September 2024
Mindful Eating
- An Herbalist’s Perspective on What Makes a Good Diet
- Slowing Down
- What Are You Craving?
- Alchemy In The Kitchen
Rather watch and listen?
Mindful Eating – Alchemy In The Kitchen
We often think of food as fuel for our bodies. In modern diet culture, you hear many times talk about food in terms of calories deposited in the body and calories that the body spends as if the body is a bank account. But there is so much more to food preparation and eating that we miss as part of our fast-food culture.
“Concerning matters, we have all been wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. It doesn’t matter.”
~ Albert Einstein
Food transcend matter
Like any other substance in the universe, food is a vibration that reveals information to your body. In the cauliflower you eat, you may find the energy of the farmer who grew it or the cook who prepared it. It is touched by the sun, wind, and the mood of the person who stacked the grocery store’s vegetable shelves.
The kitchen is the heart
In the past, the kitchen was the heart of the house, where the hearth fire was constantly burning, and the family members assembled to cook, dine, play music, and read together. It was the place where lasting memories were created.
I once was advised that if I plan to sell my house, I should bake bread right before I show it to prospective buyers. The aromas of a home cooked meal can make us feel safe and calm. Since the receptors for the sense of smell are near the area of the brain that stores our memories, smelling a home cooked meal can transport us in time and space to our childhood home. The scents of food prepared in a restaurant are not quite the same.
Today, in many houses, the television has replaced the hearth, and prepared meals are delivered or picked up on the way back from work. If food is energy that carries information, what do we give up when we let some stranger cook our meals?
Food with a fingerprint
The food we eat carries the “fingerprint” of the cook who prepared the meal. This is true on the physical level, as bacteria living on the cook’s skin can affect the dish, but also in a subtler way, more closely connected to the cook’s mood and emotional state.
Therefore, food has the power to nourish us beyond the physical level; eating can transform a shitty day and even your life.
“Nothing is Permanent Except Change”
~ The Buddha
Communion
All cultures celebrate the changes in the yearly seasons and important transformative moments in a person’s life, such as birth, adulthood, weddings, and funerals, with a meal. Sharing food was an expression of sharing intimacy and destiny. Food speaks the language of community and love.
The word emotion comes from “motion” or movement. All emotions are energy and, as such, have vibrational frequencies that evolve and transform constantly. Every cell in your body resonates with the life force that is impacted by your emotions but also by the feelings of people, plants, and animals around you.
Food for the heart
The vibrational frequency of love is 528 Hz, joy 540 Hz, and anger 150 Hz.
Now, we get to the secret ingredient in home-cooked meals. Assuming that the cook, be it the mother or the father of the house is cooking dinner while thinking loving thoughts about their loved ones, the joy and love they extend to their family will radiate and infuse the food they are preparing.
When you return from work or school after a challenging day with your boss, colleagues, or teacher, homemade meals can make all the difference. Food prepared at home with love and served as a gift to the house members feeds not just the physical body but also resonates into your soul, nourishing and transforming low frequencies into higher ones.
When cooked with the right intention, home-cooked meals have the power to transform frustration and anger into peace and joy.
On the other hand, a meal cooked in a restaurant lacks the cook’s warm feelings and intentionality. It is an impersonal transaction devoid of a sense of community and love. That doesn’t mean you should avoid restaurants altogether, but rather that going to a restaurant or picking up food on your way back from work should be the exception, not the default.
Food for thoughts
Might it be that so many of us struggle with weight gain because the food we are eating does not fulfill not just our physical needs but also our emotional ones?
For some people, cooking is a waste of time. They feel that they have better things to do or achieve. These feelings are supported by a culture that perceives housework as unimportant. But when you consider cooking as a way to infuse food with your love for yourself and your loved ones, it becomes a spiritual practice.
The alchemy in the kitchen has the power to transcend matter into spirit.
I’d love to hear how you’re finding ways to grow your health. Please join the conversation and leave a comment below!
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