The Body: Transforming Diet and Health
THE BODY
As much as our minds can expand and often feel disconnected from the body, we cannot deny that we are living in a world of cause and effect. No matter how spiritually connected we feel, or the inner peace we may have discovered, the body will still be at the mercy of the dual world. We already know the body is temporary, it is not who we are, but it is our tool while we live in the world. It’s very easy to become identified with the body and believe it is who we are, however, after experiencing parts of the awakening process you soon realize that it is simply our means of experiencing and communicating in this world.
The body seems to be a miraculous system, so complicated that we can’t even begin to understand exactly how it operates. The heart and lungs pump this air-gas system, delivering oxygenated blood throughout the body, while the elimination system does its job to clean out as much waste as it can tolerate at any given time. This is all happening at the cellular level, and we just go about our day not even aware of what is really going on inside. Medical science has theories and is constantly discovering new insights, yet no one really and truly can comprehend how it’s all happening. No one knows exactly what is keeping the body alive. We say it’s energy, the soul, and consciousness, it’s all very interesting when you begin to think about it. The body seems to be in an intelligence field of its own.
If the body has its own intelligence, then what is our role in keeping it at an optimal state? Do we contribute to the health of our bodies or is it all luck of the draw? Is there a perfect diet for the body, or do our minds really dictate what happens to the body? It’s important to think about the split mind as we go through and try to answer these questions.
WHAT THE BODY MEANS TO THE EGO AND OUR HIGHER SELF
From the ego’s perspective, the body is a pleasure or pain playground. The ego identifies with the body and puts most of its effort into satisfying whatever it needs. Because the ego is always looking for a result, an expectation, or an outcome, it uses the body to achieve this. From a larger perspective, from our higher self and spirit’s perspective, the body is not who we are and is merely a means of communication while we are here. The larger awareness is using the body as a way to wake us up, whereas the ego is seeking pleasures or consistent pain.
When we see that the body is temporary and we begin feeling more connected to our greater self, we lose the attachment to the body but realize that this world is dictated by cause and effect. We can simply treat it as kindly as possible, and keep it as healthy as we can to function, but know that even when the body becomes ill, either temporarily or permanently, it isn’t who we are. There is no sense in beating ourselves up when we fall ill, as it is irrelevant to our spiritual nature. The body never has been and never will be an everlasting eternal experience. Our eternal nature resides elsewhere.
There is much research and discussion about the mind dictating the health of the body, that your emotional state affects the body, that your stress levels affect the body, and that your positive and negative thinking dictates the body’s health, you see what I am saying. There might be a level of truth to this, and changing things in your life can certainly lighten the load on the body. However, there are always examples in this chemical world that will not stand up to that test.
For example, no amount of positive thinking is going to save you from being poisoned. If you ingest cyanide, it will kill you. If you enter a closed room full of toxic gas, you will die. If you are on an airplane and the oxygen system fails, every person will experience hypoxia and perish. No one, not even the person vibrating at a very high frequency will escape the very real chemical reactions we face while living in the world of form. When it comes to our first essential survival element, oxygen, very few can escape this very obvious reality. On the level of form, we live in a world of chemistry. This chemistry, whether we like it or not, does affect the body.
THE BODY DURING AWAKENING
If you are in the midst of awakening, you have had a major life challenge, or a sudden illness, you often find yourself changing the food you eat, especially if the body has been suffering. Many people are naturally drawn to cleaning out their bodies when they start waking up. The mind becomes curious about so many things, and health becomes one of them. Or, if your body is giving you trouble, is in pain, or you are dealing with various illnesses also entices people to look at the food they have been eating as a contributing factor to whatever they are experiencing.
No matter what you are currently eating, you might be drawn to shift your diet to include more healthful items, or you might be inclined to completely change everything you are eating. Either way, adding more natural food items to your life is always beneficial. Today’s world is obsessed with marketing processed products, which I hesitate to call food, as much of it is simply a by-product of what was once a food item. People are running around at mach speeds needing food on the fly and in the process, excepting whatever is available, with no regard to the quality of the food. When you have any sort of wake-up call, you typically begin to care about what you are eating, and you will take the time to find something that works better for you, that is if it is important to you.
Any sort of discomfort in the body, alarming sensations, and undesired chronic illnesses bring us closer to our date with our own mortality. We get scared when we feel our life could be shortened, especially if we are not ready to leave the body yet. We naturally work to improve our situation so we can extend our time here. And, in this world of cause and effect, it seems there are definitely better choices to make that the body agrees with much more than others. For those of us wanting the body to feel better, we seek out as many available options as we can to alleviate any difficulties the body may be presenting.
SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM
With all the new fad diets out there, how do we know which one to choose? How do we know if they are really good for us? It’s important to ask if you are looking to gain health or simply lose weight. You can lose weight in a variety of ways on a variety of different diets. Eating less food no matter what type of food it is will allow the body to lose weight. However, just because you are losing weight doesn’t mean you are healthy inside.
From eating all meat diets, to no meat diets, to food pyramid diets, to all fat diets, to no fat diets, to vegetarian diets, to vegan diets, to all starch diets, to blood type diets, to raw food diets, to dairy-free diets, to alkaline diets, to no sugar diets, there are clearly options available that seem to be in direct contradiction to one another. Each diet claims it is the best, right? Everyone knows that their information is accurate, more scientifically researched, and has been around for centuries, different cultural diets claim to know what is best, I mean it’s enough to make you crazy and leave you driving through a McDonald’s for a large fries and forget the whole thing entirely!
With all this opposing information, it certainly leads you to believe that we don’t really know what we should be eating. If we did, wouldn’t the information be the same? I mean just look at what hospitals are feeding ill patients! If you or your loved ones have been in a hospital for any length of time, you know exactly what I am talking about. They don’t seem to think food makes a difference because they are mostly focused on genetics and pharmaceutical solutions.
If you look at nature and the animal kingdom, you don’t see them arguing about which shrubs to eat, or which grass to graze, or which animal to kill. They seem to know exactly what they are designed to eat. The carnivores hunt for prey and the herbivores stick to greens, and then the omnivores do a little of both. Now, looking at the teeth of these animals and the digestive systems, this all makes sense. Carnivores have razor blades for teeth in order to chew through flesh, while herbivores have flat teeth to easily grind down difficult plant material. Now, human beings are closest to primates. Primates are frugivores and their teeth mostly resemble ours. Does that mean we are frugivores too?
Because we live indoors in our modern world, we are cut off from our natural instincts and instead, we have created a plethora of cuisine and available options. Food has become another major industry, not just for our survival needs, but as a business and an art form. Many people say we are omnivores because of our four sharp canine teeth. I don’t know about you, but mine are nothing close to a lion’s or my Alaskan Malamute’s, not even close.
The vast majority of our teeth are flat, leading us to believe we are designed to stick to the plant kingdom. We also have a very long and winding intestinal track, which seems food should be easy to digest and full of hydration in order to move through that maze. Putting these elements into consideration it seems simpler foods like fruit are the easiest to move through the body. After all, it is a simple sugar that breaks down very quickly and easily. Just adding more fruit into the diet adds health benefits to us and seems easy enough, right? It is the simplest food we can eat, with no preparation necessary!
WHAT WE DO KNOW
Since the human diet seems to be confusing and constantly contradicting itself, then what do we know about food and our bodies? We do know that eating too much food for too long can cause a decline in health. We also know that eating less food will eliminate this problem. We know that foods closer to their natural state are easier to digest than those that are processed and full of non-food items. We know that eating fruits and vegetables has the most usable nutrients for our bodies. We know that too much poison and obstruction within the body will eventually cause its demise. Alcohol, toxic chemicals, smoking, and drugs of any kind cause deterioration of the body.
As mentioned earlier, this is a world of chemistry. There are chemical reactions everywhere. The primary source of our health, the main component that we typically skip right over and go directly to food is the air we breathe. We never really talk about it because it is an automatic system within the body that we don’t need to think about. However, there is a huge chemical reaction going on inside. We breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This entire process is based on chemistry, so why would our food be any different?
Chemistry is broken down into two basic functions, acids and bases. Acids create burning and pain within the body, and alkaline material does not. Therefore, we know that eating too many acidic foods will put our body in a state of acidity causing health to decline. We know that eating more alkaline foods will solve this problem. Just think of any type of acid that hits the body and it will burn your skin instantly. It makes sense that we wouldn’t want to put this inside where our internal organs can be damaged.
Knowing these facts, then we can choose to eat foods that are more alkaline than acidic to keep the body in a more optimal state of health. Eating less acidic food can not only begin the healing process within the body but allow us to feel increased energy and overall vitality. What we put in our mouths is a choice. We can eat whatever we wish. Start noticing how you feel after you eat certain foods. Are the foods you are eating eliminating easily, is your digestion feeling good, do you have more or less energy? All of these questions you can ask yourself as you begin to alter your diet.
WATCH THE EGO WORK
An important point to make as you venture into the world of healthier living, many food movements have a way of allowing the ego to sneak back in without you realizing it. Especially when it comes to healthy eating. The plant-based diet community loves to make you assume that this type of diet is not only going to make you live forever without any disease or life-long illness, but it will also convince you the world and the environment will be saved. There may be some truth to a cleaner world, however, there are many more industries and corporate giants that need to get on board to clean up the environment, not just the food industry.
The ego also loves to chime in and assume that you are a better person because you don’t eat animals. You know the protesting types on the corner yelling at you for being a murderer if you eat meat, meanwhile the animal kingdom is killing each other regularly. You can certainly believe anything you wish, but it doesn’t mean anything in a world that is constantly going back and forth trying to prove who’s right and who’s wrong. If you are choosing to eat a healthier diet, then it’s usually best not to shame other people for the choices they make. We can all make choices and choose what we eat. If life is truly about waking up and detaching from this world in general, then you won’t be so upset if those around you choose to eat food you disagree with.
The ego loves to be high and mighty about anything and everything. What we do know is that the body can tolerate an incredible amount. Just look around. People are eating all kinds of things, body types are in all shapes and sizes, health varies from person to person, and healing happens all the time, while other people’s bodies are past the ability to heal and therefore the body dies. We all know that the body will end at some point in time. But there are healthier choices in the world of cause and effect that can make the time we are here a little easier. And if the body is just not cooperating no matter what you do, the choice to see through the eyes of spirit will help bring you to a place of peace and connection to more than the limitation of the physical realm.