What to Eat When You're Feeling Scattered, Gloomy or Moody

My client Julie once arrived at her session feeling very unsettled and overwhelmed due to her recent apartment move. I sent her away with a seemingly unconventional prescription for sweet potatoes. She ate some that night and immediately felt more grounded.
 
More Than Fuel
Food is far more than just fuel. We tend to think of it in terms of nutrients, calories, good or bad. How often do you consider its energetic quality?
 
All food has unique energetic properties that affect your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. When, where and how it's grown, raised, produced or prepared determines its essential character and the energy it imparts.
 
By understanding food energetics, you can prepare balance-restoring meals based on the energy particular foods create in your body.
 
Let's take a look at vegetables.
 
Plant Prescriptions
The direction a vegetable grows can impart the same qualities in you when consuming it. Here are a few plant prescriptions for when you're feeling...
 
Scattered or Overstimulated
Root Vegetables: Because they grow in the ground, root vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips and beets have a strong downward energy. Eating these hearty vegetables can help you feel more focused, anchored and grounded.
 
Gloomy or Tense
Dark Leafy Greens: Kale, Swiss chard, collard greens, beet greens and other dark leafy greens grow upward collecting energy from the sun. Eating these chlorophyll-rich foods infuses your blood with oxygen, ultimately boosting your mood and spirits.

Light and cleansing, they also supply your body with flexible energy and remove physical and emotional toxins literally helping you lighten up.
 
Moody or Erratic Energy
Squashes and Gourds: To maintain an even keel, eat veggies that grow at ground level like butternut squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkin and edible gourds. These can help steady your mood and energy level.
 
You Are What You Eat
A food's life force directly impacts your quality of life. By selecting foods based on their energetic qualities, you can better nourish not only your body but also your soul.

Do Your Meals Include This…?

During a recent family visit, we reminisced about how my mom would make a heart-shaped meatloaf and individual heart-shaped Jell-O desserts for our Valentine’s Day dinner when we were kids.

While the meal was tasty, what made it the most memorable was the best ingredient of all: love.

When food is prepared with love, it embodies an energetic quality that nourishes us on a much deeper level than food hastily prepared without much care or consideration for those consuming it.

Think about some of your most memorable meals. Were they infused with love?

Cooking for One
Some of my clients declare they don’t like to cook for themselves.

Why bother going to all the trouble? They either pop a frozen dinner into the microwave, order take-out, or dine on cheese and crackers.

When they start cooking for themselves to improve their physical health, they are surprised to discover how their homemade meals also elevate their mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

They hadn’t anticipated how profoundly nourishing it is to slow down and devote time, energy and care toward thoughtfully planning, preparing and consuming their meals.

An Act of Self-Love
Cooking for yourself is an act of self-love. It shows you’re worth the effort.

I love the ritual of selecting ingredients at my local farmers’ market to prepare meals for myself.

While I enjoy cooking for others, I find the experience of crafting my own meals to be very meditative, grounding, therapeutic, pleasurable, empowering, rewarding, and nourishing on every level.

If you currently view cooking for yourself or others as a burden, I encourage you to start adding love into the mix. It truly is the most powerful ingredient you can infuse your food with.

P.S. "You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces — just good food from fresh ingredients." –Julia Child

My Two Thanksgiving Wishes for You...

I have two Thanksgiving wishes for you...
 
1. Slow Down
Years ago, I spent hours with two other women preparing a delicious Thanksgiving feast, only to watch our guests scarf it down in less than 15 minutes, then leave the table. Barely a sentence was spoken throughout the entire meal.

They grabbed dessert and headed back to the TV leaving the cooks behind as we stared at our half-empty plates.

I was disappointed and, well, really annoyed.

My first wish for you this Thanksgiving is to slow down.

Savor every moment and morsel.

Linger over your meal enjoying good conversation with your table mates. Truly taste and savor each and every bite.

My family has a fun tradition of posing questions to the entire table then taking turns answering them. Everyone participates, from ages 6 to 80.

Questions range from “What movie character would you like to be?” and “If you could be any flavor of ice cream, what would you be and why? to "What was your best day ever?”

By slowing down, you will experience greater pleasure and satisfaction and feel much more energized and connected to your body and your loved ones.

2. Write a Thank You Letter…to Your Body

Many of us spend an inordinate amount of time criticizing our body. 

Doing so causes unnecessary stress and suffering. It drains your energy and life force.

My second wish for you is that you begin to adopt a policy of kindness, compassion and acceptance toward your body.

As you count your blessing this Thanksgiving, take time to write a thank you letter to your body. Tell it absolutely everything you’re grateful for.

For example, thank your…

• heart for beating on its own and for feeling all kinds of love

• legs for enabling you to walk, run, dance, hike or ski

• arms for carrying your child or hugging a loved one

• eyes for seeing all the beauty and goodness in the world

• nose for smelling blooming flowers, baking bread, brewing coffee and freshly cut grass

• hands for performing millions of tiny miracles throughout the day, from tying shoes and texting friends to scratching your dog's belly and selecting a perfectly ripe avocado

This simple yet powerful act can put you on the path to creating a more loving, relaxed and peaceful relationship with your body.

For more tips on cultivating an attitude of gratitude, head on over to here.