norm. I remember being ridiculed at school for eating different foods to everyone else, and my food choices were seen as very odd. This continues to this day when I am in certain environments. What is it that makes people ridicule someone for taking care of themselves rather than be inspired.
What if we were raised to understand the truth about food, around what is needed, the addictive nature of certain foods (e.g. sugar), right down to our relationship with food; the process of eating, from the way we shop, to preparing food, to the way we eat it, why we eat it and looking at our ideals and beliefs about food. Food is a deeply revealing and important study for us all. I couldn’t agree more Jane, this should be taught in schools so that when we become adults, we are living this natural way and taking true care of our bodies and listening to what they need from an understanding of our bodies and what it truly needs. Then we would naturally pass this onto our own families and would be a discussion or practice that would just be a normal part of everyday life.
Thank you Jane for opening my eyes a little more to the true situation about food . You share that we humans waste about one third of the food we have and yet we still have people starving in this abundant world of ours. How can this be so? It is time for us to truly educate our young people so that they don’t make the same mistake as we have!
We get taught to eat for everything other than nourishment as we grow up…I speak for many of us I am sure…reward, numbing, stimulation and comfort are huge reasons of eating, all reasons that have provoked me to eat and yet I had considered that this was unnecessary or unsupportive. Nourishment looks and feels completely different. Loving and care for our bodies rather than just using them is a whole other way of looking at life and one that I still am exploring.
As food directly affects our health in so many ways it makes so much sense for us to educate our children in how to feel what is really good for them, for sure if we did this there would be half as much mental and physical health problems as there currently is. There is no true livingness for a child who can do well in exams but feels physically and emotionally down.
‘The Body Is the Marker of All Truth’. (Serge Benhayon). I have read this quote from Serge quite some time ago, but today on reading it, I can ‘feel’ how true this is now that I take so much care for my own body which my body greatly appreciate, which supports me to express and share more of myself and the love that flows through me.
Food is a deeply revealing and important study for us all. Yes it is and it is for each of us to feel into why and how much we use food to avoid our innate awareness, our wisdom and the love we were born.
Children know when something doesn’t taste quite right, burnt or when a piece of fruit is bruised and therefore not fit to eat. They know how they like their toast and whether they feel to have their apple chopped up so why not educate them about the effect food has on their body and the purpose of food.. I’m pretty sure we would learn a thing or two from them!
Because if it was taught… Then the teachers themselves would have to be living in a way that demonstrated true nourishment… A simple truth and yet extremely revealing.
And not only teachers, but parents too…and that really would open a can of worms!
Food is a huge piece of the puzzle in terms of how our overall health and wellbeing truly are. The choices we make can either support us or not and most of the time we are not wanting to address or admit that certain foods do not support us as there is a reason why we have chosen to eat that food. Really stopping to ask ourselves, is this food going to nourish me, or am I just wanting to numb or dull myself, can be a great start to building a relationship with food and our bodies and what it truly needs to support it.
“Why then is so much food wasted? And why are we already in an overweight and obesity crisis worldwide?” If we are as intelligent as we think ourselves to be yes why are we wasting so much food and why are there so many people having food related issues like anorexia and obesity? It is good to challenge what we call intelligence as this does not sound truly intelligent – that is honouring our body, everyone around us and the environment we live in.
For the so called most intelligent species on the planet we surely are pretty stupid. All that food that is produced only to get wasted and we have people in the world starving to death. I once had a job near the Heathrow airport where tons of food arrived every day from all round the world, a lot of it from Africa. It would come from cargo to this customs depot and then from there to the markets or supermarkets. The amount that never made it to the markets and was wasted at the first distribution centre was appalling, especially since it had come from countries that have poor and starving people only to go to waste on our door steps
It really is time we got real about food, I remember seeing a programme where Jamie Oliver was trying to make school diners more healthy for children and then we saw the children mothers passing them cheese burgers through the fence as for some reason they didn’t think the healthy option was a good idea. I know for myself that overeating or eating the wrong things has an instant impact on my body but still my brain tries to override what my body is saying for that taste sensation or the numbness it may briefly bring.
It is essential that we reverse the normal way if being with food which is often completely from our head and totally denounces the wisdom that lies within the body. I am in the prep ends of learning to listen and trust my body, I would have loved to be taught this in school.
Our bodies like cars have fuel, food, the quality of that food matters. All of our processes, movements, regeneration, etc within our body develops from that fuel….so what fuel are we putting in….A way for us to develop responsible eating is to build a relationship with our bodies and why we eat. We could be developing / honouring body awareness from birth and yet the head is the dominate mode of reasons and doing in society…I feel a shift is required concerning how we educate each other and ourselves.
Listening to our bodies in relation to what we eat is fundamental in understanding why we eat how we do – but not only this but also understanding why we make so many of the choices we do in life.
What if food education started when our little ones could pick up a piece of food and put it in their mouth? What if we drew their attention to the colour, the crispness, the quality, the texture on the tongue and the response of the body as it is being ingested? This brings a true understanding of the responsibility we have towards what we put in our mouths and the quality we hold our body in. To pick up a product, packaged, labeled with ingredients I have never heard of and laden with artificial additives brings huge reaction to my body. It hasn’t always been this way because I used to love chocolate, coffee, desserts and cakes. Once I started to check in with my body’s response to foods and listen to how different food made me feel, I slowly started to observe my diet naturally change and then the benefits of more vitality and clarity of thinking. We have a responsibility to offer appreciation and choice of the true nurturing properties of food and not go into judgement of addiction to sugar, caffeine, alcohol etc. The bulge is not the enemy but an opportunity for everyone to feel more deeply into the quality of life they would like to be living and the quality of movement lived each day.
The true value of what food offers us is something that is very foreign for a lot of us. The education of what it supports our bodies with would be absolutely supportive to a society that was interested in life and how they we are in it. Even when you look at where the food comes from most just go to the shops and take it off the shelf, there is not really understanding or appreciation and respect of how it has been grown, what was involved in getting it to the shops for us to be able to make a delicious meal with. Convenience has become more important than morals and values.
Jane, great article, ‘What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?’ This would make such a difference, children are interested in theses things, I work part time in a school and sometimes say to the children the tomato sauce has sugar in and they cannot believe it or if I mention about fruit and vegetables being good for the body they are really interested, health and nutrition feel like such important subjects and are barely covered at school and yet eating more healthy, nutritious foods would help with concentration and behaviour so it makes sense that they are taught.
Why do we not teach in schools the importance of nourishing our bodies with food? We get taught so many unuseful facts yet what our bodies actually need to be healthy is not on the list. I remember doing Food Technology in school, but this was essentially learning to make foods that are the exact opposite of nourishing – cakes, sandwiches, pasta etc. Nobody ever explained to me what nutrition was and how important it was, we were simply taught that you need food as a fuel, but never the finer details such as the fact that different foods make our bodies feel different.
Building a relationship with food is a great investment for our health and wellbeing, for we can make adjustments when needed with what our bodies truly need in accordance with our own evolution
It would have been lovely to have been brought up this way, but the beauty is it never too late to re-educate ourselves. Something for me especially I am learning more and more is that there are consequences I cannot say simply go and eat a chocolate cake and then 1 hour later feel fully alive and present with what I am doing. I am more likely to feel racy, agitated and then depleted. Consequences are something the body is very open and willing to teach us if we choose to listen to it and the more we do the more we will feel how delicate, tender and precious we truly are.
Being taught the fundamentals of true nourishment from a young age would be such a positive step forward, obesity statistics would plummet, as would illness and disease. The body needs the right fuels to run smoothly and cleanly for a long time.
When I went to school and learned Home economics, it was mainly based on the old meat and three veg., and a big part was how important the food groups were especially Dairy products for Calcium and many fruits for vitamins and minerals. Bread and pastas for carbohydrates and egg and meat for protein as well. No wonder we have been confused about food when eggs were then considered bad for us causing cholesterol build up in our Arteries. Listening to our bodies makes so much sense to me ! Thank you Jane.
My greatest waste of food is when I do not eat with the energy to nurture my body so I over eat. I have always tended to eat in the energy of I am starving. Maybe this is because at a young age I was told millions of people around the world are not as well off and so I should appreciate what I have and eat it all up. So I am still very much a work in progress to eat for the true nutrition my body needs. Thus I tend to overeat and therefore not take full value of what nutrients are available in what I eat.
This is a great topic of conversation to be having Jane, as we truly are in dire need of some education and simple understanding around food and our health. It really needs to start when children are young because they are so much more in touch with their bodies, so we need to be reading food choices that they are making and talking about why they are choosing what they are choosing, and how that makes them feel. And educating them on the purpose of food for the body. If this was done from young, these young ones would grow up to have their own families and continue to guide and reflect responsible and self loving food choices and body care. Then slowly as the demand changes, businesses would need to look at what they are supplying to the public.
Jane I hate to be the one that looks negatively at things, or perhaps that is the reality of life. When it comes to food I have a feeling that we are not taught about true nourishment as if we were then the profits from most food companies would drop. As I understand fresh produce has the lowest margins on it, yet it is the healthiest and most expensive. The cheaper ready meals, packaged foods have higher margins but are really bad for our bodies. Therefore only a small percentage of the food sold in supermarkets is nutritional and supportive – which shows me that the whole industry is about profits and not people.
‘What if we were shown that there is a ‘cause and effect’ of food so that we can learn for ourselves how to listen to our body as a marker?’ We tend to think that once the food has disappeared into our body it can be forgotten. “out of sight out of mind!” Yet our body is our closest ally constantly giving us feedback on our choices and these include the effects of the food we consume. Raising children to listen to their own bodies messages as fundamental to all aspects of their development would give them the greatest start to life.
Reading your blog again highlights to me that there are many subjects we are yet to fully understand and learn its true purpose, and food is one of them plus a whole lot more. I feel we certainly need to start these discussions and conversations about food, because as a race, we are eating in a way that is harming our health and our planet’s health.
Within a couple of generations our eating habits have changed drastically. With fast food on the go, pre-packaged food the norm, fatty take away food galore and a propensity to binge drink we have missed the simplicity of cooking fresh seasonal food that supports and nourishes the body.
‘Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught?’ – Indeed, and whenever it is taught, why do we ignore it…?
We are so convinced we aren’t experts when it comes to food, but our body is the only expert that counts. Time to listen to it.
I agree with you that our education on food is really primitive and lacking true understanding of what food does to our body and feeling of wellbeing. Yes, we learn to not eat too much cake, fatty foods, sweets etc but also that if we do this, once in a while a lot is ‘ok’ because we deserve it. But it is making us feel horrible afterwards either physically or emotionally (or both) and this is not taught to be linked to the food at all – I am finding more and more how certain foods make me feel given up and sad without another reason to be feeling that way. So this poses the question of why should we eat other than to nurture and nourish the body?
In a world that is exploding with our focus on food and the number of places we can eat out and buy food, could it be that this is the swan song for the food industry as we get back to the simplicity of food simply being the way we nourish our bodies and that we do this with responsibility and care, but no indulgence?
My body is most definately my barometer. Today I ate something that I’ve not had for a while but lately I’ve gone back to it. I ate lunch and felt fine, and then went for this food after lunch. Within minutes I felt sleepy and had to have a lie down. That was my body telling me something loud and clear.
Where the current state of the general health is for humanity it shows us that the way we are choosing to live and look after ourselves is very far away from our natural harmonious healthy selves. What we put in our bodies has a lot to do with these outcomes and statistics along with emotional issues that we hold onto. Being taught from a young age that our bodies are magical and every cell is part of one whole big Universe and that what we do with it and how we move it all has a ripple effect on the all, that we matter, wouldn’t that be an awesome foundation to work from.
Jane, you have made an exceptionally valid point here about the fact that there are more cook books and tv shows and on the supermarket shelf variety and choice than ever before in human history, and yet at the same time we have dis-ease rates that are higher and more complicated than ever before as well. And when we put these two facts together, something doesn’t quite make sense….
Yes teaching our kids to listen to their bodies is just so key. I love what you have presented here. That true nutrition comes from learning to listen and act on what our bodies are sharing with us. I know that over the years, had that been developed from within at an early age, my life would have unfolded very differently.
Exposing the food industry and our education system around food and what is truly nourishing and nurturing for our bodies at each moment is a great discussion and much needed as part of our education system opening up another way to live. Food is such an important part of our lives and something we use to abuse ourselves and not to feel all we feel . The illness and disease and health issues is all part of the food choices we make and this is a great expose of what is really going on.
What I’ve noticed is that most people would love to talk about food, and understand what it does. However, many of us sit on our high horse and think that because we’ve got a nutrition diploma, or follow the most popular Instagram celebrity we know what food is good and what isn’t. Reality check, the only way to make this change happen, is to support people to feel what feels good in their own bodies.
Absolutely. There are no rules with food, not only between each other but also from day to day. What supports me may not support another and what nourishes me today may well be indulgence tomorrow. It is not complicated unless we try and work it out in our heads. The simplicity comes from developing a relationship with our bodies and responding to their signals.
“Worldwide, obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese.” – this in itself is a crime against humanity because it was around this time that the notion of a low fat diet being the way to prevent heart disease and stay slim was promoted. It has proved to be not the case and we all know it. It is time that this was publicly announced and manufacturers made accountable for their products and what is in them, and the corruption of the food industry exposed.
We create and consume so much, indeed so more than we need and yet we are often disatisfied and unfulfilled. Perhaps we are missing a connection to our innermost and a meaningful connection with others.
Food is such a constant reflection of our relationship with ourself. Are we loving, nourishing, abusing, stuffing, numbing . . . and the list goes on.
It would be great to have food as a subject in schools that is mandatory and make it all about our relationship with food and how that plays out in our lives and affects our choices and health, and involve families by getting them to discuss and support food choices and eating habits with their children. And the whole family could plan their meals together and learn to eat much more supportive foods, and have it as a normal part of their daily lives as a healthy life practice.
‘And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing’ – Hah – I would not have even considered this a couple of years ago! It goes to show how far away I was living from listening to our bodies. Here is something interesting; today I overheard someone say that the quality of our thoughts comes from the quality of our movements first! So because I was not very loving to my body some time ago, I would not of even had the thought that my body could be a marker of truth. But the more I have changed my movements, the more I am aware that my body responds to these changes and the more my thoughts are self loving and as a result help me to make better choices.
The amount of food banned; bananas, green beans and cucumbers and the list go on that were bent too much, had spots, small imperfections or just plain ugly but still tasty that stores could not or would not sell. What was the reason governments decided vanity in the food we eat was a good idea? Then there is catching the wrong type of fish, by the way it is caught with nets that don’t discriminate, that have to be thrown back dead or be heavily fined! We eat more than we need and produce foods that do not support us, change is well past do for the survival of us all!
Simply learning that ‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow…’ Is HUGE. Imagine if this alone was taught at school and in the home. Boy would our relationships with food be a whole lot different.
Another topic around food that I feel could do with some more conversation is the intention we are in and how that affects the quality of what we then take into our bodies. Eating to support our bodies and eating because we don’t want to feel results to two very different meals and eating patterns. Which has further differing results in our health.
I still just can’t get past the amount of wasted food and also the resources to produce that food ends up in the bin. We seriously need educating about food. I used to eat whatever the hell I liked, how much of it and when I felt like it, having little regard for how it made me feel or what it was doing to my body but having been educated a bit about food by Universal Medicine and learning to listen to what my body is telling me I have come a long way from those days.
Gimme, gimme, gimme, feed me, feed me, feed me and dont you dare try and take my chips, crisps, lollies, and piles and piles of everything else away from me – for where would I be without food!! Food keeps us ‘safe’, it comforts us when there’s emotional drama and tension. It’s the ultimate drug for stuffing down all those emotions we have unresolved. This is how most of us use – and abuse – food, and the obesity rates on one hand, the famines in Africa on the other, along with the sky-rocketing rates of disease, is the result.
Food is like the final frontier, the no-man’s land we are told not to tread on. Our relationship with food is so telling of the relationships we have with ourselves and our bodies.
I agree there are some amazing facts and figures here too Jane. So many of us have considered that what we eat and how this affects us is based purely on what we think tastes good, rather than what is good for us.
This is so true – “the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.” I ate something this afternoon out of boredom and within the hour I was in food coma and falling asleep at my desk! SO wonderful to see food as an investment in your future. Love it.
Jane, great article, ‘What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?’ This would be wonderful and make such a difference, working with kids at lunchtime I observe that they eat because of taste, and so generally go for the sweeter foods, there seems to be little education about how foods affect our bodies and eating for nourishment, this seems a real shame as this type of education would be so valuable.
Amazing facts and figures Jane, I used to one who would have ended up eating myself to death, but ever since I was introduced to Universal Medicine and The Way of The Livingness I eat to be of service to humanity.
It is interesting Linda as there is an effect that food has on our bodies – however we only tend to feel it once we have stopped eating that food as when we continue to say eat it like sugar we do not get to fully see and appreciate the effect it is actually having on our body.
I find it amazing how much we almost run our days by food – we are very much governed by meal times. And then somehow if we miss a meal it’s the worlds end even though we may not actually be hungry! Take Christmas for example, the supermarkets are closed for 1 day and yet the shelves are ram shackled as if there is an apocalypse! It’s funny but scary at the same time!!!
I have experienced this a lot and I do wonder what is it about the current situation that the next meal or next chance to eat could be better than the moment I am in at any time. In the really intense food focussed moments when to get to the table often the meal lacks something, it becomes anticlimactic. I feel there is so much more going on in life than we realise when focusing life from meal to meal.
Good question, although the deeper question is why should it need to be taught? Why is it not innate within us to look after ourselves in this way already, without needing to be educated for it to be so? If life is about the Darwinian form of evolution, then surely it would be in the best interests of our ongoing survival to do so, and surely if we were the ones to evolve to the top of the food chain as we have been, then such a trait would have been exhibited in humanity long ago, and not lost. Otherwise we would have self-destructed long ago, before we had developed the means to deal with our self-destructive indulgences by way of modern medicine.
What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body? This would be a great start for children, and encouraging and talking about food choices and the importance of what foods support us with families. And opening up about why we choose to eat certain foods, would be an enormous start and way forward, out of the comfort that we all have around food.
‘I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body’ – this statement is so true. Having taken cooking classes at school in the 1970’s the classes were all about function and preparing us to be good wives and mothers, whereas the lads used to get to do wood work and DIY type of projects, preparing them to be employable.
Although like the author my parents passed down their best dishes, there was no discussion about the nourishment of the body or in fact the nutritional value. They had their set foods which they believed were good for you and you were lucky to have them (mainly because they were rationed during the war) and then later enjoyed the abundance of foods that were on offer. Which then sadly led onto obesity within the family.
I find there is something nourishing about going to the farmers market and choosing fresh vegetables for the week from people who care about the food they are producing. I have a relationship with those who produce the food I am eating rather than buying it from an unknown source and I know exactly what is in it.
“What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?” The answer to this would be we would be more together as a race, we would have a lot less illness and disease and our mental health would be greatly improved. Lets face it the whole world would benefit if we were all taught about the true value of food.
The fact that truly nourishing food is disliked and at time vehemently detested and avoided for some at all costs is a clear indictment not only on how we use and view food in general but equally on the way we have been educated and raised.
Learning to live by the body’s wisdom rather than the rules and dictates of the food industry, or the accepted paradigm based on corrupt and biased research, and we take out the blind acceptance or conversely the rebellion and going against just for the sake of it, let’s choose instead the simple observation of cause and effect… and giving our bodies a chance to speak for itself what truly nourishes it.
I feel how my head still tells me what ever I am eating has a taste that is so yummy that I will always tend to over eat. As I am starting to listen to my body more the snacking or eating in-between meals has stopped and I am still learning how to not overeat the yummy food that is on my plate in the evening.
These statistics are alarming and should be front page news.
How desensitised we have become to the ills we accept in society and readily turn to and adopt.
Our reliance on food – on numbing, reward, distraction, propping up, dulling down – are all wayward behaviours that are far from our bodies true intelligence and knowing and reflect well that there is an ill-energy at play – an imposter we have allowed. The question for us each is why?
There is an incredible number of diets being proposed by people and it is difficult to distinguish between those that are very harmful, harmful, perhaps neutral and those are beneficial, especially as people may need different diets and even different diets at different life stages, making a one-size-fits-all diet not very useful. The whole thing seems to be at a very early stage of development with lots of changes in the future.
Spot on Michelle. It is really quite extraordinary the range of foods that contain sugar in some form or other and it can be quite a challenge to find foods that do not contain it.
Living with the approach that it is “normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing” brings a depth and added dimension to our relationship with ourselves and the world that is empowering.
If this was taught… That is the truth of our relationship with food in general, then society would also have to look at so many other aspects of the way we live… This would be an extraordinary culture shock and a wake up call that apparently we are not prepared to make at the moment… But it inevitably must come.
I was with a group of students lately. And I noticed people often do not know what products contain sugar. There certainly needs to be greater education around food and the sugar content of things like mayonnaise and fruit.
Yes I agree and all the hidden sugars, I was so surprised when I bought some roasted chicken which tasted sweet and when I read the ingredients it said, chicken and sugar, but why? Does cold chicken really need to have sugar added? Was the quality of the chicken so poor that it had to be disguised with sugar? How many people would realise?
Why is food and true nourishment not taught? Perhaps because collectively, we don’t want to know about it. We want to stay in cahoots with that part of us that loves comfort, pleasure and indulgence, all of which (and more) misuse and abuse of food can deliver, as reliably – and perhaps even more so – as any other drug.
It is a very interesting that we are the only species on the planet that actually goes out of our way to invent and develop food and drink that actually makes us ill and if it was not for the support of medicine, probably extinct.
The “cause and effect of food” – sometimes I still feel that I am in the kindergarten of this school! But in truth it is because I am a forever student. the more I am prepared to listen, the more my body can tell me – which is why I feel like I am always learning. And then when I am not prepared to listen, my body still tells me – but much more loudly – sore belly, runny tummy or a heavy day the next day. It’s not rocket science, we all know it, the skill is listening and then making the changes.
It is interesting to observe how, when we lose the excess weight, our bodies become more aware, more sensitive.
This is true Carmel and a great observation – interesting then how the world population is getting fatter, and at a younger age.
I waste so much food by over eating and this is some thing that I am looking at and working on. As I feel into why this is occurring the thing that is presented the most is that my head controls my tummy. I must listen to my-body and tummy, for when it is full, I should stop eating
I agree Jane, if we were taught about food from an early age, and understood the nutritional value of food, we would understand that most foods we eat for comfort are not that nutritious at all.
True and I also feel that we do know that many foods are not nutritional at all yet we choose to have them anyway, often all in the name of ‘comfort’ …
The statistics on food wastage around the world are horrendous, especially when it is people’s livelihoods to produce food for the world’s supermarkets. These same supermarkets often have standards that define size, shape and date of use, and as a result a lot either doesn’t make it to the shelves or gets thrown out at the end of the day. The interesting thing sis, they focus on the look of the food, but not the energy in which it is produced.
It is interesting you should say Carmel about the focus on shape of the food instead of the quality, which I had a great example of this weekend gone because I chose to shop in a local shop in a not so affluent area of London and the produce was all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the quality of the food, the service, the variety and the price far out matched anything I would have got from the huge supermarket chains we are so familiar with. Totally different feel when going to a family/community run supermarket to the local superstore.
“the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.” Jane I was not taught this either, it’s quite a powerful consideration to appreciate the fact that what we do today affects us tomorrow. Yet I’d woken up (or dragged myself from bed) many times based on what I ate the day before however never stopped to change that until I made the choice that life did not need to be such a struggle.
Great sharing and yes, ‘ to make that choice that life did not need to be such a struggle’ as well as to look at all the choices that resulted in life being a struggle and tiring etc
Yes Jane, obesity is a huge issue world wide that seems to be getting worse. However those involved with Universal Medicine are continually looking healthier, so it’s quite clear the awareness we have around food and lifestyle choices has to be taken out to the greater population.
Food is becoming a bigger and bigger business and we are caught in the maelstrom of this money making machine. There is a simplicity to food that would deconstruct all of this; its’ purpose is to nourish and nurture our bodies so that we can live full lives of service to humanity… simple. Currently we ‘use’ food to avoid feeling, to numb our senses and to abdicate responsibility for the part we play in the world… our waistlines and health are telling the tale.
It seems we have made a whole hobby and entertainment industry out of food, sometimes the focus being on pleasure and at other times the focus on trying to eat healthily or lose weight. In the midst of all this we have lost focus on what is truly nourishing and what our bodies need.
The three ‘What If’s’ you express in your article are certainly something to consider, and wouldn’t it be lovely to change the ‘What If’s’ to when, and begin to educate everyone in what a true relationship with food looks like in relation to our bodies and our emotional health and wellbeing. Much of the world seems to ignore it’s own best advice and continue to overeat and distract itself with food, whilst the other half of the world is starving. One day we may get it right I am sure, but probably not until we reach crisis point and realise that we really must start to listen to our bodies and act on it.
There are so many key life skills or ways of caring for ourselves that very little is taught that is supportive to living life in connection to our souls which in fact is the most important thing to know how to do! Well we always knew we just had it socialised and ‘educated’ out of us!
That is a very good question Jane: “why are we not taught about nutrition” I feel that one of the main reasons is that unhealthy food choices are so ingrained in our society and culture even our famous chefs indulge in food that is purely sugar and fat and has no nutritional value. if those we learn from are exhausted and in need of an artificial stimulation like coffee they are not going to teach others how coffee is an assault on the nervous system that the body has to work hard to process. Same with sugar, it is mainly used in a form that our bodies can not use and it turns to fat, someone who lives on sugary treats will say its acceptable in moderation and not give us the full picture of how it affects the body.
I found an intriguing statistic today when reading an article in the Guardian that highlighted the 3-fold increase in obesity world wide – yes, WORLD WIDE, not just in the rich, developed areas. “Since 1975, obesity rates have risen in every country in the world, without exception. That includes countries like the United States and the UK, where food is cheap and abundant, and countries like Somalia and Angola, where malnutrition remains an epidemic.” This therefore does point to more going on than just the consumption of food.
I am noticing how much food we end up throwing away. Its clear I am buying too much of it. Reading this blog has been an inspiration to get me to look at this.
Food is the socially acceptable drug. If we abused other ‘illegal’ substances in the same way, we would be considered social pariah’s. Some of these foods are killing us – quite literally….and yet we willingly consume them. How come it is only cigarette packets that have to have pictures on the packets of the damage that they can cause??
A very clear and simple exposure of our current waywardness and dysfunctional relationship with food. Thank you, Jane, for bringing your authority to this topic.
When we see the connection between what goes in our mouth and the results the body presents, be it feeling tired, bloated, or unwell we become open to a responsibility and awareness that communicates from our bodies. Without this connection we are not fully digesting the cause and affect food in all its guises has on us. It is our body and it is for us to nourish it in every aspect and listen to the feedback our bodies offer as our body knows what supports it to be vital.
These stats are S-C-A-R-Y! What is going on for us to be able to abuse our bodies in such a way that we turn food – which can be nourishing – into something toxic. Sugar and alcohol comes from fruits and vegetables. For us to know how to take things to that extremity, then we must truly know the opposite – ie how to truly nourish the body. So perhaps it is worth asking why we have become so good at going to food and what is behind these choices.
The way we are with food overall is quite shocking – we waste it, we buy and eat stuff that doesn’t deserve the label ‘food’, we overeat, under eat, use it to numb ourselves and then, before we Christmas, we go shopping as though the world and the production and sale of food were coming to an end. It doesn’t make sense.
Sadly, what you say this is true, it just doesn’t make sense. Only a few days into the new year and someone posted a photo on facebook of Tesco’s shelves already full of Easter eggs, my answer was, if you don’t want it, then don’t buy it. Trouble is, you are right Gabriele, we just can’t stop eating it, especially when sugar is involved which seems to be insidiously hidden in things that you don’t expect. My philosophy is, eat things that contain only one ingredient, that way you can’t be caught out (except sugar or salt of course)…! 😉
The choice of the word ‘nourishment’ even just in the title of this blog is so valuable. It brings a whole deeper understanding to the very fact that we need to eat for survival, but that survival is not just about food, it is a whole being experience that includes every aspect of who you are and the care and the love that you deserve.
It’s great to bring this all to light and also great to see how we are with food. With reading this article we can see how we place food above nearly everything, like our survival depended on it. Some will laugh or maybe scoff because we need food to survive they may say but I’m not saying in this way. What I am saying is that we make it so important, even in our possible exposure of us making it so important. For me you can see how big of a cover this is for us, how we use food in so many ways to keep us from seeing everything. As I said this is a great blog and when you read between the lines you can see we need to bring more awareness to food absolutely and equally to how we talk about it and present it. In fact we need to bring more awareness to how we live, to our true responsibility in life. If we are presenting something to people then we know we need to equally see what we are presenting as being for us, deeply so.
To truly solve or should we say heal our questionable relationship with food we need to deal with our unresolved emotional issues first as most eating and food problems only exist because we use food to regulate our emotional state of being.
So the reality is Alex, and it is quite simple really, most of humanity is numbing itself from feeling the fact that they have disconnected from who they truly are, and not dealt with their emotional stuff, as it is easier to eat than to face yourself head on and deal with it, which quite frankly can be painful, confronting and at times, challenging, but in truth the only way to go.
Jane this is an awesome blog offering and covering so much with all you are sharing. Knowing food is to nourish us and the abuse we do in numbing ourselves with food is such an important part of our growing up and awareness that really does need to be openly taught and known. I love your sharing that the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow and the knock on effects we do not want to feel. Responsibility for ourselves and the rising cases of obesity ,diabetes and other illnesses come hand in hand with investing in our health and wellbeing.
Why food and nourishment is not taught in schools has to be one of the greatest mistakes of the century. If we don’t get this basic foundation right we are asking for disaster.
Yes, let’s have that conversation over and over again. It takes time for people to even hear what is being said before they are then ready to contemplate change…yes contemplate, not even action! There is no question the body is the marker of all truth and if we are open to listening we can see that there is a consequence, either immediate or slightly delayed to what we consume. The question is always are we ready to hear the message? Education about listening to our bodies at school could change the trajectory for these health statistics dramatically.
With these frightening statistics it does amaze me how as a human race we continue to put comfort, stimulation and taste, when it comes to food, above nutrition and nourishment of the body. A quick glance at food programs, books and the continued domination of fast food outlets in various forms is enough to show that we still have our heads firmly planted in the sand when it comes to food and what is really going on in our bodies when we eat and drink.
“Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught?” – i’ve noted how nourished i feel inside, my tummy and digestion when food is eaten for the body, and to not fill an insatiable need[iness] that often results in overeating, bloating. We are not taught nourishment, because we are not taught the importance of dealing with our afflictions, needs or hurts, with food being a popular way of burying all this, very often as i have been caught by myself – the guise of food being ‘fun’ or for ‘entertainment’ value/purpose.
I feel there are many reasons we are not taught about food and nourishment, Zofia you have unearthed one of the biggest factors that rarely gets mentioned. Emotional eating or drinking is like self-medication; we don’t care if its unhealthy if it makes us so numb we do not have to feel those hurts. As a society we have become extremely skilled and creative at suppressing our unhealed hurts with food and drink. I feel we cannot address obesity and diabetes with nutrition alone, we must also address the underlying root cause.
We were never taught either that we can nourish our bodies in order for them to be spacious and light and to reflect our divine nature.
I was recently reflecting on the fact that millions and millions still smoke even after numerous campaigns and signs on the packets alerting everyone to the harm. Perhaps the initial announcement that it has been found to be harmful was necessary to alert people, but after that it is a clear and informed choice. Similarly I wonder just how unaware people are about the harms or the benefits of their food habits. We certainly need better education about the impact of the actual foods and our eating habits. But just as vital, and perhaps more important, is the type of education provided by Universal Medicine which supports an understanding of the underlying dynamics that prompt us to make choices that clearly do not support our health and vitality.
It is the question of the century why are people starving when there is so much obesity worldwide, why is there such an imbalance and so much food that goes wasted.
How is it that we legally have substances in food that are not only not nutritious, but damaging to our health?
It seems to me it would be a great science project at school to truly support students to keep a diary and try a wide variety of foods and gauge honestly immediate and longer term reactions in the body to food. Training youth to understand the effects on food would be great for training about observational science as well as for longer term food choices.
‘I was also never taught that the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day’. This is HUGE! It is only more recently that I am really really noticing the knock on effect of eating certain foods. The choices I make (knowingly) are always always felt the next day, and I don’t mean a tell tale sign like a stomach ache, I mean like my face is bloated and my eyes have trouble waking up for the entire day. I feel flat and exhausted.
The more sensitive I become, the more aware I am of what does and does not support my body.
What a brilliant question! Why indeed are we not taught the truth about the “… true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body? It seems the most basic and logical thing for us all to know.
“…what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing” This is a great question Jane, and one that could potentially transform our general state of health and wellbeing, reducing health risks and therefore the demands on our current medical system.
I agree Jane, we certainly do need to raise these questions and especially around our relationship with food. What I have observed is that not many people are aware of the truth about food, and I feel this has happened for a reason. What you’ve shared is pretty shocking, ‘2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.’ that is a lot of people. I notice also a massive percentage of food that is available for purchase are processed in a way to makes them highly addictive, have longer shelf life and to stimulate our taste buds, but mostly lacking nutrition. I reckon a majority of people buy these products without question, so what is really going on? I feel our food industries will only change once (us) the consumers are willing to choose nutritious foods over addictive and comforting foods. Basically we have the power to reshape our food industries by choosing to eat with the intentions to nourish our bodies instead of numbing it. According to your statistics Jane, reeducating ourselves and building a loving relationship with food is definitely long overdue.
It is really unfair also that a lot of the foods that cause obesity are cheap and mass produced, so often it is the poor that are effected the most.
Will we have to totally run low on resources before we stop wasting food or producing food that is totally indulgent and not necessary to nourish our bodies. I feel that if we don’t wake up to how we are living we are going to learn the hard way that how we are living is totally irresponsible.
True food education and also cooking skills would be so beneficial for all students in schools and would allow them to gain a greater understanding of what nourishment and healthy living is. To be shown that feeling how to eat, how to exercise from our bodies connection and how to cook with joy would be such an awesome class to share with young people it makes me wonder why we focus on competition, good grades and accolades and not true connection and nourishment for the soul.
I saw an ad on television the other day which to me was the ‘calorie’ side of food taken to such a point that seemed so crazy and a reflection of how humanity has misleadingly come to view food. The ad was advertising and promoting an alcoholic drink (a scientific poison and mind altering drug) that was supposedly good for you because it had less calories and carbs than other alcoholic drinks. Immediately I went wow and questioned – how does a legal poison become a selling point as healthy because of it containing less carbs? This goes to show that we have fallen for the image of the body and not the true health and vitality of it or choosing foods that are nutritious for us. When the fact is that when we listen to our bodies, nutritionally support ourselves then our body will be in it’s true image.
I was never taught this either Jane – ‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.’ Food was always looked at as something to enjoy, to eat to feel better or as something to do with others. There was also so many rules or ‘have to do’s’ around food such as eating at least 3 times a day, always having breakfast, particular foods being eaten at particular times of day, a certain amount of food was required as acceptable etc etc but none of these rules asked me to listen to my body or offered for me to question how I used food and was I eating to nourish my body or not. Food also became about calories etc later in life and not about nutrition first.
Great point Johanna, this is so true. How many people are aware of this? Food can support us or cause us to feel unwell. It is not so much the case of only what we eat but how we eat, the quality, quantity, the energy that the food was prepared in and how much we eat. All these factors affects how we feel the next moment and or the next day once we consume the food. I have become more aware of how food affects my body. This has been a huge support to assist me to make more loving choices. For example, I can be eating very fresh and nutritious foods prepared with love, but if I choose to overeat, this then makes me feel awful, it hurts my body and shuts down my awareness and connection.
This sentence alone – ‘Animals in the wild eat only what is needed, yet we as humans – who claim to be the most intelligent species – eat so many foods that aren’t good for us, we buy food we do not eat and waste it, and we eat in such a way that we become overweight, obese, developing diabetes or other ailments ‘ – brings up the great topic of just how intelligent are we and what are we fooling ourselves with as being intelligent. Perhaps we need to look and learn from the simplicity of nature more.
You are so correct get by saying ‘. . . but if it was ‘hitting the nail on the head’, these statistics would surely look different.’ We do seem to be in a quite a bit of disillusionment with where we are at as a whole humanity on this one issue – food. Yes there may be more around than was in the 60’s but we are no better off – in fact I would say we are worse off today especially after taking all the statistics presented here into account.
Reading just this first statistic “The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day – 2014.” (1) – it is crazy to think we have many people starving and dying of starvation in our world while others are milking themselves with the over consumption of food. Surely if this is the amount we consume in one minute then my first thought is – why can’t we work out a way so that all can eat in our world?
A great question and starting point Jane why is the truth about food and true nourishment for our bodies not taught ? It takes a real pondering and honesty to start to see this and relook and feel our bodies at a deeper level and what they are sharing with us. Thank you Jane for raising this with so much clarity and facts to see and start to live responsibly.
Imagine if everyone was encouraged and educated about nourishment for the body, and that the body shows us constantly what works and doesn’t work with food. It isn’t only food though, it shows us that stress, emotions, excess exercise, etc also don’t support the body by giving symptoms of dis-ease such as headaches, skin conditions, injuries, etc.
One wonders how these statistics can possibly be true, but it shows me that I need to open my eyes even wider to what is really going on in the world, as this is just one alarming indicator of how humanity is resorting more and more to coping strategies such as over-eating rather to avoid feeling truth.
Amazing how ignorant we are about food and how it truly affects us when eating and drinking is something we all do and is so essential to our life and even more specifically our quality of life.
What Jane’s touches upon in this article is a basic level of care that we can all take with the food we consume, eating well and living well are not a mystery but it could be considered a bit of a mystery why so few eat for optimal wellness and instead why we have so much comfort eating. There is also a further consideration of nourishment, and how the way we grow, prepare and set ourselves up to eat the food all affects the level of nourishment and the amount of food we need to live abundantly well.
Food and true nourishment is taught, sort of. It just that the opinion what constitutes true nourishment may just be a tad incorrect. After all, it includes regular alcohol to reduce heart disease.
That in itself shows how far off the mark we are Christoph. When we accept such unsupportive information as truth – we are not listening to the truth of what our bodies are communicating. Then one ask – why?
I am learning what true nourishment is now and so as a parent, myself and my children are learning together. It unfolds, so no rules…I have come from comfort eating, to learning to eat for the purpose of nourishment, they are very different ways of eating, my children have had some of both and we talk about how then food we eat makes us feel and learn from there. Amazing to share it and be more aware of the choice we have to really care for our bodies.
Thanks for sharing your family explorations with regards to nourishment, Samantha, as this feels like fundamental and true education.
Well your children are blessed for the food education you are exploring together Samantha – go mum!!! To learn to listen to our bodies is the only way we can feel what they need to nourish ourselves, especially amidst the array of conflicting and ever changing dietary advice that bombards us.
This statistic is enormous; that “Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” When we consider obesity is a huge but very largely preventable condition, we can feel the sad unnecessary loss of life, and more so the emotional and mental conditions that the 1.9 billion more live with.
It doesn’t make sense to educate children that their relationship with food ‘has’ to be based around the eatwell plate (which breaks down all the different categories you ‘need’ in your diet and how much) because everyone is very different in terms of what foods support you, and how much.
The words ‘True nourishment’ give me a rosy feeling inside. And it is not just food that can provide us with true nourishment. Every choice we make either nourishes us or depletes us. True nourishment comes from our attitude, our thoughts, our movements, our interactions, our expression. We have the power to truly nourish ourselves.
Thank you Rebecca, that is a very tasty comment.
The propensity to overeat to dull, numb and bury all the things about life we can’t deal with is enormous. It’s like our instant dummy, our comforter and our blanket and yet it is slowly, slowly eroding our bodies from the inside out making us ill and unable participate fully in life. I have found that changing food habits by will power alone is not sustaining. Initially, I found it easier to make changes by looking at what I was trying to numb and bury and then simply, certain food cravings disappeared.
“What if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing” now thats a whole different way of approaching the obesity and illness problem the world faces today. Rather than telling people what to eat, because no one likes being told, we are able to support people to feel what is true for them. A whole and completely different way of approaching life.
Health and nutrition is taught but it is the focus on what foods drive the lessons. I have worked in day care centres where children have come in with a lunchbox filled with pre-packed food that all have the tick of approval from various health organisations.
Parents are buying these under the belief that if it has been regulated by the government,- it must be good. As a staff we see the highs and lows of the sugar and high salt fixes that play out with the children’s behaviour in the day.
Could there be more here to ponder on in regards to looking for a quick fix and convenient food is the daily choice of many?
On the news yesterday, there was a focus on the age band of people in the 40s to 60s saying that because of lifestyle/fast food choice, lack of exercise and typically people working at their desks there was a high band of obesity in this age group. It was also pointed out that currently a third of children aged 11 and over are also obese and when this group comes to adulthood the risk of diabetes is very high. The strain on the NHS is enormous and will continue to be so unless we choose to be differently with food.
We can not rely on the food industry to educate us about food. The industry is rife with greed and lack of integrity. We can not rely on the education system that specialises in cramming our brain with facts but is not really interested in true health of its students. But we can be responsible for our own education. We can pay more attention to our own body and allow that relationship to inform us. And we can inspire our children to live in this honouring way too.
ha ha that is so true and a great point how can we be educated on food by someone or something that is so greedy. It reminds me of how a very, very, very fat doctor with about 4 chins once tried to tell me that it was healthy for me to have a glass of wine every day when he discovered I didn’t drink alcohol. This was not someone I was going to take dietary advice from – clearly my body knew a lot better and could feel what alcohol did to it.
Yes, it makes sense to teach children from a young age to feel and listen to their bodies as to which foods truly nourish them, ‘we were supported and encouraged to experiment for ourselves from a young age – to feel for ourselves the impact of foods that make us sleepy, foods that make us bloat, and foods that feel truly nourishing?’
It seems simple to discuss food and its effects on our body, interestingly though people can be very shy on this topic. Almost afraid to ‘go there’ because they know from with-in that what is the normal eating pattern with food isn’t working. It’s an unfolding process for sure – it still is for me, but one I’m very appreciate of because the benefits to well-being and vitality absolutely outweigh my previous health situation.
I like these questions that Jane asks about education and nourishment for our bodies. They bring a very real perspective to a somewhat complicated and emotive subject.
My body has always been very sensitive to food and as Jane states, would clearly suffer after the wrong foods or over indulging. The predominant thought when I was young was that food was to be enjoyed and was a delight to be experienced in the senses, so the richer and more tasty food was preferred. The tension that surrounded this was enormous, competing for the leftovers because of the insatiable emptiness food cravings created. Also the fixation on taste and ‘enjoyment’ meant being with each other was pushed aside. This was the sadest memory. Meal times was not about being together for the love of each other, but for the food and so the silence once the food had been eaten was uncomfortable to say the least. The role food plays in our lives is enormous and affects everything pretty much for our whole lives I would say.
I agree, I often tried to get the maximum enjoyment out of food and found it irksome if I couldn’t drink more than one or two cups of coffee or only so much cake or even only so much food, as my body would be worse and worse the more I persisted.
The way I am with myself determines the relationship that I have with the food I eat.
Food: from entertainment to nourishment, is like distraction [e.g. over-eating, eating when full already] to being in the present moment [eating what the body needs, and feeling that that’s enough]. The two styles of eating so very different, with the majority of us eating the former way.. no wonder we have so much obesity, and with it discontentment in and about life/ourselves.
Learning to listen to our bodies is imperative in developing a healthy relationship with food. I found that it is not just about listening to my body at dinner time but also through the whole of my day, for if I do not honour my body in the day, and thus feel unsettled, it is harder to honour my body when I have to make choices about food.
I remember watching a trailer for a documentary about food waste – it was shocking to see the mountains of wasted food when we still have people who struggle to get enough food. And yet as we are seeing now, there is a rise in malnourishment not because of a lack of eating, but because the food being eaten is so lacking in any useful nutrients for the body that it is causing malnutrition in obese people – it is becoming not only about the amount of food eaten, but also the type of food we choose to eat.
And yet, giving up chocolate, cakes, take aways and sugary drinks is all easy in the writing of health policy, but in practice for many it proves very hard to break their eating habits – is it possible that this is because we don’t simply eat any more from a biological need but to feel full in the body to survive, stimulated by hunger – we now associate boredom with hunger, or anxious tension – we can eat because we are stressed, or maybe upset about a breakup – if we don’t recognise the ‘why’ or root cause in the equation, we can’t stop the physical out play.
Food as a way to sustain life, rather than entertain, stimulate or distract from bigger issues. While it makes perfect sense, as you say it is not the normal education we get.
‘What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?’ Jane, reading this I could feel that we are so far from this at the moment. From an early age we are given ‘treats’ as rewards for good behaviour, for achievements and even for finishing a nourishing meal! What are we really teaching our children by using food in this way?
Teaching blackmail and bribery perhaps, often encouraging competition, coercion, imposing, seduction, pacify, stimulate, motivate. If we were to be honest about our motives would we be so quick to hand out the treats?
We have a sneaky side to us and that is the one that doesn’t care too much if the body gets wasted. Sounds weird but I know it too well. Eating something that by experience I feel not so well after yet I eat it. So getting to know that we have this aspect and learning to love and care for ourselves and our bodies would be a great first step. Then we might be more prone to look after ourselves in a way that generates good health.
The more I become aware of what I am choosing to eat the more I realize how much misinformation and lies there is about food and nutrition. All of us are responsible for what we choose to accept as truth or not. It is time to take more responsibility for our food choices and the way that we live.
Eating to nourish – that was a concept that I had never connected to. It was only when I started to connect to my body and start to take care of it and develop a relationship with it (and a deep appreciation of it) that I started to connect to the fact that I could eat to nourish my body – not numb it, or stuff it or because it tasted good (still working on that one!). It is a beaut concept to work with and one that my body thanks me for.
“I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body”, nor was I, nor most of those I know. To have this taught to all children from a very early age is an absolute must in a world where the true purpose of food has been lost among the myriad of cooking shows, the endless ads from the big fast food companies and the supermarket aisles overflowing with processed foods that lack any nutrients. It seems that food has become a way to distract us from life and to delight our taste buds with no thought whatsoever of the effect it is having on our long suffering bodies. May the true teachings about “food and true nourishment” commence sooner rather than later, otherwise the statistics that you have shared in the beginning will be looking a whole lot scarier in a couple of years time.
Food has so many uses and, as you say, we are not taught that food is simply to nourish the body. We learn to use it as a thing of power, a numbing device, a social focus, for personal reward and recognition, and even as a self-inflicted punishment. Eating just enough of what our bodies actually need would require a major adjustment in our society’s whole way of being. It would certainly bring down the many huge industries that manufacture and market chemical poisons that they call food, so there will be a lot of resistance from the commercial sector as well as from consumers themselves.
Like so many things in nature that reflect to us how we are truly meant to live, animals show us (if left alone and not interfered with) that they only eat when hungry which for many is every few days and even then they only eat what is needed for the body to remain healthy and fit. They do not continually overeat and eat things that are not within their evolution. We on the other hand and Christmas time being a prime example, eat and drink to the point of illness, and eat things are not only poisonous or disruptive to the body but take us in the opposite direction of our evolutionary path.
This subject seems very apt during the ‘festive’ period of Christmas and New Year when food is bought and consumed in enormous quantities, with increased waist, self-abuse and very little regard if not total disregard to what our bodies are communicating to us.
Thanks Jane for this contribution, I am of an age when we used to do what they called domestic science aka cooking class in school and it does help to build a confidence with using the cooker but from what I remember the recipes where anything but healthy – mostly cakes. I know some schools have started to re-introduce cooking back onto the school syllabus but it is such a huge subject and could do with some healthy coverage – lets face it cooking and preparing food is a life skill which would be used and is needed.
Back to the real meaning and purpose of food: to nourish and support our bodies. Yes. I reckon this would serve us well.
I love ‘What if’ questions… opportunities to be curious and investigative about things we have come to accept as the norm and whether these are supportive or make sense…food is a huge topic, an aspect of life that leads us astray very often and a great revealer of the quality of our relationships with our bodies.
What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body? This would be a great start definitely and could start with children in pre-kinder age as young children are way more in touch with themselves. And if encouraged to feel their bodies and have their parents on board, this would support them to trust in their bodies, and they would naturally feel and know what they do and don’t want to eat.
“What if we were shown that there is a ‘cause and effect’ of food so that we can learn for ourselves how to listen to our body as a marker?” with this approach to life and being shown to live this way takes away the frustration many of us have with diets and doing x or y and following something that someone made up. It brings it all back to us and opens up a deeply loving relationship with ourselves.
‘True nourishment’ is a subject that really needs to be discussed at every dinner table – what is truly nourishing for us, do we feel what is right for our bodies, what is needed? There is greater education to be offered in order to support people with making these choices, however the impetus needs to come from the individual, in wanting to be more responsible for their health and wellbeing.
Thank you Jane, I would love to see this article printed in magazines and newspapers as you highlight some really important points around food and eating. The increase in diabetes and obesity is rapidly rising and unfortunately many are turning a blind eye to this until it comes knocking on their own door. To educate everyone on a consistent basis about ‘true nourishment’ would be a great way to start, and for the government to promote and encourage TV shows and advertising that inspire and support people to make changes to their diets and lifestyle that improves their health and well-being and reduces any chance of developing any ill conditions.
Humanity’s relationship with food is simply a manifestation of the endemic dysfunctional disconnection from the true essence that is within us all… until this reconnection is held, it will get worse.
We’ve been sold a major dummy when it comes to food and how we use it. Food is on most of our priority lists when it comes to life and it’s what we base our lives around and yet we haven’t been shown or taught what it’s truly about. We have been shown many ways to use it, how much we should have and been bombarded by advertising for all manner of varieties and yet what is the truth about food. As the article leads to, food is about nourishment but not a ‘food pyramid’ style nourishment, nourishment for you to live a true quality of living. This has nothing to do with anything other than how you express, how you are with everything and how you make your every move in life. This is about the redefining food as we currently know it and making life or the way you live a lot clearer for us to see. Food, the way you eat and prepare it can either continue to wipe us out or it can support us to see.
Today being Christmas, I ate my usual shared lunch that went on for over 3 hours and felt as though my body was well as nourished and this was with the food and conversation.
And it was lovely to share it with you Greg …. and thanks for the amazing foot massage … Bonus!!! 🙂
If we got rid of all of the foods we have created or consume, all the junk food and sugary things I feel we would see not only a dramatic change in our health but also in how we are as a society, there would also be a massive change in the planet because we would stop depleting earth from all of its resources. Our relationship with food I would say is currently very abusive and is one of the main causes of as you say that we have sky rocketing statistics at the moment with regards to things like obesity.
You only have to look at the recommendations for those with diabetes by government bodies, medical and dietician associations to see that something is clearly and seriously wrong with the system! not only has there been entrenched resistance and denial of the evergrowing voice of the people speaking up, the direct evidence of a healthier way of being contrary to traditional recommendations – to outright attack, threatening and bullying of those doctors and health practitioners who are open to, or can see there is a way that serves better – and who are genuinely concerned and care for the wellbeing of their clients. Something for us all to learn here.
It feels as though we love food more than we love ourselves. If we truly loved ourselves we would not be eating most of what we currently accept as a ‘good healthy diet’. The way in which we buy, store, prepare and eat our food all plays an important part in the nourishment that it is giving us, or not. It feels as though we will continue to avoid addressing this issue until we want to change the way we are living, until we open our eyes and see how things really are, until we want to take responsibility.
It feels like food is possibly the most commonly used substance for us to avoid taking responsibility. It’s the go-to fix when we want to numb how we are feeling. I suppose it’s unsurprising that Christmas is a time of such excess with the coming together of families and the dynamics that play out when we avoid dealing with our stuff. When we avoid being truthful about how we are truly feeling.
The greater question, is why such advice on nutrition not followed, even when it is taught. Education or lack of is only part of the answer to our current health epidemic. The truth is, even if we were fully educated, this would most likely have little impact on our state of health, and this is proven by the fact that doctors can knowingly drink and smoke and be overweight, and yet have full knowledge of the impact such choices are having on their bodies.
The thing is unless we get to the route cause ( the energy we have let into our bodies for example by reacting to something or someone or trying to bury emotional issues, hurt or pain, or fight our awareness of what we feel) we are going to keep eating certain foods we know don’t support us or over or under eating, this is just the end result of energy. For example maybe you feel at work people gossip about you behind your back or are jealous of you, you feel this, you know or, you don’t have to hear anything, but you don’t want to feel it this, cause let’s face it jealousy is like getting invisible daggers thrown at you, so you eat something to numb, dull or make you more racy to not feel. Only once you deal with feeling the jealousy and not reacting to it, will you stop eating that food. Control doesn’t work, it might look like it does but you are putting far more force and harm through your body. We can use any food in the same way, be it a bar of chocolate or an apple, yes an apple doesn’t have the sugar etc but if you buy it in the same energy you would as a bar of chocolate, to numb, not feel, make you racy, then you are just lying to yourself. But better to eat an apple than a bar of chocolate whilst you deal with the issue.
Jane as I learn to live from my body being my daily barometer and can certainly see how incredible it is to raise our next generation in a way that they feel supported to naturally use their body as a daily barometer or their wellbeing. It empowers us with what is true and not what we should or should not be doing.
Food is a topic where we are inundated with ideals and beliefs about what is and isn’t healthy. It doesn’t take much for the head to come in and make a choice that completely overrides the knowing of the body. Even a so called ‘healthy choice’ can be the complete opposite of what is truly needed.
It is interesting how totally addicted we are to certain types of food – to be able to truly break this pattern, we need to be willing to take an honest look at the reason behind, i.e. what is it we don’t want to feel, and that makes us make that same dishonouring choice over and over again.
‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.’ and so a momentum of food choices can develop, choices are made to compensate for the ill choice the day before, as a ‘pick up’ and this becomes a perpetuating cycle. All it takes is a new, true choice in regard of what the body is asking for or not, to break the cycle and start to develop a new momentum of choices which are supportive of us rather than in disregard.
The way we relate to food is an indictment of our irresponsibility on a much grander scale. The arrogant indulgence in so many things we know are not healthy, the over-eating or at the other extreme dieting or purging, dissemination of false facts and figures as an excuse to sell unhealthy foods and also an excuse to continue consuming them, stockpiling foods so the price which the shareholders are expecting does not drop, and letting foods that do not have the ‘standard supermarket shelf look’ rot because people want their ‘standard look’ – all of this whilst a huge percentage of humanity does not have access to food and is starving. Why are we not teaching about food & true nourishment? Good question. Teaching it would be a great start for us to look at an area rife with reflections of the lack of responsibility we have been choosing to live our lives.
Thank you Jane for writing on such a pertinent subject at this time of year when the focus on food is even greater. What is it we are seeking from food that we become almost possessed by a deep need to stock up at this time of year? What is all this food doing to us seems like a question that we need to be asking ourselves – could it possibly be a distraction from the discomfort we are feeling inside? Are people really enjoying this time in close proximity to their family or are they merely following a tradition that is deeply seated in ideals and beliefs that are passed on from one generation to another? Maybe when we as a humanity begin to realise that we are living in deceit and disrespect of both ourselves and one another we can begin to change and as you suggest educate our children about a truer way to live life.
New standards a few years ago in the UK implemented new markings on foods for disclaiming what was in them. Is this the same as cigarettes with photos of cancers and big bold caution notices on them? People do things because they can, I had been on that bus myself for many years! I also grew up in a meat and two veg family, and fast food was a can of spam. There was no aisle in the stores for ready prepared, heat and eat meals with the exception of tins of soup and beans. When I was growing up, we were the living example of what food did too and for us. Our body is an amazing complex machine but only requires the simplest things to keep it running fine.
Food – there is such a mountain of food out there in many all fancied and packaged in a variety of sizes and shapes and colours. It feels to me food is such a huge distraction and one of the main delays we have in evolving…. and we do like our ‘comfort’, the comfort and numbing food brings us when we overeat, over indulge, preparing food quickly, and continuing to eat the wrong food in which our body has already communicated it no longer needs. But how do we change our ingrained habits and patterns around the food trap? For me, when I started to self-care and self nurture on a daily basis, this naturally flowed into how I nourished my body, and as a result, many foods dropped from my diet and the first to go was the biggest culprit – SUGAR.
Not easy at first, but the momentum gathers of making loving choices which I am still refining today, it becomes easy to say , I am never eating sugar again. Loving and accepting our bodies is key and from there we learn to LISTEN to them.
‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day’. So very very true.
I ate some food this week that I had dropped from my diet, well after a few days, I woke yesterday feeling really yucky with a very tender belly….. as a result I ate very light yesterday, feeling better today, but still feel to be very light with my diet today as I can feel my body is needing time to recover…..with this my body is communicating very loudly to me, that if i continue eating this food, I will suffer the consequences – cause and effect!
The current world health and eating disorders food mountains and starvation areas is obscene and out of kilt with who we really are. The knowing of True nourishment has been lost amongst this so thank you Jane for a great reflection with the responsibility we can all take exposed and needed stated clearly .
It is not that long ago that home cooked meals were the norm, when we look at how rapidly this has changed and that majority are now choosing anything but home cooked, with all the sugars, salts and preservatives added, we can wonder where this is taking us, seeing that such a significant part of the worlds population are already obese.
What does it say about all the education, information, news and statistics that we now have available to us and we have not addressed the way we are living that is ill. Maybe having information changes very little if we do not want to take responsibility for what we create in life nor want to deal with our hurts and rejections.
If you worried about everything you ate you wouldnt eat anything and die of malnutrition. Unless you have time to live that homemade diet not many of us do these days with busy days at the office and rushing around with children its not always practical. You cannot educate children by simply bringing jamie Olivers ideas to the table. Also do we want to end up with our children being bulimic ? Especially if you have a picky child. Admittedly it would b better not to have all the additives they put in the foods and have correct labeling but seems the industry is only about money …same old story really genetically modified foods is not the way forward. But you must ask yourself how can you make changes with out the support of the suppliers and manufactures because until these additives ate removed you do have to eat.. a loaf of bread lasts a week now once upon a time it didn’t last 2 days and the mould would be green not orange ! Scarey
‘I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body’ there are many aspects of body care that we are not taught because our current education system is based on what the brain can learn. Even ‘Physical Education’ is just about playing competitive games or pushing your body to the limit with exercises and runs. What our bodies need for nourishment extends beyond food too, to appreciation for each other, a positive outlook, an awareness of the energy we allow to pass through it – there is a great deal that can be included in our education that would enable us to grow up with healthy bodies.
Why is true nourishment not taught? It would put most of the food industry out of business, or the industry would have to go through major transformation, and people would be healthier and need much less (or no) pharmaceuticals!
If we were educated about true nourishment, we would be honouring of our bodies – and it is this deep honouring and nurturing of our bodies and ourselves that changes our attitudes, ideals and beliefs around food… and how we naturally come to our own ideal body weight, shape and size – no diet required!
Well said Jane. I am astounded that we don’t learn to pay attention to the way different foods affect our bodies. Instead we are given ‘food pyramids’ that are sponsored by invested corporations. When we go to the doctor we are then told that only the pharmaceutical companies can help us …and if our doctors dare to tell us that it could be diet related? They’re banned… yep it’s a crazy and corrupt system we have at the moment. Thank God for Serge Benhayon.
We know what hurts and harms our body, it is simple and straight forward, but we still refuse to go there.
For something as basic as food, that we all need, it is amazing that we are not taught the true significance of the effects or benefits of eating and drinking what truly supports the body and what does not. If we were taught from a young age that if our body didnt want us to eat something, and that that is okay and a sign that a food isn’t good for us, our whole approach to food would be so different. Since I have paid more attention to my body with regards to food, I know when I want to eat something and when I don’t. The crazy thing is that I have always known this, but I just used to override what I was feeling, and then pay the consequences for eating or drinking something that didn’t support me.
I have seen such profound changes in children when they start to eat healthy. The wrong foods can certainly contribute to lack of clarity and mental health problems. To me eating healthy needs to be at the foundation of our education system.
Jane I love this super-clear and insightful look at what we are doing with food as a society, so many great questions you have raised for us to ponder. I have learnt so much about myself from this sort of self-enquiry and observation. The thing l’ve probably learnt most though is that I can’t change things by changing the food first… that if I haven’t addressed why it is I am eating certain foods or in a certain way, then will-power will not change it for long. Rebounding after trying to change habits in this way is always worse than continuing the habit itself I find.
I used to be a vegan and that did not work out very well for me, even though I wanted to upkeep the ideal, my health was affected, so I have had a judgement on eating all vegetarian (in-truth a judgement I had on my previous choice), thinking I must have some meat. However, if I truly listened to my body to eat, eating vegetarian at certain times is what my body is asking for, and it feels more simple to honour the body’s impulses free from the judgement on ourselves.
Great reflections and questions here. “What if we were raised to understand the truth about food, around what is needed, the addictive nature of certain foods, right down to our relationship with food; the process of eating, from the way we shop, to preparing food, to the way we eat it, why we eat it and looking at our ideals and beliefs about food.” I can say that although this support was offered to me by Universal Medicine relatively late in life, it has within a few years had a profound effect not just on what I eat, but my ability to observe and work on my choices on all areas of my life.
Just the food wastage statistic in comparison to the people that are starving is enough to know that the whole world is out of whack. You could argue that if we are out of whack on a big scale and we find this overwhelming, then why not bring it in to be more personal. Why don’t we all as individuals begin to look at getting in balance. Surely, the more balanced human beings on the planet, the more chance there is to bring real change through.
When I was a kid our older sister was in charge of the ice-cream bowls at dessert time, making sure they were all even, sometimes I think we need a world leader that is looking at thing like this, on a large scale but in reality if we had one now, a leader that cared for all equally we would just tear them down and call them a Communist or a refugee sympathizer, a terrorist or something crazy like that. We don’t just need a strong leader, we need a harmony in the body and mind that knows which direction we actually want to be moving in and from there, we all lead.
Love this blog, it really asks us to go to the next level of responsibility with our approach to food and how we are using and consuming it. There is no question we have to go here to turn around the entirely preventable statistics which are brothers, sisters, friends, mothers, fathers, uncles and aunts.
My experience with children is that they often have a natural feeling of what nurtures them, but already being a baby they often get spoilt with sugar and milk.
I really like what you have shared here, Jane, about the inherent wisdom of animals. I have started to pay more attention to the natural world around me, and it feels really supportive and inspiring to connect to the order, harmony and co-operation that constantly takes place.
When I was 11 my mother suddenly woke up to the fact of ‘healthy food’. Almost overnight our diet changed, much to the bemusement of my father! I remember that I began to feel better and more vital almost instantly. From this I was given a great foundation and awareness around food that I took forward in my life. I was the odd one out at school. I was the odd one out when I left home and went to college. I continued to be the odd one out when I started working. And I am still the odd one out today! But this is ok, because I know what I eat makes me feel good, and feeling drowsy, heavy and toxic is the last thing that I want. My mother gave me a huge gift. It was an education that was not drummed into me, it was given to me as an experience that my body appreciated. From there it was almost impossible to go back.
Rebecca, I hadn’t twigged until reading your comment that I was the odd one out at school, I was the one who didn’t like squash, milk, ice cream, butter and I’m pretty much the odd one out today. The only difference being I now know why I am the odd one out and how good I feel for it.
Thank you Jane, for bringing your wisdom through on this subject.
Food has become a very easy escape. It is cheap, it does the job, and it has become a very big issue. To the point where we have junk food vending machines in emergency waiting rooms. Perhaps it is time to stop and consider why we are treating our bodies this way. Food has become more and more accessible to a humanity that is becoming more and more unhealthy. I too have been pretty taken by food – I am a pro at knowing what dulls me.
HM I was recently in the children’s A&E department in London and so surprised to see a trolly of crisps, sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks pass me by. I literally had a double take as I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.
I feel very much the same as yourself around the education of humanity on the value, and our bodies reaction to the food we eat. This is touched on at school but we need to practice what we preach at home also. I know that looking back to my school days we were taught the basics of food groups etc. but nothing much about what damage these foods such as sugar can do to our bodies. Thank you Jane, great thought provoking sharing.
I really enjoy reading all these blogs stated health stats, however, the scary thing is that there is now an abundance stating that:
– For the first time, the next generation has a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
-Many health care systems will buckle in the next 2 decades
-A huge portion of the world’s population live with a co-morbidity
There is an arrogance that will take as to the brink, however not too far so there is no return.
I know for me when I overeat or eat food that does not serve me I am doing so because I don’t want to feel and deal with something that is coming up in my body so I numb myself with food. In some situations I eat sugar rather than feeling just how exhausted I truly am I will eat sugar and push on with what I have to do. This causes a terrible cycle of emotional ups and downs as a result of the sugar highs not to mention the physical damage it does through the disharmony amongst my organs. This way of living is irresponsible and is the type of behaviour that leads to the statistics you talk about in this blog.
It certainly is time to start talking about our attitudes and issues with food and re-educating ourselves and our children to listen to our bodies. The stats you share here are pretty scary and a real strain on the health system.
When I reflect on my relationship with food and what I’ve heard about over the years its either been about food to diet or get an outcome, food to be healthy or mostly food to impress/tantalize. Yet never had I looked at food to nourish and support myself. I looked at food as to how it would comfort me not how it would support me.
I Love your questions raised Jane with the understanding that food is here to nourish our bodies and to feel how food effects our bodies and how we are and to listen to what we feel. What a real way to grow up and be taught and to live in a way with this awareness which could have huge beneficial effects on our health and the consequently the state of world health today. Our food production what we buy and what we eat would change and the simplicity of this would have enormous implications and reflections on the shops, supermarkets , restaraunts and so much more. Amazing to ponder on.
It is shocking to see the statistics and the naked facts, about the amount of food we are consuming world wide – what on earth is going on?
Yes I agree Eva, it is a staggering amount of food we produce… enough to feed everyone on the planet. This raises the question as to how we still have entire nations who do not have enough to sustain healthy, vital life. Re-distribution of our enormous resources would take care of that… which would require an equally enormous shift in our general attitudes and mentality. Living life to take care of our selves and our ‘families’ does not work, we have to see family as humanity… and from there perhaps we might have the sort of foundation to address and support both ends of this continuum. The excess and the lack are both part of the same problem.
“And if we were supported and encouraged to experiment for ourselves from a young age – to feel for ourselves the impact of foods that make us sleepy, foods that make us bloat, and foods that feel truly nourishing?”
It sounds ridiculous but it was not until my late 30’s that i began through the inspirational presentations of Universal Medicine, to allow myself permission to know my own body & to appreciate & value this truly sensitive abode.
I agree Jane, to learn the cause and effect of food as a child alone would transform the world and the state we are in as humanity in the moment. It would teach us that appreciation of our bodies support our wellbeing, it would teach us that there is a loving discipline, it would teach us that there is a rythm our body is emanating , it would teach us that it is not about food alone but the way we are buying and preparing it. There are so many things we can learn but often we are so loaded with information that we are so closed and not anymore able to listen and learn the things which evolve us as humanity.
“Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” – I am not sure which is the scarier statistic, that we are choosing to kill ourselves with food, or the rate at which obesity levels are escalating. Either way, what is clear is our increasing dis-functional relationship with food.
What is presented here is so simple yet we hardly ever talk about why is it we turn to food for comfort in so many instances? I certainly grew up with people giving me sweet things to make me feel better. I heard many, many times not we eat to live but we live to eat. There was a unspoken inference that life was so hard, certain feelings so painful that one had better not experience them because one would not survive the experience. Instead people lived from one meal to the next and tried to enforce a discipline so one didn’t get fat.
I always considered I had issues with food but it was my relationship with myself and life that was in disarray. I would live for the next meal, for the next island of comfort and numbing from emotions I believed were too overwhelming. I would be grateful for any distraction that kept the gap in between meals acceptable. So realizing all of this, seeing how loving my body for all that it does for me I can nourish it with what it needs, I’m also seeing that all those negative thoughts and fears of simply living in the world without the numbing effects of certain food choices is possible. It’s early days but I’m so much more me in the world and appreciative that all those fears of living actually have no truth to them.
There’s no right or wrong ‘rules’ when it comes to eating or food choices – but there is a great learning in terms of what supports us and what does not.
It seems we have a relationship with food that is defined by our reaction to life; rather than a conscious choice to have a relationship with our body and honour what our development calls for in terms of our food choices.
Children can be very definate about what foods they like and dont like, but are then told they are fussy eaters when they don’t like certain things. We are almost conditioned into eating what we are given when we are small, but if we were encouraged to choose what we would like to eat, rather than made to eat what was on our plates from a young age, we would no doubt have a completely different relationship with food and with our bodies and potentially reduce the health risks that occur as a result of growing up eating foods that our bodies are not designed to eat.
Food for myself has been many things. A way to numb, a way to be less aware, a way to control, the go to when I thought I needed to do things better. As you can see, in this there was not the slightest moment given to my body and what it needed for nourishment. Yet I literally cannot live without my body. This very definite seperation between body and mind is very profoundly demonstrated when it comes to food. In my personal experience the connection to my body and its true nurturing food requirements has only come about with building a deep love and care of my body, which daily opens up more in its communication of what it needs.
‘Overall, roughly a third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted per year, which is 1.3 billion tonnes. (2)’. A strange bi-product of being more in tune with what my body needs and buying food accordingly is that I not only enjoy being creative with cooking but I’ve also noticed I waste far less food as a result.
There is no education more fundamental or more profound than that of learning to pay attention to, read the messages of and deepen our understanding based on them. It is wonderful that Universal Medicine teachings and modalities support this in people. No amount of facts figures, textbooks and advice matches the awareness gained from our own personal experience.
Thank you Jane for the work that you have put in to this blog. I must admit when I read this, “I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body ” my mind goes to that we immediately link food to nourishment and nourishment to food. It seems to set up a belief similar to the 3 meals a day story. I am not telling people what and when they should eat but we need to listen to our bodies. As we expand awareness into food then the distance grows between the words nourishment and food and how we see them. We use food for different reasons and it’s a very emotional decision with a lot of money and energy invested in it. I like reading blogs and articles that bust up our views around food. With the way sugar has been allowed to infiltrate our food chain we can all see we are being blinded by something. Like any drug sugar clings to you and some may say it’s propaganda but you only need read the statistics to see it’s a fact.
One has to question the underlying rise in obesity across the globe. Here we are with better technology then ever before, more global accessibility, yet we see a rise in ill health and an increase in people dying because of obesity. Yet, do we stop and take stock and look at our relationship with food? If every person examined their relationship with what and how they ate then this would be a start to healing a world epidemic.
True nourishment is not just in the food we eat but in the quality in which we buy food, prepare and then eat it. There is so much more to nutrition than what is shared in text books. True nutrition is a deep relationship that we have with our body not only in regards to what we eat but also encompassing how we live. Every movement can be nourishing if we choose it to be.
We tend to think that what to study aimed at what professional career to pursue is the most important decision of our lives. What we do not realise is that we make decisions all the time and we do it very much based on what is available (of course there are pioneers all over). Unfortunately, being obese or diabetics are also choices we can opt for these days. You do not get there without massive, consistent, daily, onesided effort. That means that this is an everyday choice and it is not less important than what to study and do in the future because brings into the picture the from what body and from what quality you plan to do what you dream of.
There are so many food myths we need to unpick and what is more serious is that we have built a huge international industry around them. When I go shopping in a supermarket I reckon I engage with about 5% of the ‘food’ on sale. We have such a hugely ill informed attitude to what is really good for us, our bodies are made to run on such simple foods, yet we seem to wilfully over-ride this fact and our health is most definitely suffering as a consequence.
Animals eat what they need to sustain themselves and certainly do not overeat as it makes their bodies too sluggish to carry out the daily activities. Why is it that we humans often eat too much, or eat foods that have no nourishment like chips, chocolate, soft drinks? What has gone so wrong that we could eat food that we wouldn’t even feed our pets?
Wow Jane this statistics are shocking and sure it’s about educating the children to have a more nutritional diet and for them to be aware of how their bodies feel after eating, by using their bodies as barometer to feel what foods are or aren’t appropriate for them. However nothing will change unless their role models also start being responsible for what they eat and the way in which they eat e.g. are they sitting down and taking their time to eat, or on the run grabbing something ‘easy’ as they go out the door, or sitting in front of the tv eating, or eating too quickly not giving the body enough time to even tell them if they have had enough, or overriding what they feel because the food tastes ‘good’ and what about checking in on how their bodies feel after indulging in what they eat or drink. I know that I have been guilty of some of the above in the past. But I also know that it begins by walking the talk, before we can expect anything to change.
“….my mother taught me to cook and prepare food, and at school we did have cooking lessons, I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body” – true Jane, and even for myself cookery classes were about self-sufficiency in the kitchen, though they were also [considered too] an escape from other classes, like maths or science.. a relaxing time to ‘bunk off’ classic studies; or ‘second rate’ to French or Latin for example. Alas, if we were educated that cooking lessons were the initiating lessons to precede all other classes by virtue of understanding that what we put into the body to nourish it produces the right quality of connection needed to – study truly and live well, then the entire schooling system/curriculum, career guidance, and business world would change with such importance of emphasis on the body, and its consumption.
I’ve always been a slow eater, I like to savour my food and I’ve always enjoyed talking with people around me when I eat. Apart from appreciating the company of others, the longer meal times feels so much more supportive for my body allowing time for my food to be chewed swallowed and digested without any urgency. It may sound silly, but I feel my body is then able to extract more goodness from the food. Whenever I’ve eaten in haste or with a nervous tension in my body, it always feels as though my food it also being ‘rushed through my body’, leading to a slight cramping in my stomach.
‘Overall, roughly a third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted per year, which is 1.3 billion tonnes’ …. I find this a totally shocking statistic, particularly knowing that there are so many people who are struggling to have enough to eat to survive and yet there is this amount of food being discarded. It shows the potential that is there for us to address with more awareness and deeper connection with each other everywhere, not just in our immediate vicinity.
It is well known and often admitted that at the end of a hard day, the end of a relationship etc, we turn to chocolate to make us feel better, or even say we are in a relationship with food, which is in fact the truth. But is the relationship we have one where food is taking off of the edge of life and how we feel, or keeps us light and open to all there is to feel? I know that the instant I feel tension in my body, I crave sugar, but if I don’t clock first that I felt tension, then I will think the craving of the sugar is just how I feel and not question eating it. When I begin to notice the tension, I have started to realise that the sugar craving is not just a natural thing, but the result of not wanting to deal with or feel this tension in my body, and so fulfilling the craving seems less appealing, and also much easier to work on reducing, if I first work on the tension.
The world wide obesity and eating disorder figures is horrific and something that only education from the true wisdom ,knowing , integrity and the honesty of the food industry can we make changes to for ourselves . This is a great sharing to ponder on and take stock of the reality of where we are as humanity and the comfort and numbing that food offers us to not feel what is going on around us. Thank you Jane for such a an eye opener of the truth.
To look at food as nourishment for our bodies changes our whole attitude and perspective of food – this is so very inspiring to read Jane!
Imagine if we all followed our bodies messages about what food to eat, when and how… we and the world around us would be a far more harmonious place to be.
When we connect to our bodies and truly feel the impact of a particular food on our body it really does become a no-brainer to stop eating that food, you can feel with your whole body that you will never eat that food again. After several times of feeling my heart pounding every time I ate chocolate I knew this was not ok for my body and stopped. I can now walk into a room with boxes of chocolates on the table (our staffroom) and not feel any pull whatsoever towards chocolate. Before this I could never resist the temptation to take just one – which always led to many more!
If we were all asked to do a stocktake of what was passed through the body over the period of a week the majority of people would be shocked, if not embarrassed at what they are doing to themselves.
Many people stuff their food down so quickly that they would not even have the pleasure of really tasting it, I used to do this as well. We do not learn that this is not a good way to eat. Imagine if we were taught from an early age to be in our bodies and to eat our food being conscious of every mouth full we take in and to chew it properly, this alone would make a huge difference to our relationship with food. It did for me when a friend of mine showed me how to eat this way when I was 49 years old.
I question too Jane what education are we passing on, and I have not experienced or seen many, if any, talk about food from an honest perspective. I was not aware of the real effects on food until I attended Universal Medicine. Now I can feel for myself what and how I eat has a great impact in how I feel. As a populous are we being honest about food and how we are feeling?
These figures and statistics reflect the deep mess we are in as a society and the ill of humanity, the lack of love and disconnection from who we truly are. These figures should alarm us to the fact that how we are living is not true and yet we become respondent and accepting of the new ill and false way.
The ‘knock on effect’ is huge around Christmas time with so many overeating. I for one, use to eat a huge lunch on Christmas day then suffer that evening and sometime for days after.
Yes indeed a great point raised – what state we are in before we start preparing and eating our food is vital – and again the body will let us know too, especially if the food itself has been supportive of our body in general and we find we do not feel so awesome after eating …
School does not prepare us for life and the sooner we see that education is not just about the written word and numbers the better.
Funny one thing most people do every day is eat and for some it is virtually all day long, and yet we are so unaware about food and how it affects us. Also, we are often unaware of just what we are eating in that we often consume and absorb the emotions of others and that is one of many reasons for bloating and obesity.
To answer the question of the title ‘Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught?’ – Who should teach it when nearly nobody does live it? Or to say it like that: If I would like to teach it, I would have to live it first. And this choice is very very very BIG. Our food and how we manipulate ourselves with food is holy for us. Even that is not the right way to say it, because if nourishment would be really holy for us, we would eat to develop, we would eat in a way that our digestion comes not in the way to feel, be aware and connected.
This is an interesting point you have touched on here Sandra, why are none of the programs for obesity working – is it because what we are sharing we are not sharing from our body but from our head. We are not living it and therefore it doesn’t inspire others to change… I don’t know but I get a sense that is true and if it is then we all need to be the change we want to see in the world rather than waiting for someone else to take the lead.
As parents, we are responsibile for what our children eat. We would never put petrol in a diesel car so why do we put sugar in children when we know their behaviour deteriorates, they are less able to concentrate and it is far harder to parent them?
What is also very striking about all of this is that even if we look at it with zero relationship to our selves and to our well-being and just look at it purely through the telescope of economics, then we can see that a tiny amount of investment in explaining the bigger picture of food could save some of the gigantic amounts of money that we are pouring into the health system to combat obesity, diabetes and the plethora of other related diseases. Unfortunately it is a lot more complex than that. I have been researching the food companies – Sugar specifically – and the way that they conduct their business and science to control the opinion of the public – quite apart from the chemistry with which they are now controlling our bodies. It makes the Tobacco industry look like the Good Samaritans!
You are so right Otto, there is a corporate responsibility for where we are now. The incremental introduction of sugar to so many foods means they have potentially fostered an addiction to a substance that is now a major player in a health epidemic. Their influence is unbelievable and their unwillingness to put people before profits is something we each need to stand up and say no more to.
The consequence of our ill food choices has much more serious ripple effects than we care to know.
Abuse of the body is rife on our planet. As you rightly say Jane, we consider ourselves the most ‘evolved’ species, yet what we do to ourselves is off the scale crazy… None of it makes sense, until we consider the truth, as presented by teachers of the Ageless Wisdom throughout our history, that there is a part of us running the show, that relishes in such self-abuse – for its perpetuation keeps us from our reunification with the soul, the absolute and true love of our being.
We ‘say’ that we want love in our lives, but surely the fact that we do not choose it, if not wilfully go the other way, exposes how great is our resistance to it. What we see to be so rampantly escalating in our health statistics, state of our relationships and more, are the symptoms of our refusal to say yes to love.
Listening to our bodies is most surely the key, this needing to stand alongside our willingness to reconnect with the amazingness that we actually are – without this, all measures taken are but bandaids to the problem, aren’t they…
What if we then extend the true purpose of the food we eat, to not only be about nourishing the body, but open our awareness to the fact that this physical body enhouses a being. We have lost our connection to the deeply, naturally loving and amazing beings that we all are – without such connection, it’s easy, if not confirming of our deepest pain (the separation) to abuse our bodies.
The more I have allowed myself to let go of the beliefs around what foods should be eaten when and instead have chosen to tune in to what my body is asking for in that moment, I have found I’m eating very strange things, by ‘normal’ standards. However, if it’s what my body is wanting and it feels really nurturing to then lovingly prepare that food and love my body back rather than forcing it to eat foods that upset it’s natural balance and harmony.
It feels like food offers us the perfect excuse to avoid dealing with our stuff. It allows us to indulge further with whatever is going on for us at that time, numbing us to the root cause of the problem. Our bodies are constantly talking to us, trying to support us to have a closer relationship with them and understand what is truly going on. When we eat food as an emotional response, we are actively choosing not to listen.
If the truth about food and eating was taught to children in schools, teachers and parents would have to admit that they regularly ingest toxins not fit for human consumption (alcohol, refined sugar, dairy) or eat to numb and check-out.
“And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing – ‘The Body Is the Marker of All Truth.” Serge Benhayon (5)” – agree Jane , and the (continued) harm that we do to our body through not listening, feeling, responding, treating it accordingly, the continuing numbness in the body and also to the abuse we do to another body, and hence why conflict or war manages to exist and in parts of the world, sadly flourish as with Aleppo. Without love in the body, the world is without love too.
It has taken me many years to consciously feel the consequences of my food choices. It’s one of those things that once you start to acknowledge and then make different choices, it becomes a constantly evolving and refining process. There is no ‘one size fits all’ with food, so it’s really important to stay open to what our body is communicating to us each day.
I was definitely raised to comfort eat from young. I was obsessed with food and this was considered a bit of a joke. I thought about food a lot and from as young as I can remember food was my ‘best friend’ as I used it to comfort me.
No-one around me really thought much of this- I guess it was considered pretty normal behaviour for a kid to crave and want sweet things. I would often get very demanding if I didn’t get certain foods so was often given in too. It is a whole new learning to let go of these patterns and change the way I use food.
I remember a year or two ago when a young man I know complained about his forever stuffed up and runny nose with thick mucus. I made a gentle comment about that it might be worth a try to see if cutting out all that dairy that he eats and to observe if it would make a difference. The response was nah, it tastes too good. So here we have it – we think it tastes good yet we feel awful after indulging in foods that the body clearly rejects.
Oh I have heard this so many times! I was right there with them too eeek. However, there comes a point where you can no longer ignore your body, it comes round when it comes round and that is where I have understood that we must never hold back the information because perhaps this blog will be the blog that gives them the reset marker to consider a trial without the food that is harming them.
“Our physical body actually knows which foods truly nourish it and which foods deplete or burden it” – this is so true Jane, All we have to do is check in with our body after we have eaten and in the time that is to follow and we will feel if the food was truly nurturing or otherwise. Isn’t it strange that we choose to override what our bodies tell us and instead give it that what does not suit over and over again, until finally the body can’t take it anymore?
“What if we were shown that there is a ‘cause and effect’ of food so that we can learn for ourselves how to listen to our body as a marker? And if we were supported and encouraged to experiment for ourselves from a young age – to feel for ourselves the impact of foods that make us sleepy, foods that make us bloat, and foods that feel truly nourishing?” – The information on this is out there, it is easily accessible, many people write about it, talk about it and share – we do know. So what makes us override our knowing time and again?
Wow Jane – what statistics! And this one – ““Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” (4)” Oh my – this speaks volumes of the ill way many people live their lives without discerning or listening what their bodies are telling them over and over and over again, all the way to dying early after having lived most likely a really unfulfilled life … something really really needs to be looked at here to make fundamental changes in our society.
There is so much more to food than just eating it… how it affects our bodies is the final outcome of all the energetics at play in our day to day living. If we are living in a loving and regarding way then the food choices we make in relation to our body, how we shop, prepare, cook and eat our food will also be in a loving and supportive way. “Food is a deeply revealing and important study for us all.” So very, very true Jane
If all your ‘what if’s” came to fruition Jane, and we were educated about the truth of food, that it is for nourishment, and that our bodies tell us all the time what they need in the way of nourishing support, to listen to what our bodies show us… those statistics would look very different.
I totally agree with what you present here Jane… our current food education just doesnt make sense when we have such outrageous statistics. What puzzles me is why society/dieticians haven’t connected the dots – as you have – and said we need to change the way we educate people about food and food choices as clearly the current system is not working.
On reflection, I also find it is funny how we also need to be ‘taught’ that which should be natural to us! Eating and our relationship with foods should be second nature to us after all. Animals in the wild don’t exactly suffer from obesity or diabetes (to my knowledge anyway!). And in developing countries that still have adequate foods, there is certainly not the same incidence of diabetes and obesity as in developed countries. But sadly, it seems we have walked away from our natural ways of being, and so what we really need to be ‘re-educated on’ is our return to our natural ways of being so that we can get the food part ‘right’, and a side product of this will be changes in other areas too, no doubt.
Hello Jane,
I love what you have presented here so simply, and also this part where you have shared the following: ” it never dawned on me to listen more to my body about what it had to say about food and nourishment – and I kept on eating those same foods day in day out, despite the obvious symptoms they were causing.”. I find it very interesting that we do not stop to actually feel and apply what is at our finger tips and available to us if we so choose it. But my understanding is also that it is about energy and the energy that we are in (that we have chosen) that does not allow us to see or consider these things. And ironically certain foods will keep us in that energy and so we do not ‘see’ more clearly with the body as these foods keep us dulled out.
But what you share here Jane is key – if we were raised at home, and educated at school about foods that truly support the body and how to actually develop a respectful and caring relationship with foods, then I am sure that a large percentage of our current levels of obesity and diabetes would be and could be reduced. Where better to start other than our own homes and with ourselves and with our children, setting the example (not with perfection, but at least giving it a go!).
When I consider my relationship with food, how I approach eating it’s clear to see that the “food” is not the actual issue here. So many people, including myself, would blame the food however what if it’s our relationship with food which comes from the quality and care in the way we live? I know that based on how I am living my day it changes the type of food I eat and if I’ve had a day where I have chosen to get stressed or caught up, I crave food that is not good for me. Perhaps we need to get below the food and into the nitty gritty of how we are living and how fulfilled or empty we feel?
I was flying to Melbourne on Friday and the woman next to me ordered salted white chocolate chipped cookies. I had to do a double take and read the packet when she bought them as I could not quite believe that any-one would be eating salt and sugar together. Yes, I had heard correctly…. the food industry is going from bad to worse and many people are not questioning it, in fact indulging in it
For as we begin to question it we very quickly get a sense of the breadth of our irresponsibility.
Food seems to be associated with a certain level of abundance. Having excess food is a sign of wealth in some ways. I know when I had very little money and I had to watch carefully what I spent at the supermarket, I felt rather un-abundant. As things changed I bought nicer food and in larger quantities. Having excess food can be seen as a great thing. But is this correlation between food and perceived wealth true, or even loving? It is not loving to overeat nor does it mean we are abundant.
It is quite something when life starts to be about eating instead of eating simply being an aspect of nurturing us and supporting us living life. The need to eat in order to manage one´s unresolved emotions may be the number one medication for many and would explain the overkill with food products that have none nutritional value and the overeating culture. In many cultures eating equals family, love, socializing, belonging, care…, no wonder that it can be hard to step back from using food for emotional reasons when we have grown up with so many emotions clung to it; to let go of emotional eating can be experienced as emotional starvation.
‘it never dawned on me to listen more to my body about what it had to say about food and nourishment – and I kept on eating those same foods day in day out, despite the obvious symptoms they were causing.’ – Ditto Jane. It seems most people are ‘oblivious’ to the effects of food, no matter how many times we hear that this or that is not good for us, it is like we dismiss the information and act as if it does not regard us. I know I have in the past and most likely would have continued to dismiss it, if it wasn’t for the ground breaking teachings of Universal Medicine and the understanding that these offer.
It is my firm belief that we all know a very great deal more about what food is doing to our bodies than we care to let on to. Which begs the question – where are we at whereby we willingly and knowingly feed ourself such garbage? Humanity needs so much support and love – then we will start to eat in a way that nurtures us.
At school I was taught Latin – a dead language that I can never use to communicate with humanity. What if I had been taught about food – a 24/7 conversation with the most important partner of my life – my body.
I love the way you expressed this Otto – yes, what indeed if we were taught about food and how to read the body’s messages…
I find now even though I have eliminated gluten from my diet over 11 years ago, some foods that I still eat now and the way I eat it dulls my awareness like gluten does.
It’s a constantly refining process isn’t it Rik, we feel we have ‘done’ it and are on top of it and then our body will tell us there is more 🙂 I love the way the body communicates and the heightened awareness is worth all the fine tuning the body is offering us through its reflection in how we feel.
The ‘knock on effect’ is huge around Christmas time and I feel that everyone would have to agree with that. I for one used to eat a huge lunch Christmas day and suffer that evening into the next day.
Great points you raise Jane, nowadays many young people are brought up not knowing how to cook meals from scratch, or how to understand the nutritional elements on a packet of food, many are sold purely on the image on the front of the packaging. It is vital we start to teach youngsters from an early age the importance of nutritious food, and which elements are not so good for us and why too.
It is hard to believe how much food we consume every day. Thank you, Jane, for hitting home the truth of a modern day global crisis, due to our excessive use of food to dull our light and avoid the truth of what we feel.
“Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught?” Because then we would know the truth of who we really are.
That we are vehicles of expression to reflect the light of God, through our bodies on earth.
“And whilst I have felt indigestion, or got tummy ache after eating certain foods, or felt sleepy or bloated when eating gluten or a runny nose when eating dairy for instance, it never dawned on me to listen more to my body about what it had to say about food and nourishment – and I kept on eating those same foods day in day out, despite the obvious symptoms they were causing.” Absolutely Jane, I have observed many people who regularly take medication to treat the symptoms of too much stomach acid such as stomach upset, heartburn, and acid indigestion. Its like we are blinded to the fact that we have a choice, a responsibility to change our food choices and eat to support our well-being.
Is it not ridiculous that these days humans can actually be malnourished and ill, not by not having enough food to eat but by overeating food?! What other species that we know of actually literally over-eats itself to death? This is not to be critical of obese people in any way but a wake up call for all of us to actually ask the right questions what is really going on that we have this situation in epidemic proportions and why? What is driving us to these behaviours which seem to defy all logical or sensible rationale?
Life would be very different if we used food as a source of nourishment and physical support for our bodies rather than a medication to ease the discomfort in our minds.
We eat constantly throughout the day, and on our high streets every other shop is selling some kind of food. I am sure we all eat way too much. I saw a nature program the other day where some big cats were hunting for food. They sometimes went without food for weeks. I’m not suggesting that we should do that, but I know that I don’t need three meals a day with snacks in between and I can image the constant digestion puts a strain on our bodies.
Thank you, Jane. A lot of ‘What if’ questions that will turn the tide on, or simply open up to more honesty about, our relationship with food.
It is really interesting to look a bit deeper into this. I have noticed that people in general do have a knowing about what food is being healthy and less healthy but the interesting thing in this is that they are not really acting as such as there is always a reasoning for not following that knowing, such as this small bit could not be that bad, or I can do this glass of alcohol etc. Education could help and the most important thing that has to be presented is that there is something in us that chooses to not support ourselves in maintaining a healthy body while we know that this is what we should do. To me that is the most important thing to learn and will eventually tackle the issues we all have with food.
Awesome post Jane, very insightful with those stats, and your line here reflective: “the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow” – foundational setting here Jane, and as the saying goes, ‘as you sew so shall ye reap’
All the foods we have easily available in the world now do not necessarily mean they are all normal to be eaten. The eating patterns we have developed are not necessarily normal even though most of us are doing it or they are encouraged through the media. What truly supports us have to be felt—at the moment—and sometimes what is felt may not make sense to the mind, but a trust with ourselves we will know what to do and eat or what not to do and eat.
We are not taught how to nourish out bodies because if we did we would be clear and aware Of the power that lies within. For those in power this would be unacceptable and for those of us who play ‘dumb’ it would mean stepping up to responsibility. We are where we want to be currently.
‘“The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day – 2014.” (1)’
This stat stopped me in my tracks. The gluttony this exposes is huge and very telling of the fact that we are eating way more than the body needs to live a vital and energetic life.
A superbly written article that should be in every magazine around the world to allow people a moment to contemplate their relationship with food in a way they never have before. The statistics are nothing short of alarming and yet they are avoidable should the education you speak of be introduced and embraced.
Jane you have captured the essence in these words what eating is about ”I was never taught that eating is purely to truly nourish the body’
Absolutely Karoline – There is such Love in approaching food in the knowing that we are supporting ourselves and choosing to nourish our body rather than eating to check out, numb, hide, tantalise, distract and comfort ourselves to name a few frequently accepted and adopted reasons to eat.
Yes so true, I have not been taught that either, and I guess no one really has been taught this very simple fact. And hardly anyone is being taught this these days either. A lot of education still to be presented and embraced which will go a long way to improve societies’ ill health …
“Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught?”, because food is our unspoken about drug of choice. Who wants to fez up to being an addict? We have created a whole life around our drug of choice, to pull the plug would mean over hauling every aspect of the way that we live and we are not prepared to do that. Yet.
Very true Alexis. How many addicts want to listen let alone heed the advice that their drug of choice is causing detriment, ill-health and harm?
It would mean to have a real look at how their lives is being lived and connecting with the pain within, as well as letting go of that which offers a perceived ‘comfort’ …
It seems glaringly obvious that we should already be talking about all that you’ve suggested Jane. The longer we don’t address these matters, the longer we live in a denial bubble about what is really going on with the biggest load of irresponsibility ever. The media love to shock us with their statistics and the devastation of the health of the world, but they rarely offer any points of difference in terms of how we might be able to turn this all around.
So, one article at a time…let’s spread the word.
It is time to expand openly and deeply the use of food across the planet by human beings. We credit ourselves with being intelligent and able to think for ourselves. Now it’s time we use our intelligence to feel for ourselves what is true, and we need go no further than our own bodies for the truth of what is really called for when it comes to making our next food choice.
I love the ‘What if’ questions you raise here Jane. In a society where there are so many issues around food, isn’t it time we started looking at it from a different perspective? I have just recently started to feel how eating any amount of sugar in my day keeps me awake at night. How, if I have dairy or even soya replacements I struggle to breathe and my throat swells up. Before playing with foods and connecting to my body on a truly deeper level, i would never have connected the dots. Food pays an enormous contribution towards how our bodies feel in our daily lives!
Great point you are raising here Jane, how we completely ignore the fact how food influences our feelings, our thoughts, our well-being and our bodies and whilst the facts are obvious we pretend they do not exist or do not really effect us or that we can get away with it, whilst the statistics clearly show that we are not.
It is no surprise we have a new form of malnourishment taking hold – no longer is it related to starvation or lack of food, but now seen in a lack of nutritional food, despite the vast quantity of food being eaten. And it is true – we can eat and eat and eat, but in today’s society with the different varieties of food on offer, how much of it is actually what our bodies need and can process into required nutrients, and how much of it is so processed and packed with sugar, salt, preservatives and chemicals that it contains nothing of value for the body.
We are not taught how to eat or cook or approach food to nourish ourselves – usually it is simply taught as a basic function required to live, a possible attempt to teach healthy eating, but in the end how something tastes is the end game – but add enough sugar, salt, preservatives and chemicals to a piece of cardboard, and it would taste good enough to be eaten, and yet not contain a single ounce of nutritional value. Is it possible this is where we are as a society with food? Our seeking of taste is driving us to more and more extremes, so that the simplicity of natural food no longer appeals or even has a taste, and yet really what we are doing is eating valueless but simulating meals.
My wonderful late mother loved cooking and was extremely good at it but because she suffered intense hunger during the great famine in Russia she hated to see any food wasted so she always made us finish every morsel of food on our plates and I still, to this day, find it difficult to stop eating when I feel i have had sufficient (even though I eat much less now) because I feel guilty about wasting good food.
The consequence of overeating or eating foods that don’t agree with us is not unknown, however our tolerance to the effects of this is building and some people nowadays will ignore feelings of sickness, diarrhoea, cramps or other symptoms to ‘eat their chocolate’ so to speak. The consideration of continuing with a behaviour that makes us feel even slightly unwell is a marker that we have much to look at in terms of our relationship with food, and what you’ve shared highlights that the word ‘nurturing’ is absent from a very high proportion of our recipe books.
So many people comment to me on my diet as if I am robbing myself of some amazing pleasure. How is stomach cramp, sickness, diarrhoea or even just a lethargic body a pleasure? It’s not will power that enables me to eat the way I eat, it a simple desire to feel as well as possible. Which is not to say that I don’t still make plenty of bad choices with food – I do – I am always learning!
When I read this I was reminded of all the engine oil commercials on TV. Amazingly photographed imagery of oil gliding over and through perfectly crafted engineering working in symbiosis and rhythm with other parts of the engine. Intense voice overs describing how vital it is that we feed our engines with the very best quality oil that will then not only take care of but also clean our engines – and increase performance and output. These are our cars. Easily repairable, easily replaceable and machines we spend perhaps one hour a day in. And yet look at what we gladly put in our bodies.
It’s a good point about food education. We are not informed fully about how to approach food. I also suffered a runny nose as well as a foggy head after eating dairy as a child. I was always dopey and suffered endless colds. I detested the milk we had to drink at school, yet no-one picked up on this or suggested that it was actually bad for me because my body was telling me so. Years later as an adult when I gave up dairy I looked back and realised all the symptoms I had created from eating/drinking it as a child. It’s actually so obvious but we are not taught to look at food in this way. In the end it was me who educated myself by listening to what my body had been telling me for years.
In my experience there is a lot of teaching about food out there and a proportion is very sensible. What such teachers seem to have difficulties with is having their recommendations adopted to such a degree that population health improves. That seems to be the tough nut to crack.
“Only when we understand and build a true relationship with food will the statistics on obesity and diabetes, and on related issues such as food waste, be different” this is very true but it’s important to also understand that without first building a true relationship with ourselves, then it’s not possible to build a true relationship with any-thing or indeed any-one else.
Yes, Jane, if we were to use the body as a daily marker of our wellbeing, we could not ignore the burden of excess weight or even any build up of tension from the day.
Obesity is the visual equivalent of a silent scream.
Wow that is a powerful expression, I had seen it as an expression of extreme fear and protection, but the ‘silent scream’ really puts an even stronger marker on it …
We have much to truly learn about food and nourishment as you have shown here and just by observing what is going on in the world with regards to food it can clearly be felt and seen, especially with the increase in obesity. Reading your blog what came to me was we need to bring it back to self-love and self-care, for if we do this first the rest will follow naturally .. eating what truly supports our body. This has been highlighted to me in the last few weeks as when I drop my self-love and self-care everything else drops including making myself nourishing meals. Having self-love and self-care provides a beautiful foundation for everything … our relationships, our diet, living our full potential to name a few.
We daren’t stop eating, lest we start to come out of the self induced comatose state that we have put ourselves into.
This is spot on. I have seen the ‘fear’ in people’s eyes when I have chatted to them about food and the possibility of eating less or not so much of a certain type of food.
Yes so true, I had a chat just last night with a friend, who said how afraid she was of losing her social network if she was to stop drinking alcohol, even though she didn’t like how it made her feel. Peer pressure is enormous in our society…
In my line of work I see many young people having cakes, sweets and fizzy drinks for breakfast. Another thing I notice is how many commuters have a coffee or energy drink with them on the trains and buses in the morning. I too used to be very addicted to sugar and would have cakes for lunch when I was a teenager at school. Sugar is very addictive and it would be great to learn about the science of how it and other foods affect the body and also what truly nourishes us.
When we are taught about food at school it is by far from a joyful experimental and playful approach, I remember my F&N (food and nutrition) lessons were dull and boring. We followed recipes from a sheet on some of the least nutritious dishes you could think of and there was not one mention on how the foods felt when we ate them. I seem to remember doing profiteroles one week and certainly quiches, looking back now it is absolutely farcical that this was an education in nutrition – more like the exact opposite.
We all know when we have overeaten, rushed eating our food or when we have felt hungry and ignored the hunger pains but do we listen to not to do the exact same thing over again? I too never questioned these behaviours before I came across Universal Medicine but if I want to to look after and take care of my body it makes sense to me at the very least to eat foods that support my body and when I choose not to, to seriously ask myself what is going on within me to choose otherwise.
Jane, great article. At schools it seems common for children to have a sugary pudding every day with their school lunch, this is often chocolate cake, a brownie or some other sugary pudding, it feels like schools are actually introducing the idea of having something sweet after a meal, this idea may have been there before for some children, but for my son and other children we didn’t have puddings – it always felt unnecessary, but since being at school my son now has the idea that it is normal to have a pudding with every meal as this is what he sees at school. This doesn’t feel supportive for kids and is something that needs to be looked at.
The only stop button for the kids at school yesterday during their Christmas party was when all the chocolate, cake and biscuits had been eaten…and there was mountains of it….I am wondering if they would have kept going if there was more and if they had been allowed? There was a race and a panic incase someone would get the biscuit, cake or chocolate that they wanted and this was already on top of the chocolate, crisps, cake and pizza that they had at lunch. Interestingly, it was only when the chocolate and cake had been finished that the children went for the oranges and carrot sticks.
Food appears to be an obsession used to fill up a void within us that can start from a very early age throughout life if not addressed at the root cause. As a child there were certain foods that I did not want to eat, but adults around me insisted had to be eaten because they were ‘good for me’ – a belief that was handed down through generations and always
well-intended to keep everyone healthy. Having removed some of these foods from my diet years of symptoms ( e.g. dairy and long term severe congestion in nasal passages) simply disappeared!
Our body has a profound wisdom and knows exactly what is harmonious for it. The greatest gift would be to encourage children to listen to their body rather than override the signals it constantly offers. I have no doubt that this would prevent many illnesses and diseases occurring in later life.
“And if we were supported and encouraged to experiment for ourselves from a young age – to feel for ourselves the impact of foods that make us sleepy, foods that make us bloat, and foods that feel truly nourishing?”
We are not taught the truth about food, because the agenda of the food industry and government is entrenched in profit and gain ,not health and well-being of human beings. If this information became mainstream, it would be known that majority of food produced, if not toxic to the body, is empty of any nutritional content and the food industry as we know it would collapse. At the heart of the problem is the manipulation and control multi-national global food manufacturing giants wield over our lives, and governments even if they wished to, largely impotent to do anything about it.
Great blog Jane, we look at food currently from a very one dimensional way, not from the perspective you are nominating around when we buy food, how we prepare it, how we eat it, all of this contributes to how we are with ourselves and others.
‘The most important thing in life is education’ a quote from a parent interviewed on TV. The education she refers to is formal, academic as thought in schools and colleges. True education encompasses all aspects of life, not just academic. Unlike ancient wisdom schools that taught how to be in life, modern western society has reduced education to how to pass exams and write essays, the person is almost completely ignored.
There seems to be some part of us that thinks that more food equals more goodness. We pile it into our mouths yet our bodies show that this idea is not real – but has serious side effects as these statistics show Jane. But if that is clear and child’s play why is it we continue to eat this way? Isn’t there another side to food apart from simple nutrition? Don’t we relate to the comforting sensation of having that yummy treat? Isn’t there an emotional quality to why and when and how we eat? If you agree, what if this emotional part is what we truly need to address, diet and cut out?
It very much feels like the food I choose to eat is directly affected by the ‘energy’ I am choosing at the time, to be with me or with something else.
Nailed it here Alision – “…the food I choose to eat is directly affected by the ‘energy’ I am choosing at the time, …” To ponder on this will offer great insights into our choices and reasons for those choices.
Our relationship with food is a reflection of our relationship with our selves. When I am not appreciating myself, I am naturally drawn to all the foods that I know I shouldn’t eat, but I suddenly crave them, it’s abusive. The more I choose to love and nurture myself, I choose foods that are supportive, that I can feel my body asking for, it’s easy, not a hard choice to make.
Wow, this really shows how much we use food as a distraction from so many things, even not eating food is a huge distraction especially when that is all you think about. Imagine eating with purpose, what does my body need to eat right now or what nourishment does my body need. Growing up, and now having my own children and hearing other children, food is a constant question in every day – what’s for lunch what’s for dinner?! Much of when we eat is for a treat, reward or something to do.
I have been aware of foods for a long time, there have been so many diet books telling us this or that food is good for us, but never, until eleven years ago, did I fully understand what it meant to listen to my body and let IT dictate what to eat. What I find now, after years of failed yo yo dieting and ‘healthy’ eating, is that the more I refine what I eat, the more foods naturally drop off my wish list. Even sugar, once I could see for myself how incredibly addictive it is, is no longer something that draws me in. I ate because I was miserable, I ate because I was exhausted, but never did I eat to truly nourish my body. Even now I notice that the clock guides when I eat, e.g. breakfast, lunch or supper time, so the next challenge, is to feel how truly hungry I am, how much to eat and when to eat. If we were taught to listen to our bodies right from the start, life could be much simpler!
Eat to live, don’t eat to live. This Wisdom was already shared with us a very long time ago! Yet, when there are people who live by this adagium, they’re usually looked at with surprise if not called ridiculous. What I’ve learnt over the years is that if I’m caring for myself during the day, that the foods I choose come with the same quality. The food that I choose to eat is usually confirming of where I’m at. Which has even developed to a way that if I feel f.a. tired after a day, that I actually choose to prepare a lovely dinner because I know (KNOW!) that this will actually lift me up. Being with food is such a lovely gift to give ourselves. From a loving perspective, not from rules. There’s no wrong and right foods, only foods that support us to be ourselves of not.
Having indulged in food and drink for many years, I still would have described myself as being a healthy eater, now having refined my eating ways, I realise what a drag on my body having to deal with all the overloads of gluten, dairy and sugar, which resulted in consequences that I didn’t relate back to the food I was eating. Bloating, a bit overweight, exhaustion, brain fog and possibly many more varied symptoms, it’s only now through observing my body’s reactions that I am able to fully appreciate the impact food and drink have. This awareness was offered by Serge Benhayon, bringing attention to this feedback, which then had me experiment and observe and adjust accordingly. Now I don’t describe myself as a healthy eater, but eating to support a vital body.
From young on we experience the use of food for emotional reasons, as a substitute for emotional care, understanding and expression – no wonder that our relationship with food is unhealthy as our undealt with emotions are unhealthy if not poisonous.
Poison feeding poison
Very true, and it starts with the ‘dummy’ … (Schnuller in German); and then it might lead to a cigarette in adult life and foods to put in when we feel something we are uncomfortable with …
Education on its own is not enough – not even true education. And this is proven by the fact that despite the fact that we have never been more educated, this has done nothing to stop the plight of our overall physical or mental health, and neither has it stopped bigotry, supremacy, racism, or many of the other blights upon humanity. Yes, education can create tolerance, and can create a change in behaviour, but in many ways this just creates the illusion that there is change when in truth there is none. And it is for this reason why the world did not foresee the rise of someone like Donald Trump. We allowed ourselves to think that our education would save us from such bigotry. Obviously that is not the case.
And it is for this same reason why no amount of education will change people’s diet in the long term. Sure, they may eat cleaner as a result, but that equally changes nothing. I have seen many people with a clean diet who still struggle with their vitality and well being, even though their lives are better.
And so it is not so much education we need to foster, but awareness, and a culture where we are encouraged to become more reflective, where we are encouraged to rely less on extrinsic forces for the answers to our predicaments, and more reliant upon our own inner ponderings.
I agree Adam. Education is no substitute for what we already know ourselves – but we do have to chose to connect to that wisdom
Eating to feel light and to nurture and nourish our light asks to consider our relationship with food from the perspective of what I eat affects everything.
Always to come back to – ‘ …what I eat affects everything.” – Just like everything I do affects everything and so on. With this knowing our level of responsibility now rises and our awareness of this will serve not just our selves but all.
Understanding our true relationships with food and the effects and addictive nature of certain foods is a real must for us all and something to be taught, learnt and fully dealt with. This can be the only way to sort out our obesity and diabetes levels and prevalent food and eating disorders, let alone the massive waste and starvation issues in the world also. Nurturing and true sustenance and love for our bodies is the only way , a great sharing Jane and topic to open up.
I was brought up, like many others, being told that the amount of food I eat will influence my weight. Where as to a certain extent this is true, there are many other factors to take into consideration. What I have come to experience over the last ten years is that it is not so much about what I eat but rather whether I need the weight because I think it is protecting me or I am overweight because I absorb others emotions or I am underweight as I am not filling myself up with love and appreciation. There is a lot more to weight fluctuation then what the average societal attitudes are.
Lately my spirit has been really trying to get me to eat all of the junk food that has been in our staff room because of a colleagues birthday or a families gift of chocolates. Sometimes the urge is quite strong, especially when someone has brought a Gluten free/dairy free option. The feeling of starving my spirit, literally though, and claiming me in that moment, is really very empowering.
It is interesting how we see things and analyse things but somewhat are not able to put two and two together, in other words, are not willing to see the simplicity that life offers us.
It is a very pertinent question to ask; why do we eat things that are not good for us when no species of the animal kingdom do this? How we feel after eating is pretty obvious because our bodies are the ‘perfect barometers’ and let us know in certain terms if a food does not agree with us, or we ate too much. What is it about us that is blatantly ignoring such obvious signs? Dare we admit we have deep psychological issues and use food to dull what we don’t want to feel?
Our body is a barometer and is effected by what we eat. It revels so much from how our food effects it but more often than not we override or ignore the signals.
You are really onto it Jane, the education we have about food and nutrition is not all bad but the statistics show there is a lot of room for improvement.
I can’t get past the statistics you present, the fact that so much waste happens, so many are obese and then so many are starving! Our world is totally out of whack! If any other species was this out of harmony with the environment it would be extinct.
This would make a brilliant slogan: “the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow” and it is true. Over time I have become aware of the fact that certain foods not only affect my physical body but also my emotions and how I am feeling.
Indeed, Jane, the common sense and order in the natural world painfully exposes how dominated we are by our willful spirit, that arrogantly thinks it is invincible even when the body can no longer function properly.
“Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” (4) – It appears, from these statistics that a large proportion of the world population is literally eating itself to death, and an equal proportion are starving. Doesn’t make sense does it. And if the statistics are correct about the amount of wastage there is, then no one ever need go hungry. My feeling is there is too much convenience/fast and processed food, full of artificial ingredients, salt and sugar, and despite all the press about healthy eating many are ignoring it, and instead choosing to dull down their awareness thinking we can get away with it until a health related issue or obesity hits us, and then we choose to blame the ‘system’ and not take responsibility for our own eating habits.
It is crazy how addicted we can get to certain foods such as sugar, cheese, creamy or crispy things, the list goes on… What is interesting is that the things we feel addicted to are usually the things that offer no true nourishment at all.
It’s alarming that there is so much food wasted, when there are so many missing out. Often I have wondered why such huge problems exist in the world, and slowly slowly by observing one step at a time I can see that it is the total way we live that impacts everyone around us.
I too had never heard about food being to purely nourish the body until I came across the presentations of Universal Medicine. What you mean it isn’t for pleasure? Yes I knew about proteins, carbs, vitamins, etc but more so it seemed the human race was more interested in getting pleasure from food – to celebrate, to reward, to excite the taste buds and to indulge. I did all of this, and still do at times but my body lets me know very clearly. The saying ‘food is medicine’ is so very true and it is either good medicine or bad medicine (poison).
It makes perfect sense that we have a very dis-functional relationship with food when we are not understanding the true purpose of why we eat food, which is to nourish our bodies. With this understanding our relationship with food changes, particularly when we allow ourselves to feel into what our body needs, as opposed to over-riding this for what our mind tells us it wants, irrespective of the effect it will have on our body. Our mind doesn’t care about our body, it just wants instant gratification, which, as we are now experiencing, can have dire consequences for our health.
There is so much around us on the topic of food – new fashions in eating; clean eating, raw foods, vegan, all in vogue at the minute and being lapped up and enjoyed by the millions! Yet with the very ingredients that go into this multi million dollar business of selling food and lifestyle, needs to be a true understanding of how the body reacts to and copes with the ingredients we feed it in the name of health, fashion or lifestyle. This blog goes a long way in sharing the truth about our current – and possible future, relationship with food.
What a brilliant article which raises such important questions, thank you Jane for starting this much needed conversation and at a time of year when over indulgence is as it’s peak. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask why are so many of us buying foods which we perceive as ‘treats’ despite the fact that we know they are not ‘good’ for us. They don’t nourish our bodies and, in truth, we often feel bad or guilty after eating them, because we know they are not actually supporting our bodies in any way, but we still crave them.
There is much to feel into regarding what supports our body food wise and relearning when we really need to eat and what.
Why oh why are articles like this not in our daily news and at the top of our agenda as we can’t carry on the way we are going. I am in New Zealand at the moment and you can buy eight and half loaves of white bread for the price of a gluten and dairy free seeded loaf and all healthier options cost so much more than the cheaper less healthy options. We need to break down a lot of our ideals,beliefs and traditions surrounding food and start to really feel what is good for us on an individual basis, if we are to get on top of this huge problem we have at the moment.
I was watching a documentary recently about animals and was fascinated by their hunting regime and eating habits – one big meal can be enough to last a lion or leopard (who are very large and do plenty of exercise!) several weeks… This is so different to how we eat, with multiple meals per day and snacking, and does pose something interesting to talk about and discuss – are we yet to find a way to eat that really supports us?
Great article Jane, this really stands out for me, ‘Food and True Nourishment – Why is it not Taught?’ This is a great question and it would seem obvious that this needs to be something taught by parents, in schools etc.. and yet it is not commonly taught, sugary puddings are given to children to children at school, sweets are given to children by adults – theses are harmful for our health and are yet a completely accepted part of life. With the rise in illness and disease our lifestyle patterns and eating habits and what we have deemed as acceptable need to be looked at and re-examined.
To see just one picture of an obese person is truly shocking and yet we are still not having the conversations needed to address it. How have we allowed ourselves to get to a place where there are many thousands of obese people globally?. Seeing over weight people is becoming a normality, an acceptance as the numbers rise but there is nothing normal about carrying around excessive weight. Could you imagine seeing an overweight leopard in the wild? We need to get honest with the impact of certain foods and rebuild the connection we have lost with our bodies which is the most accurate barometer that tells us what we can and cannot eat.
It is an interesting world we live in, where try to change things that don’t need fixing… and after it is no longer, anything like the original we accept it normal? Home cooked meals that are what our body needs… too processed fast-food as an example!
It’s amazing how our whole life actually revolve around food, I wonder what our days would look like if you took food out, what would life not controlled by food feel like?
‘The way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.’ This sentence is huge, imagine if all children were taught this from a young age and in schools our awareness around what we consume would completely shift.
Thank you for opening up the conversation – Food is a huge subject and one that we are loathing to address let alone bring honesty to. These statistics clearly reflect the ill-choices we are making as a whole and the inevitable harm of such choices.
“Animals in the wild eat only what is needed, yet we as humans – who claim to be the most intelligent species – eat so many foods that aren’t good for us . . . ” Wow Jane I love this statement as it said it all. We are really not intelligent at all as also your great questions at the end of your exposing blog showed otherwise they won’t be needed. It is really time to change – thank you Jane for not holding back and exposing this very needed topic
Perhaps we can turn this ill trend around if we truly start to pay attention to the intelligence of our bodies rather than that of the mind. Our body is constantly telling us what is good for us and more importantly, what is not.
Considering that diabetes, obesity and ill health generally is on the rise starting the conversation, as you say Jane, is very needed. It seems obvious in the cold light of day that food is needed to nourish the body and yet when we look at it this is far from how we use food on a daily basis. Our attitude to food is definitely one of seeking comfort and indulgence that does not truly support the body.
There is much to be re-connected to in order to change the unhealthy lifestyle choices we are making. The wonderful thing is that reflection is an amazing and powerful teacher and we are all able to bring this to those we love.
“I was also never taught that the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.” this is such an important thing to be taught and for most of us are just learning, only due to not wanting to know as the evidence is all in the body, we just choose to ignore the information being shared!
Wow Jane that is a lot of food that we consume world-wide every day, yet there are also people who die of starvation in certain parts of the world every day. To me, this shows that the way we consume food is a reflection of our imbalance and disharmony in life. Things are simply not adding up or making any sense when we read about these facts and statistics. Thank you Jane, what you’ve shared, brings more awareness to us with regards to our relationship with food, this may also inspires us to ponder on our choices and actions. And, perhaps inspires more and more people to consider how we can contribution to humanity and to restore harmony, so that one day not one single child/person will experience hunger and starvation again. I feel this is certainly possible.
We are at a stage where there are diet guidelines for a healthy diet on the one hand and very strong pressure from food companies to maximise their returns, making foods much harder to resist while using cheaper ingredients. Looking at the obesity epidemic there currently seems to be a clear winner.
“Why then is so much food wasted? And why are we already in an overweight and obesity crisis worldwide?” thats a great point, we can easily see the state of the world so what is it about life that means we ignore the unignorable. When I think about it and food I notice that if I am super hungry and anxious when I go shopping i buy far too much and if often goes to waste, when I walk around and buy what feels ready to support my body for the night, days ahead or week I rarely have waste – therefore perhaps it also includes the way we buy food and the quality we do that in.
The type of education most of us have from our families is that food = love, reward, a treat, comfort etc. This leaves us with a pattern of reaching for the fridge or cupboard at the first hint of tension or discomfort in life. I often wonder why we are so willing to say we need comfort food, but unwilling to look at why we need comforting.
We seem to have way more interest in food these days, with a plethora of TV shows, books and celebrity chefs emerging in the last decade. But there has not been a growth in our use of food as nourishment for our bodies and the obesity statistics show this. Rather it is all about tantalizing taste buds and filling up emptiness in our lives with something delicious. Even those chefs, who market themselves as presenting healthy food, seem to lavish their food with salt, vinegar, dairy and gluten. The only way I have found to eat well for my health is to ask my body and observe the consequences of various foods I eat.
This is a great, simple, and practical blog Jane. The subject of the true use of food would need to be imparted by someone who was already living in some kind of true relationship with food. In general we have no idea the extent to which we are living under the bonds of our desire in relationship with food – desire to numb, desire for a ‘high’, desire to fill the emptiness, desire to be an expert gourmet and follow fashion, desire to bury, desire to comfort ourselves . . . and the list goes on. Only by re-assessing our relationship with ourselves, with God, with others and our evolutionary purpose on the this planet will we be able to settle into a true relationship with food – one I certainly have not yet mastered.
“The Body is the marker of All truth.” I have no doubt about this, I have witnessed, my body and many peoples body change in some many ways through being willing to listen to wisdom it shares….be it though sickness, obesity, trouble breathing, aches, pains, headaches…all are messages and our digestive system tells us so much about the way we are going, if we are willing to offer it some attention. This is not navel gazing this is true care and responsibility for our own well being.
Well well asked and questioned Jane, the truth of what we are truly to explore of our food and the relationship between our bodies.. It”s not just something (food) what we consume, digest and poo out – the consumption is everything and not only what but also when, how and why? Those statistics we can look whole differently at – not from a point of powerlessness but responsibility for how we are all living. Great start Jane!
Absolutely Jane, in the last 50 years in the UK our national creativity with food and cooking skills have increased and improved immeasurably, but has our understanding of, and relationship with food come to the point where we view eating to be purely to truly nourish the body? It won’t be until this point that we start to make different choices around food and begin to see a shift in those statistics.
Our relationship with food should be like our relationship with everything else. One that is not complacent, that is adapted and forever evolving.
Christmas is a time when we are bombarded with enticing packaging and advertising to over-indulge in food, and choose foods that are richer and heavier than usual. Yesterday my workplace provided a celebratory morning tea, and all I see was a beautifully presented table laden with sugar in its many guises – nothing savory in sight. The people are lovely, and they had personally created the ‘delights’ to share with each other, but why is that we now equate appreciation with super sweet and rich foods that do not serve this love between us nor the bodies that must support us. Is it not time that we reconsidered how we celebrate?
What you’re asking here, Jane, is for people to have a greater awareness of what they are eating, but moreover what and how they feel about food. Once that conversation with oneself begins, changes are possible. And I agree with your point about teaching people about food and their bodies from a young age.
This is a great piece of writing by Jane. What I find interesting in many of the conversations that I have about food with friends and family, is how very aware we all tend to be about how certain foods do actually make us feel, but in most cases we are not willing to let that food go – mainly because of the comforting effects they can give. Which is interesting because this shows me the intelligence that is running our human bodies, which seeks to justify itself time and time again, but does not seem to have the well-being of the body as its main priority. Interesting because with all of our civilised education and healthcare systems, we do appear to be a very bright and intelligent species, but when it comes to food there are some big questions that have still yet to be answered.
Nourishment comes not only from what we eat – but very specifically listening to the body. What is supportive one day, may be different the next based on what our body is asking for.
I grew up thinking I was quite healthy but it was not until I did 2 years of Nutritional study as part of my diploma in Herbal Medicine did I realise that I really had to make some changes and realised that I had a lot to learn. It is amazing that we have these amazing bodies yet don’t learn and appreciate how they work until much older if at all.
Our education system is indeed sadly lacking as it does not equip us for living life with quality. Some of the most basic aspects of living are left for us to muddle through as best we can and we usually cope by just copying what our parents did or what our peer group does. We are not taught to discriminate between ticking a box and doing something with the quality of love and presence. Food has become something we ingest for functional satisfaction, we indulge in the taste or use it to dampen our feelings, and so much of the food we eat is eaten so we feel comfortably full and can settle back into our comfortable life without feeling what is really going on. How great it would be to educate people about the value of food as nourishment and encourage people to listen to what their body needs rather than what they think they want.
The statistics you share about food and in particular the amount we waste are quite staggering. The relationship we have with food is not just about nourishing the body. We use it for so many different reasons. It would be great to be educated on the topic from an early age.
What you discuss is a major part of food education that is missing in daily life. If what you discussed was lived, thought and nurtured from young we would have a very different society. There are big issues around food and people, are we willing to dig deeper and find the core of why???
Jane, these staggering statistics are certainly a wakeup call for us all. It’s great to come face to face with the facts because conditions like obesity seem to creep up on us and though you might notice that the world is becoming more full of tubby people, you don’t realise the full impact of this until you look at the global statistics. I enjoy how you present us with the facts and then go deeper to examine why.
And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing. How amazing would that be Jane, instead of us constantly trying to get away from our bodies and what it is trying to tell us all of the time. There are lots of things out there to improve and strengthen your body, but none of them are done with any real focus on truly loving the body and considering how we move it within all of those things.
I have been observing how my body shows me towards the end of the meal when to stop eating. If I listen I feel full but light, if I override and eat a little more I can feel how I am left feeling full and heavy. I love feeling light after dinner which makes the choice so much clearer.
This is a very valid and interesting statement Vicky, and one that I can relate to as there have been many times when I have continued eating despite the fact that I feel full, and then am left feeling tired and heavy. I realise that this is in disregard of what my body is telling me, and due to my not wanting to feel something, so the answer is…. to stop using willpower (which never works long term) and address the issues that are behind me wanting to eat too much in the first place! This realisation is a huge one, and one that will support my body in nourishing it with what it truly needs and not what I think it needs!
Food is a basic ingredient of life – we need food to sustain our bodies so that we can function in our relationships, our work and daily life in general. Unfortunately food has also become the object used to satisfy greed, both of food itself and also in profits – companies are finding more and more exciting ways to make us crave their particular food, and sugar additives is one of them. There is a great deal of corruption in the food industry that we are all aware of but choose to ignore. That deliberate ignorance is now costing us our health, our limbs and our lives.
That’s a great point Carmel – we all know the food industry is corrupt but choose to ignore it.
When I was younger, the main issue was poverty. Every where you heard poverty, poverty, poverty! At that time the world had more undernourished and starving than obese. Now, in less than 30 years, the tides have turned and we have more obese than undernourished/underfed. This is huge and makes me wonder how long our planet can support the excess.
These are hard hitting facts and ones we don’t truly consider often enough. I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say I have used food as my irresponsible indulgence and a way to have something I own and control – when really this simply damages my body and puts more stress on it. The way in which we eat can be seen as an illness in itself – because we are choosing to go against the natural order of things which is listening to our bodies.
Yes exactly, HM. Even overeating is a precursor of illness and disease, because we are consciously and needlessly choosing to put excessive strain on the delicate systems of the body.
Between the push for profits in business, the increase in knowledgement requirements and KPI’s in our education systems, the global economic uncertainty, the current wars, the potential wars we all feel brewing, our loved ones and ourselves incurring more illness and disease than ever before, etc. etc. It is no wonder we are struggling through life, life has become ‘intense’ for most. In this intensity it can be hard to fathom the profound impact simple choices can have on our ability to ‘observe’ the intensity of life without becoming part of it.
Yes, Jane, if the law of cause and effect was simply taught from young, in relation to food and life in general, we would grow up naturally aware of our choices and what impact they have on our bodies and the world around us.
If this is understood ‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow’ it would make us responsible for our own wellbeing which overall is not what we live now. Reading the statistics I was already shocked by the first one ‘ “The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day – 2014.” (1)’ And knowing that food is never standing on its own, I ask what do we try to fill with these enormous amounts of food because for me it is very obvious our relationship with food has everything to do with the relationship we have with ourselves, our body. So yes lets start to talk about our relationship with food and educate our children.
I know I used to love salt on every dish, sprinkling it on before even tasting the food – I once added salt to my bacon! And it got to a point where for me, a dish cooked without salt had no flavour and I didn’t enjoy it, but I could see that the amount of salt I was chowing down on could not be healthy, so I very slowly reduced it, and ended up not using it at all, not by cutting it out altogether but simply no longer reaching for it, as my taste buds began to recover from the taste sensation overload and pick up and enjoy the natural flavours in food which often already contain sugar and salt within them.
I worked with someone years ago, that is no longer here, that would for lunch have just a bowl of chips and a diet soda. I would watch in amazement as he would; salt and vinegar his chips. I would count, just out of disbelief at his ritual. The norm was to repeat the process up to 7 times. In the end, it looked like brine vinegar potato soup. His reflection is what put me off the salt, as you did Rebecca, I had an everything needed a little bit of salt, to can’t remember the last time I salted anything! In the past when I ate potato chips, I found a brand that came with the salt in a small bag so you could add as much as you wanted, which are still the only ones you can have with No salt added!
I totally relate to that. When I was taught to cook by my parents I learned that ‘a little bit of salt brings out the flavour of a dish’. I experienced this so as well, but I experienced also that I had to add more and more salt to get the same result! I have slowly reduced my salt intake, now using no salt at all and, I find it still amazing, my food taste better than ever.
This is an aspect of body awareness that is not often addressed and certainly not to the depth you are talking Jane. Most courses on nutrition or food related subjects, on health and well being etc tell us what to do and what not to do, rarely do they have us experiment for ourselves to discover how different foods are affecting us. Of course it takes honesty and a certain sensitivity and awareness and a commitment but these are attributes that we all have – and why do we not, as you suggest, start this ‘education’ when children are still at school and inquisitive about how things work. Let’s start looking at the miraculous workings of our own bodies.
Thank you Jane for raising this topic , as I feel it is one that is so worth more attention than it gets. Lip service is paid to this subject and our need to be much more aware and self loving than we are about what we put into our precious bodies. I know I still override the warnings from my body at times, much more than I ought. Why is this the case when we have so much more knowledge than we did in the past, is it laziness or that we are not prepared to put in the effort and research for ourselves the answers?!
Absolutely Jane our dysfunctional relationship with food is what has led to the shocking statistics that you quote. Understanding what truly nourishes us is key to turning around our relationship with food and then we must be willing to take responsibility for what we put into our mouths. For me choosing to observe the impact of certain foods without going into judgement of why I have, yet again, dulled my body and mind by over-eating something I know does not agree with me has allowed me to see a pattern and the opportunity to make different choices.
Whoa – these statistics you share Jane on food consumption and food waste are shocking, but the statistics on Diabetes are indicative of a very necessary call for a change in our way of living.
“Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.” (4)
Incredible to see the statistics on how much food is wasted every year. This food could easily be redistributed to those who do not have enough food to eat in the world, if we truly worked together as one human family. It just goes to show how insular and separate we have become inside our countries and borders.
“the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.” Excellent Jane this is the big part we dont want to take responsibility for as this would mean questioning our need and emotions at the time of eating. This quote is also relevant to every aspect in our lives not just in our relationship with food.
I totally agree with your suggestion Jane that perhaps our relationship with food would change if from an early age we were taught that every food available isn’t going to support us, so it’s important to distinguish and decide which foods DO agree with us, how much of them and then put that into practice.
A brilliant blog Jane…”What if we were raised to understand the truth about food, around what is needed, the addictive nature of certain foods (e.g. sugar), right down to our relationship with food; the process of eating, from the way we shop, to preparing food, to the way we eat it, why we eat it…” We genuinely are not raised with the awareness that food is to nourish the body rather than as a way of indulging to bury our emotions and seek comfort. If we were able to change this consciousness around food perhaps we would not see the obesity we see today?
Schools in France have an hour of lunch. Menus are planned for a whole month by chefs. All meals are healthy, nutritionally balanced and freshly cooked. There are no vending machines, and water or milk is the only drink. Has Western society turned modern education into an assembly line to produce a product fast and cheaply? What is the quality of the fuel that is being put into the products the schools are turning out?
If we really took on board the fact that the real effect of the majority of substances we consume are killing us, our food industry will have to make massive shifts in its culture and products. When I go shopping at the supermarket for instance, I only purchase items from a few of the many aisles of so-called food products. I can see why so much misinformation exists out there, its propping up a very false industry, one that we are collectively regarding as more important than our health.
Although the long-term answer is to teach from an early age the true purpose of food, it is never too late to learn and to live practicing that understanding. The results and changes that occur are truly awesome.
Jane, this is so true, ‘We also talk about food a lot in our daily lives, in our homes, and in our workplaces.’ I can feel how life can be based around eating, we talk about food; think about food, a lot of our time is spent on cooking, buying or eating it, It feels like we are not eating to simply nourish ourselves but that we are eating for enjoyment; to feel full; to avoid feeling; to numb ourselves or because things taste nice.
“What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?” A great question Jane. We can choose food to nurture and enable our awareness or conversely use it to dull us. is it so surprising then that we have an obesity and diabetes epidemic? What dont we want to feel?
We eat for so many reasons other than to nurture ourselves. We eat to comfort ourselves, give ourselves a treat, to fit in with others, to dull down what we are feeling etc. If we were to simply eat to nurture ourselves our health statistics would look very differently.
Sugar and cream laden desserts, alcohol, chocolate and sweets are generally perceived as a treat and a reward and from a young age children are given sweets as a reward for good behaviour or to recognise achievements. Children’s birthday party fare is frequently little more than fizzy, sugar laden drinks, cake, chocolate biscuits etc which teaches children that to have a good time with friends this is the food they should share. This is a pattern that is crying out for change so that healthy, nourishing food becomes the norm.
Great points and truly food for thought and deeper pondering – everything to do with food seems to revolve around taste and kilojoules and diets and celebrity chefs; how about getting back to basics and listening to what the body teaches us?
Jane you are so right – education of the type you speak of would be a societal (and economic) game-changer. Imagine the reduced pressure on the health system, on the land, on waste disposal, and on our beautiful bodies.
‘We also talk about food a lot in our daily lives, in our homes, and in our workplaces.’ Oh boy, yes we do. Start noticing how often food comes up in conversation – some might say we’re obsessed with food and eating. Which then translates to overweight, obesity and eating disorders – and even more conversations about food and eating. All very bizarre when you add to this that half the world doesn’t have enough food. Whether we’re starving or indulging, we’re certainly obsessed.
Children know which foods support them and yet from very young ages we often give them foods which don’t? We give them foods as treats when they don’t even know what these foods are? Why is it that so many of us do that? Yes, education is important but is there more at play?
If I go for a period without eating enough salad or greens my body is crying out for it, this has been something I have noticed for most of my life though there were times when I have overridden what my body was telling me so severely that these messages were like faint whispers masked by the consumption of fizzy drinks, coffee, cigarettes and alcohol that I consumed at the time. When we eat foods that nourish us and listen to our bodies, our bodies very clearly tell us what we need, when we don’t we can do our best to block out the messages which never really stop, we just choose to ignore.
There are many ways of approaching food, the food we grew up with, the food we like the taste of, and the foods we know are good for us and ‘should’ eat, but then trying to find the right recipe and stick to diets and eating plans becomes hard – a simpler way is to look at it exactly how you have presented Jane, why the food? how does it make us feel?
I have been asking this question for a very long time as I was one who suffered badly as a child and then as an adult, as a result of the food I was eating; but that’s just what we ate, without question. My parents didn’t know that some foods could be harmful to the body so my symptoms were simply put down to a whole range of other possibilities and I continued to be unwell. So I am one, who says a great big yes to teaching our kids from a very early age about their beautiful bodies and how to look after them, with the food they eat right at the top of this absolutely essential curriculum.
When we see statistics like this Jane, shouldn’t we put down everything and stop? For so many parts of our world don’t have the needed amount of food at all and others overflow and consume it to excess. Isn’t this food imbalance telling us something powerful about ourselves and society today?
Brilliantly thorough Jane. So often we talk about food like it’s a subject alien to us. But it’s not at all. We are all masters of knowing when and what we want to have. And barring the odd mishap we like the effect food has. But there’s the rub – we like to see only the short term effect not the long term food debt we acrue. For when we borrow energy using stimulants, and food that blocks, it comes at our bodies cost. True nourishment as you show is for life not just feeling perked up today.
Reading your blog Jane made me consider how my relationship with food was growing up. All I learnt, which had a huge impact on my attitude to food, was to count calories so as to not put on weight. That was it, I ate certain foods so as to remain thin and I avoided others because I would get fat. It was so wrong as I had no true education on how to listen to my body and eat according to what I needed. So I agree this conversation needs to happen now.
I get the feeling that food is an accurate mirror how we live in other ways. If we have foods we know are not good for us there may be other areas of our life where we do the same. We could start changing what is easiest to change (usually not food but something else) and then, over time, may be able to also do better with food.
So many people have issues with food, myself included, that even the simple thing of celebrating an occasion like a birthday or a job promotion it’s done with food. Food becomes associated with comfort and reward. I know I was offered food to cheer me up when I was sad when I was younger – it had nothing to do with nourishing the body but everything to do with filling the void.
And as we near Christmas food becomes a great focal point. That one most important meal of the year to many is laden with emotional significance. Food takes on other properties than simply nourishing the body. There is so much disconnect that the traditional gathering of friends and family centers around food first and not connection with one another. Perhaps the straight forward teaching of basic science that food is there to simply nourish us is not taught because people do not want their means of dulling down the realities of life taken away let alone discovering how one makes and prepares as meal has an impact on ones well being.
This is a great topic. There’s much that needs to be discussed. We look at the variety of food available now and might think we have progressed from the days of scarcity, and we might think that we have more choice, but is that true though? Why are there such things like, say organic wine, made available? It’s like, one way we are somehow saying that we care about the quality of food, yet we completely ignore the fact that alcohol is a poison that harms the body, and choose to produce and drink such things. Where does this concept come from? Also, I know for myself that I eat healthy and take care of myself pretty well, yet I could be overeating and make myself bloat. When we go back to the fact that we eat food to nourish our body, then look at the way we eat and drink now, it becomes obvious that we are looking for something else from food.
“The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day – 2014.” (1) and when you consider that “795 million people do not have enough food to live a healthy life’ then that means that the rest of us are doing a hell of a lot of chowing down.
I can see this on billboards…”…the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.” This is a life time impact, concerning our health and wellbeing. I am still very much learning how to support my body, with love and care, food can be a way to bury what we feel, reward ourselves etc….as you say, what if we all where taught the true purpose of food at a young age, nourishment. Beautiful.
I would say there is a fair amount of awareness of the comfort eating that many of us partake in, we know that when we eat say mashed potato, or macaroni cheese or sugary treats that we are often using it to comfort us due to maybe cold weather or more often as an emotional response to a situation, and yet we never seem to delve deeper into what this means, how much of our eating is not for nourishment, but instead to offset feelings that arise we don’t want to face. I can personally feel how strong the pull is to eat to not feel, and if I am doing it, how many of the the 6 billion people are doing it too, possibly to much greater extremes. The rise in food related disease makes us need to raise these questions and stop accepting that its ok for such unhealthy foods to be so ubiquitous and also understand why we are in a state where we waste so much food while others on the same planet are starving.
WOW “The World Consumes More Than 11 Million Pounds Of Food Every Minute Of Every Day – 2014.” 11 million pounds of food every MINUTE!!!!!!! That is a huge amount of food. Yet we still have people in the world that are starving and cannot afford food. This just does not make sense at all. We have a lot to learn with regards to food and it is great you have started a discussion with regards to this.
That’s £660,000,000 pounds every hour, that’s A LOT and makes me feel like we must be almost constantly consuming food when we are awake because of course most of us sleep for about 9 hours in every 24. Perhaps that’s why we sleep so much, to sleep off all the food we have just consumed?
The truth of the matter is, it is a total madness that we are not taught about food and true nourishment as a vital part of our education. There is much truth in the saying that good food rises up as mind.
Jane its definitely time to start educating our children from a young age about the true value and purpose or food what true nutritious meals are and how they support our body. If we start young we will allow more healthy children to make choices which are more loving and supportive for their body.
Yes Amita the education needs to start from a young age not forgetting the importance of educating the parents first as they are the custodians of the lifestyle they choose for their child to live.
Wow Jane, just from the first statistic I could feel how much more power we can bring to our lives from the choices we make in relation to this incredibly huge volume of food we consume ‘Every Minute Of Every Day’. It also highlights just how much responsibility we all have, as with every interaction we have with food as there is an energy or consciousness that we subscribe to or are willing be part of. Our relationship with food is something we all are involved with whether we choose to be aware of this or not. However our wellness, power and vitality will certainly be far more commonly lived if we were to choose to be aware of what our relationship with food is, and that the true purpose of food is to nourish our bodies. Furthermore this is not just about the consumption of food, but it is also about the growing, preparing, marketing, education and all other aspects that involve the food that feeds our civilisation, that we need to bring much more awareness to.
That is truly shocking – for obesity to double in 35 years, and now we have 600 million people who are obese… absolutely incredible and deeply troubling. The world is not geared up for this and so we can hear systems creaking, epic problems occurring, shifts in the way we organise the world to try and adapt to this Yet no one is addressing the ‘why’, certainly not as effectively as the talks I have sat in on with Universal Medicine. Its only when we start to address that, that something meaningful can occur.
I agree Simon. Up until meeting Universal Medicine I was well on my way to being obese, despite what I considered was a healthy life style and being a ‘successful’ alternative health practitioner. Effective resolutions begin with examining our daily choices and what drives those choices. Taking moments to feel the deeper ‘why’ behind my choice to consume sugary foods for example coupled with the choice to stop and feel how these foods affected my body empowered me to completely change my diet, to the extent that my body has resumed it’s normal proportions all of its own accord. Regarding the deeper ‘why’ is powerful medicine, universally applicable and simple to apply that really do get to the root of the problem and empower us to regain our natural vitality.
It is crazy that we don’t learn about nourishing our bodies at an early age; that is what most animal species do, because they are teaching survival. Because of the ‘obesity crisis’ nutrition and healthy eating is now being introduced to schools, but are they discussing true nourishment? – how to listen to the body and feel if a food is right for you by observing how the body responds. I have observed people with allergies apologising to others that they can’t eat gluten, or training themselves to know how much they can eat without suffering the full-blown consequences. The body provides amazing feedback that can guide us if we are encouraged to take notice and not override its signals.
This concept of eating to nourish has completely turned my relationship with food on its head. It is so simple and makes so much sense, but is – as you speak of Jane – rarely taught to us nor spoken of. Right from a young age, we use food for growth yes, but we also use it to numb and distract ourselves. I still use food for these things as well but am learning more and more to eat to nourish, and when I do, boy oh boy it feels lovely in my body. But when I eat to check out or distract, it feels great in my mouth for those few moments, but my body suffers afterwards.
Jane this is a much needed discussion on food and heath and what is really going on for In our homes and in our education system we are not taught ” that eating is purely to truly nourish the body – I was also never taught that the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day”.Living this would change the way we eat and empower us to eat differently feel our body and how it effects us for ourselves to know. The World health crisis and obesity is telling us something and taking responsibility for ourselves and others around us and our family with understanding he way we eat and food would make an enormous difference for us all.
‘And what if we were educated to live in a way that it was normal to use our body as a daily barometer of our wellbeing’ – such a great statement and makes so much sense. Why don’t we read our body’s responses to what is eaten? By choosing not to read our body’s response to the food we eat means we are choosing to dull ourselves to the point where we don’t have to take responsibility for the way we live and the choices we make everyday. Food plays a huge part in how we feel in our body, how heavy we feel, how dull we feel. We are all educators and so it is up to us to make the choices in our own lives and then to share this increased understanding with others.
You raise some very important questions here Jane. Why are we not taught the truth about food? Because there are many who are invested in our poor diets. The dairy, sugar, wheat, diet, pharmaceutical, soft drink and fast food industries would not make the massive profits they currently make if we were all encouraged to listen to our bodies.
We each have a vested interest in the way we use food to comfort and dull us too. I am aware that some foods are not good for my body and yet I still eat them for comfort or to dull my awareness. The corruption we allow for ourselves shows itself in our corporations on a grand scale.
Jane this blog is essential reading for everyone across the world what you share about food being “that it is purely to nourish the body” would change our entire relationship with food, with how we prepare food, how we eat food, how much, the types of food and so on. This literally would change the face of the world, the fast food restaurants, school cafeterias, hospital canteens and supermarkets. The effects change everything – a change we certainly need.
The body is certainly the marker of all truth. I recently got caught out by eating something that I don’t normally eat. It ticked all the gluten and dairy free boxes but, after about an hour I realised how sleepy I felt, so never doing that again! Years ago, like you Jane, I would have disregarded it and put it down to being tired, but the reality is we DO know what suits us and what doesn’t, the trouble is we get caught up in emotional eating, going for the salt or the sugar and as research has shown, both are addictive and hidden in many processed foods, so it can be very hard to break the habit.
We can learn a lot from the reflection of animals and babies also. We are very naturally able to feel what does not sit well in our bodies, although It seems our so called intelligence and sophistication is leading us into abusing ourselves with food, which makes no sense at all. Food has become an entertainment, a celebration and a distraction. It can be used to hide, to numb feelings we do not want to be feeling, to protect, and to entice. This education around food is worthy of our attention and great to be sharing more on this subject.
These statistics are staggering Jane, especially the one that states that obesity has doubled since 1980. I was at a training session for dementia awareness today, and it was shared that the rate of dementia was on the rise worldwide… we need to starting asking the question, why is obesity and the rise of illness and disease happening? Thank you Jane for opening up the conversation, and even though we may not want to hear it, that the true purpose of food is to nourish our body, nothing more, nothing less.
Hello Jane and there are some big stats in this like obesity more than doubling since 1980 and how we are with figures these days who knows what the real figures are. Needless to say it’s more than serious but yet the conversation haven’t started truly yet. I guess it’s up to those that know like you Jane to get this more out there into conversations. This is a great start and as with all things it’s time to take it deeper and then deeper still. We need the conversations to be more open around how we are with food and for that to happen those with awareness will need to do the same.
So relevant Jane, and yes very timely. This common sense education and awareness is much needed, as we seem to have lost touch with the true purpose of food. Eating for nourishment and in relationship with our own body’s feedback will address many of our health problems, compared to eating for comfort, stimulation or indulgence. Our everyday choice of food has a direct impact on the quality we then live with.
….and also the quality we all live with.
I’m discovering my body is the absolute barometer for how foods eaten are either nourish and supportive or a drag on my body. The difference with the responses is well worth the prior consideration when choosing what to eat, when to eat, how to eat and particularly why I am eating. Because I’m hungry might at first seem like the response but if I’m honest the need to ‘snack’ has little to do with hunger and much more to do with wanting to distract from what is happening and I simply want to pull away and dull down a bit. I’ve been doing a little self survey and realise that when I’m thinking something I don’t like I get an instant feeling of hunger – this is a fascinating realisation.
We eat foods that do not support our bodies to dull our awareness to the fact that our bodies are finely tuned instruments capable of receiving vast amounts of communication from the Body of God/The Universe we live within. Our bodies are designed to not only receive this information but also transmit it. That is, we are divinely designed to express the grand love we each in essence are and our bodies are specifically designed vehicles of expression for this purpose. Animals do not eat foods that do not support their bodies because they don’t have an issue with awareness – we do. Why do we have an issue with awareness? Because we avoid the responsibility that comes with it and that responsibility is simply to reflect the truth, by virtue of our lived way, that we were never in-truth designed to be in a body in the first place for we come from an intelligence far greater than the 3rd dimensional realm we have locked ourselves into. However, all is not lost for while we are here there is a way to re-connect back to the 5th dimensional way of being that is our natural and Soul-full way and that is by adhering to the energetic and universal laws that govern us and taking great care of the form we reside in and that is our key back home to that which we departed from long, long ago. All of this can now be lived here on Earth through these bodies if we simply give up the fight that keeps us playing so much less than who we truly are.
Beautifully explained Lianne, that we can live this and I have observed those that do. It is surely something we all deeply seek to return to.
Awesome article Jane, there are so many extremely important things we are not taught and the truth about food is one of them. The amount of food that gets wasted when we have starving people in the world is appalling and the amount of food that is produced and in our supermarkets that we just do not need for a true healthy life is absolutely ridiculous. How much more wrong do we have to go before we wake up to the truth about such matters and will it take such measures of not treating overweight or diabetic people when they get sick or do we carry on until the health systems we have can’t carry the burden any longer and implode themselves.
Great question Kevin how much more wrong and ill living do we need to do before we stop and bring about true meaningful change.
Utter common sense that we choose to ignore (hence the stats at the start of your article!)… “The way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow: eat poorly, under eat, or overeat, and you will feel the knock on effects later that day or the next day.” I most definitely find this to be true, so to listen more to my body on what it has to say about food and nourishment is a sure fire way to contribute to my overall health and vitality – that is naturally there to feel and enjoy.
Our relationship with food is one that is often overlooked and not understood, many of us eat to please our senses. When Serge Benhayon presented the importance of eating for our evolution, this significantly changed my relationship with food. Eating for evolution to me is about preparing, eating and feeling the quantities of food that will support me to remain connected rather than become dull, numb or check out. It is about eating in a way where I am able to maintain my sensitivity of feeling.
We have 2.8 million people dying each year from being overweight or obese…that is a crazy statistic and one that could be prevented. How is it that a part of the world’s population is dying from obesity when in other parts of the world there are millions dying from starvation?
Great points, Jane. We could say that all overeating is a waste of food although most things people overeat are not really food in it’s true sense at all. They are products laced with salt and sugar, artificial coloured and flavoured, marketed and disguised as food. But as you say if we were educated as to the true purpose of food to nourish our body rather than tantalize our perverted taste buds we would be more discerning of what we put in our mouths.
I agree Jane, teaching children from young about food and how it is meant to nourish our bodies and not be a source of distraction and to use to fill us up, would be an awesome start for kids and would support them to trust in their bodies and how they are feeling when they eat certain foods. And if families were encouraged to talk about food and the choices children are making and why in normal conversation, we would not have the issues we have today of over eating in young children.
‘What if we were shown that there is a ‘cause and effect’ of food so that we can learn for ourselves how to listen to our body as a marker? ‘ Thank you Jane, this would make bring massive change and we would start to take responsibility for what we consume and the way we consume it.
Great blog which I’m reading while sitting here with an uncomfortable tummy having eaten something I knew not to last night. I baked gf df and sugar free muffins for my son’s class party today and I ate one. They were packed with bananas and because I rarely eat anything sweet, including fruit, it was super sweet. The impact on my body was quite remarkable, I took me a long time to go to sleep, I’m feeling sluggish this morning, my tummy is quite sore and I have hay fever. The thing is I know this happens to me when I eat such foods but at the moment when I ate it, I was blinded and prepared to ignore all of what I knew was to come.
I agree with you Jane, a much needed conversation to have in all honesty and curiosity to reflect and learn what can be done to turn the tides on our health and well-being.
Food is a very emotive topic for many and I wonder if this is because yes, deep down we do know what is not so good for us to eat but with the plethora of choice and availability nowadays we continually over-ride that knowing. Is it possible that we then eat more to numb ourselves from feeling the fact that we over-ride what we feel? Quite a tangled web we weave, I know this as I have done it myself.
As I was reading this blog I was realising how our relationship with food reveals much about our relationship with evolution. At any time of the day our food choices alone can either dull our awareness or be a choice to honour our light and our relationship with evolution.
Thank you Jane, for sharing this amazing blog with us. This part I wanted to highlight ‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow’, this it is so true. I have certainly felt the impact of my food choices on the following day and even days. It sometimes takes a while for my body to recover/clear from unloving food choices, which is great to notice and observe as it teaches me to not make the same choices again.
Great article Jane, I can feel how important it is to talk to children about the effects of different foods and to encourage them to notice how they feel when they consume different foods and drinks and so they can develop this observation which can then allow them the full choice. I notice in familes and schools the effects of certain foods are not really talked about, it seems that children are going purely for the tastes they like without understanding the consequences these have in their body.
You make a great point here Rebecca, many of us are taught to override the feelings we have in our bodies when eating a certain food that does not agree with us, and there is not enough emphasis on honouring that feeling. As a result we end up looking outside of ourselves for the answers and then making decisions from there, but we find this does not work and feel helpless and give up – yoyo dieting is a great example.
Food is a big one, one that we will hang on to for dear life. Food seems to be one of those things that we don’t want to look at. Me included. Not that I don’t want to look at it but I can feel for myself that I use food to numb myself at times. Especially when I get to feel a lot. Noticed that just today. I felt awesome and the same second I got the thought that I wanted something to eat. Funny and tricky but great to catch myself and ask what is going on here…
Great observation Matts, thanks for sharing that too as that is something we all can really get on top of as well – that when we feel amazing and awesome, what will we do to dampen this state of being…
And also, how often when people feel this way, do they then pick up alcohol to ‘celebrate’ how they feel, when that will just take them out of how awesome they are and feel.
I am astounded now that when I started university, even though I was already 18 I had no clue how to cook let alone do the washing, clean the house and also look after myself. My parents had done it all for me up until this point and while this is not a critique of them, it is revealing how we are often not taught the basics of life.
What you explore Jane echoes the sense I have that self care and food should be core curriculum subjects from primary school straight through further, higher education into adulthood. It is true what you say: animals eat to nourish and humans beings have forgotten how to do the same, We once used to eat for survival and nourishment and were directly responsible for the food we ate, grew our own food, bought only what was needed. This was before intensive agriculture, mass consumerism and aggressive food advertising. We’ve lost our relationship with food, nature and ourselves. Not surprising to find the majority of people are totally ignorant about the food they eat and how it impacts on their body.
I think as you say we all know and feel what is truly nourishing for our bodies as well as how much we need to eat. We also know that certain foods do change our moods or how our body feels. Yet if these feelings are not spoken of, confirmed or encouraged to listen to, we tend to ignore them or not be fully aware of them. Also with that not aware of the fact that we do not have to feel sluggish or sleepy after a meal but that we can feel vital and supported. So yes absolutely I see the benefit of bringing these truths into education and parenting.
Your statement about eating being an investment in your future self is a great way to look at time – yes, in this moment you will enjoy the taste and sensation your mouth, but how will you feel later – be it that day, the next day or years down the line after a culmination of what you eat on a daily basis starts to have an effect.
What we eat and the way we eat has an enormous impact on how we feel and hence the quality we then work and interact with others in.
I absolutely agree Abby. This has been exactly my experience. The most noticeable things for me when I make unloving food choices is my interactions with people, this happens almost instantly. I can easily become frustrated, impatient and not myself. The effects and impact my food choices has on my relationship and the quality of my movements and expression is pretty huge. Being aware of this supports me to be more understanding and it supports me to make more loving food choices. Building more awareness around food, I have found to be very supportive on so many levels and I feel our relationship with food affects us in more ways than we think.
So true Abby and it’s often when we let go of eating a certain way do we truly feel the impact on how that was holding us back from feeling the depth of love we are, I know what I eat changes on a regular basis and the more I let go of “how I should eat” the greater the quality I feel as I start to get more in touch with what my body is saying will support it.
I experienced one such conversation at the weekend and I totally agree with you Jane in that why don’t we delve into these sorts of subjects more often? From experience it reveals what I have, and everyone else, has used food for that is everything and anything but supporting the body to function at it’s best as animals do. And even after these types of conversations they can never be exhausted as this relationship is like everything in life never static. Believing that it is – like sticking to our ideals such as cleaning your plate or five a day is doing us more harm then good.
I agree Leigh, growing up with the belief that it was sinful to leave food because children were starving in Africa was a common saying within our household – myself personally I never really took much notice of that one but I know my siblings took it on board and grew to have guilty feelings around food and waste – this is a classic example of why we should encourage our children to feel what, when and how to eat.
‘the way you eat today is an investment in how you will feel tomorrow’ – Brilliant Jane, if this simple fact was understood, lived and taught, the coming generations would have a true reflection and support in this very important matter.
A much needed conversation Jane. Why indeed are we not educating our children to listen to their bodies. Or rather, why are we not supporting them to continue to listen to their bodies because I feel when we are young we do. Babies and young children don’t get to choose what they eat, it is chosen for them, naturally, so as the carers, adults have a responsibility to the best they can for the children in their care. But if they are unaware or are not doing it for themselves, then this won’t be possible, and the cycle continues.
I feel that some mothers have the best of intentions for their children when they are babies and toddlers, and give them healthy food, no sugar, no salt etc. but it is when they go to school and mix with other children that the battle starts with wanting what the other children have in their lunch box. Or dare I say, visiting grandparents who insist on ‘treating’ them with sweeties and ice-cream. It seems that we ALL need educating in feeling our bodies and that the purpose of food is to nourish our body, not to placate our mood or make us feel ‘better’ albeit momentarily.
This is an excellent article, I have often wondered why we all eat so much as humans, you rarely see animals over indulge in the wild in this way, in fact when I think about it, I dont think I have never seen an over weight Tiger or a obese deer? We seem to let our brain rule our body rather than working in harmony with all the organs that we have been given. This harmonious living way is something I learned whilst studying with Universal Medicine. I would have saved myself 15 years, liver damage and heaps of brain cells had I learned this in school.
Me too Sarah, my body would have been so grateful had I known even half of what I know now about food today. We have such deeply entrenched habits around food and have based huge industries on them that prop up our economies. The oddity of it is that we seem to be blind to the fact that we are propping up food industries that are killing us.
Food…it’s such an important topic for it tells us so much about ourselves; how we feel about ourselves, whether we are exhausted, drained, checked out from the world or just don’t want to feel what’s going on around us. I am certainly not perfect with food, but what I have been learning is to be honest with what I am eating and why and then don’t give myself a hard time for eating whatever it is that I have eaten. Understanding our patterns is very important .
I agree Jane “Only when we understand and build a true relationship with food will the statistics on obesity and diabetes, and on related issues such as food waste, be different.” – and to do so we have to build a true relationship with ourselves first. From here true relationships to food, others, situations, work and so on can unfold.
A very powerful and relatable blog Jane. My mother was careful with food choices she served with bringing the traditional meat and two veg way for an evening meal, along with having to have a clean plate at the end or it would be there to eat in the morning. There was definitely a missing link in not listening to the body and thus not feel what was disharmonious and uncomfortable in the body as it was having to eat what was seen as “good for me”.,
Great point Jane in that I too was never educated as a child as to how what I eat affects my health and well-being, and the importance of the quality in which I prepare and eat my food. It was really only about calories and whether something was fattening or not.
Indeed let’s start the conversation why is it we overeat, or eat non-nourishing foods when we actually do have the knowledge and our bodies innately feel what suits us?.
It’s a good question as to why we are not truly educated in food, health and true well-being. It is the most fundamental thing that can support us in life.
I agree Jane there is much more we need to look at as a species when it comes to our dysfunctional relationship with food. These statistics tell us that without a doubt. We definitely should be having more conversations about this so thanks for starting one!
Thank you Jane. Food information is everywhere!! Yet our body has an intelligence far greater than any diet and nutrition book can offer us when it comes to what truly nourishes us. I feel I am just at the beginning of a loving relationship with my body and honouring what it tells me about the food I am eating.
Our relationship with food reflects our relationship with ourselves. So if we bludgeon our own body by taking no to little care, pushing hard, treating ourselves rough, we’ll use food to medicate and bludgeon as well.
Whereas if we stop and consider that we are so so worth being tender with, to be taken care of by yours truly, our attitudes towards food will change. We don’t use food as a filler and a drug but as a support to feel nourished and met by our own love.
Brilliant Jane. One observation on food is that we aren’t taught to deal with life so go grabbing for certain foods which provide relief – something that becomes very satisfying.
Yes and it starts very early in life – for example being given a sweet when we hurt ourselves or food when we have done something ‘ good’ or have been ‘brave’ , food being used as a reward, and unfortunately junk food often being used as a reward too.
There in definitely an element missed when food and education is concerned.
The key isn’t in the information as the market is already filled. Instead it is a personal question why do I eat the way I do.
Being honest is a great first step.
So true – always the question to go to first – why do we indulge in foods and drinks that make us feel anything but vital.
So true Jane, the growing numbers of obesity is definitely a huge sign of our wilful ignorance about the quality and quantity of food we are choosing to consume. I was also raised on what most would consider a decent diet and loved making fresh tasty food. However I also disregarded the signs and symptoms my body was clearly giving me and failed to associate them with the quality of my diet. Since choosing to stop eating gluten and diary for instance, food groups that more and more people are realising don’t work for their bodies, I have given myself more space to really appreciate how awful I felt after eating them and also what other foods agree or disagree with my body. When we decide to change our relationship with food in this way, to introduce a more scientific approach of consumption and observation everything changes, our body shape and size, our vitality, our health and with it comes the realisation that we are fed many lies about what is healthy and what is not and our bodies often have a completely different opinion about what truly supports them and what is pure poison.
Working in a supermarket and with the start of the run up to Christmas the amount of food that people are buying is increasing daily and yet Christmas is really only one or two days. By next week there will be double shopping trollies full of food and alcohol and the amount of waste will be considerable. I agree if we were taught from an early age that we eat to nourish ourselves then we would naturally cut back on many of the foods we eat.
If we could say that there was any true meaning to Christmas (Christ-mas) then it would be to re-connect to the Christ light that lives within us all and to share this with all others. It is a time to congregate and appreciate the true bonds we have as family here on Earth. This family is not ruled by the dominion of blood but rather united by the love that lives within our hearts. As we have strayed so very far from this way of living (which does not need to be celebrated once a year but simply lived consistently in our every day throughout the year) we have created a false version of what this activity truly represents. Starved of this true connection, we seek to fill ourselves full to the brim with excess foods and the ensuing emotions that follow, often fuelled by grievances not dealt with and hurts left unchecked, not to mention the alcohol that only seeks to further fuel this separation from ourselves and each other and not quell it, so that what we are left with is a bludgeoned state whereby we do not allow ourselves to feel the misery we have chosen when we made the choice to not live true to our essence, which is love.
Yes, I have been observing with a more keen eye this year and seeing how the enticement of foods are at every corner in supermarkets and shopping centres. Christmas seems to be one time of the year where overindulgence is encouraged.
Everything is packaged and sold to us as an experience of abundance and celebration. Our true abundance and joy can never be from anything added, rather felt from the essence we are, and can re-connect to.
So true Victoria, Christmas like Easter are the times when we are given the green light to indulge even though many of us do know we are harming ourselves and we will suffer from it. It is interesting that both these festive times also have religious back grounds. In the indulgence we are taken away from looking at their true meaning as Liane has so beautifully shown with Christmas, and bastardised what could be an opportunity to reflect and deepen our awareness in life. Food is one of the things that dulls our awareness so it is no coincidence that this is also the time when the supermarkets up the anti and not only take advantage, but encourage our need to indulge
It makes one wonder why we do this – buy in massive excess food for 2 days and so overindulge on it and then don’t even bat an eyelid when our body tells us what it just had to put up with …
And when we cannot buy or have access to the food we want or in truth crave it causes massive agitation and angst in us. Where is this coming from especially when you consider how we can eat a massive meal at night and still be starving by the next morning! Is it our body truly asking for food or our heads just craving the fix it gets from eating it?
‘What if we were taught from an early age, or educated in our schooling, about the true value and purpose of food, and that it is purely to nourish the body?” We would be a lot more healthy, but to top that we would be a lot more aware and responsible for the energy we choose to live in in every moment of every day. I would say 99.9% of us use food as a way to dull or numb ourselves or fight our awareness of everything we feel. It all comes back and down to responsibility. If we feel more, we have to feel our hurts, deal with our stuff, respond more, stand out, be a beacon of light, support people, make life about humanity, getting out of here, and not about self. We couldn’t deny we are divine. Whereas if we dull, numb, override, fight and or ignore we can indulge in all the emotions, dramas, and complications of life, which are not real. All in all the way and what 99.9% of us eat stops us being more aware.
You could be right Gyl, in fact I know you are when you say ‘All in all the way and what 99.9% of us eat stops us being more aware’… this may explain why despite all the healthy eating advice that abounds today, more and more people are addicted to sugar and fatty foods, and obesity is in fact, in on the increase… all to not feel.
We have always had science to invent and discover ways to improve our life’s. So, why have we allowed ourselves to buy into the bliss factor they have discovered that is the perfect combination of salt, sugar and fat that essentially turns off our body’s natural messages to us that we have had enough?
I agree Gyl. I was only thinking the other day how I learnt from very young that I could eat too much to make myself feel heavier. And then because I didn’t put on weight I thought it was okay. At the time I didn’t realise this was also dulling my awareness of all that I was feeling. If we only use weight as a guide we will never truly understand what the energetic effects are of food.
It seems to me that how we have chosen, prepared and eaten food is based on old habits , ideals and beliefs and a lack of true understanding about our bodies and how they lovingly work to support us in all things if we listen. a great sharing, Jane.
Reading more and more of these comments on this blog after first having read the blog it now slowly starts to sink in how the education we get about food in our society and our own family when we are growing up is truly not what it could be. That it took me around 2 months to really feel and realise this shows how thick the ideals and beliefs around food are and how strong they keep us from growing up.
Yes, Jane, it definitely is time to “to talk about these issues and our attitudes towards food” and even more so it is time to listen to our own bodies. They are our own greatest science labourites to discover what foods best nourish our own unique body rather the research or opinion of another expressing a ‘fix-it-all’ solution, such as a particular diet.
I hear people taliking about needing to make food adjustments but it is never from the point of nourishing the body and always from the need to lose weight or look thinner etc. simply by looking at our relationship with food and educating our young that food is there to nourish the body would drastically change our statistics in future generations. However like everything – it is always a choice and change must start with self first.
You have hit the nail on the head Jane, teaching our children from a young age to listen to their bodies and to allow a healthier relationship to develop around food would certainly go a long way to addressing the unhealthy relationship we currently have with food, and the obesity levels.
The question is why people so much are holding on to unhealthy and damping food. . As we are not only individuals but all connected my feeling is that often people do not want to take different choices and stick out concerning their families, communities, workplaces etc. It is a thread for them to be different, to eat different. I observe that people sometimes prefer being ill than to make uncomfortable changes. So the comfort about staying in the sympathy with others and not stick out seems to be very high in us human species.
Yes -to teach to the young what they innately already known is not a big feat. It is when we are making choices to provide them with foods that dull this connection that we then start to question their moods and responses yet have we stopped to consider the part we play in this.