The challenge that I extend to you this week is to become mindful of the signals that your body sends to you when you eat food that is good and nutritious for your body and when you get food that is not nutritious and is not good for your body.
In order to be able to take the challenge this week and run with it, you will need to take a little extra action. I fully understand if some of you refuse to take on the mantle of the challenge this week, but let me explain it anyway by way of emphasizing the signals that your body sends to you when you are giving it the nutrition that it needs and when you are not.
What food do you eat that you know is bad for your body, that is unhealthy for your system? The foods that I know I love to eat but are bad for my health and wellness turn out to be chocolate or vanilla milkshakes and macaroni and cheese. Now, I make no bones about it; I love, absolutely love to eat each of those foods. There is no doubt about the temporary pleasure I derive when I eat them. There is some trigger of pleasure that sets in that must come from a place long ago and far away.
Of course, once I finish eating those foods, it is also the case that I feel absolutely horrible. I get sleepy. Sometimes I have to take a nap. I become depressed. I say to myself,
“Oh well, it was worth it, I haven’t had macaroni and cheese and a chocolate milkshake for a long time and I loved it.”
Of course when I really look at the decision that I made the pleasure winds up lasting a mere 10 or 15 minutes. The aftermath winds up lasting as long as one or two days. And yet, most of us continue to eat food that dampens our life force and deflates our overall health and wellness.
The challenge I offer to you this week is the following. I know that the foods that you probably truly love and know are not bad for you probably not macaroni and cheese and chocolate milkshakes, but I do know that you are well aware of foods that you absolutely love to eat, but try not to eat too frequently because you know they are not good for your body.
This week I give you permission to indulge in a food that you know is bad for your body. Choose at least one food that you know is not good for you and eat it! The additional challenge however is to make very careful notes about how you feel after you eat food that is yummy to your soul and yet bad for your body. In other words, eat the food mindfully. Taste it. Treasure it.
Maybe – just maybe – it is not giving the pleasure that you thought it would. Most importantly, monitor how your body feels after you eat. Monitor how you feel several hours after you eat if not for the rest of the day.
Do this (if you wish to take on the challenge) just once. Obviously it is not a smart idea to eat food that you know is not good for you so I will fully understand if you decide to pass on this particular challenge.
Let a little time pass. The companion challenge that I extend to you is to eat nutritious food that you know is exactly what your body needs. Consider eating fresh, live food that contains a vibrant colors. Sometimes nutritious foods come in the form of salads or perhaps smoothies; you know what food is good for your body. Select nutritious food to eat and follow the same process as you followed when you ate food that was bad for your body.
Eat it mindfully, taking notice of what it means to eat each and every bite. Then, track how your body feels moment to moment, 30 minutes, an hour, two hours afterward and for the rest of the day. Be mindful of the signals that your body sends to you.
You already know the foods that are bad for you and the foods that are good for you. That is what determined the selection of what you wanted to eat under each instance. The power of this exercise is to become much more aware of the consequences when you eat food that is not in your best and highest good. I suspect that you will be amazed and excited about how wonderful you feel and how much energy you have when you eat food that is in fact good for your body. You may also marvel at the difference between the two.
Of course it may be that when you are eating fresh food, it is not exactly your cup of tea as they say. It may taste more like medicine than yummy for your tummy goodies. It may not exactly be food that you would typically choose to eat during the day. It is not the steak and potatoes that many people treasure for a meal. The reality is that fresh food, the food that has colors, the food that is live, is the food that your body needs in order to be able to return to full health and wellness.
To summarize, you have an official invitation to indulge – some people might call this “sinning” – and you also have an invitation to have an experience of eating good food that will nourish your body. Contrast the two experiences. Become more mindful of the consequences of each and every bite that you take of the foods that you choose to eat.
May you have an exciting and intriguing time as you indulge and challenge yourself this week with becoming more mindful of what it means to ingest food that is not good for your body versus food that is in fact, precisely the nourishment your body needs to heal. Neurons are very sensitive tissues. They need a lot support to become healthy.
Robert
© Parkinsons Recovery