You are the Universe! - E:11 Mindful Eating - Heal your Relationship with Food

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

How mindful eating supports you in healing your relationship with food and your body. Www.VictoriaHaffer.com

Welcome to the You Are the Universe podcast. I'm your host, Victoria Haffer, intuitive healer and holistic life and body coach with over 20 years of facilitating massive transformation for people and animals. And I'm so glad you're here. Today's topic is mindful eating. So I'm going to share something with you. I healed myself from an eating disorder when I was in my early 20s. So there was a time. in the past that I used food for other than nutrition, other than food as medicine, which is how I see it today. And so my relationship with food, really everything's about our relationship with whatever the thing is, right, whether it be a relationship with your partner, your relationship with yourself, your relationship with your family, your friends, your coworkers, your relationship with your business, your relationship with money. It's all about relationships. So this is a big one, food.

Food in itself, often people use food for every other reason other than nutrition and or medicine. And yes, I use food as a form of escapism. Often people use food as for social, you know, socialized. they abort them. But most often we do use food as a way of kind of filling a void and numbing the pain. And it's definitely what I did. So I would eat an abundance, oh my goodness, so much food mindlessly. And, you know, typically we're not overeating on things like grapes and broccoli.

it's going to be your foods that are high in, you know, the simple carbohydrates, they comfort foods, the things that are high in sugar and or salt. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. So just take a moment here. For you, maybe you're listening because you're just curious about the topic, mindful eating. And I think that this, what I'm here to teach today is important for everybody. And, you know, even if you're not, quote, unquote, looking to lose weight, often when you begin to see your relationship with food in a different way and you're able to bring the art of being mindful and the art of being present with your meals, your body will start to change regardless.

Yeah. Indeed it will. So I chose to heal my relationship with food. And again, I was in my early 20s. So that was a really long time ago. And now today I have a fairly healthy relationship with food. I'm not saying I never overeat. And I'm not saying I never eat food that isn't for my highest and best. Certainly I do. However, I make much better choices and the quality of people. food, it's quality and quantity. You know, when I was studying in my master's program in human physiology, exercise physiology, I, you know, we learned calories in, calories out. And I, I don't

necessarily believe that much anymore, especially when it comes to the non-athlete. And especially when it comes to women who are dealing with trauma or maybe perimenopausal or menopausal dealing with an imbalance and hormones and thyroid issues and gut issues and all of that. So it's not just about the calorie. It's about the quality of the food. So that's the first thing I want you to really think about is where are you getting your food items? Because now, unfortunately, mostly anything that's prepared for us at the supermarket or

even at a lot of local restaurants, they're using. using really crappy ingredients. Unless it's telling you it's grass-fed beef or the eggs, you know, are farm fresh and that the chickens actually get to be outside and, you know, eat insects and things like that, most likely most restaurants and places that are preparing your food, they're just going to be going for the economical best, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the best way that they can bring the food to you at the lowest price. So things that are showing up in so many of our processed foods now are going to be your sugar. So sugar again, and when I talk

about sugar, I'm not talking about naturally occurring sugar. Okay. So fruit, great. I mean, you don't want to eat fruit all day, all night unless you're doing some kind of a fruit fast. But fruit, you know, I've never, people say, oh, well, aren't, you know, aren't bananas fattening? It's like, okay, I don't really know anybody that eats just bananas or eats a lot of bananas and eats healthy, healthy that's overweight. So again, there's a time and a place for the organic fruit to be in your diet, absolutely, especially if you, unless, of course, you have an issue with your blood sugar, then you don't want to be doing a lot of a lot of fruit. also with fruit, ideally you want to eat your fruit away from other foods, especially if you are

dealing with any kind of a gut issue, because fruit actually digests in a very different pH in the stomach. And so when you stuff a lot of fruit in with other things, it can ferment, it can sit there and ferment in the gut. So yeah, so ideally fruit alone is going to be your best bet. But so many of the ingredients now that we're seeing, obviously, GMO and now they're even, you know, now you have to learn codes on foods to even know about the fact that something is not GMO, right? More and more things are becoming genetically modified. And it's not super healthy for the body. The other aspect is the items, food items, especially things like grain and wheat. Often, you know, you might be gluten-free.

Celiacs is a whole different ballgame, but you could be, you could have a gluten sensitivity, and it may not necessarily be the gluten. It could actually be what they're spraying on, you know, the Department of Agriculture, that they actually, you know, they allow for farmers and, you know, people who are growing our crops to spray with the most toxic things, right? Roundup that you can actually go, it's legal to get, has actually been proven. And so many studies to create, to cause cancer in people and animals, right? It gets into the water supply, gets into our water supply, gets into the food supply.

And it just wreaks havoc on the human body. And it's a wonder why so many people are dealing with all of these chronic issues that we never had before. You know, you're autoimmune, the thyroid imbalances, the Hashimoto's, the graves, the leaky, gut, fibromyalgia, all of these things that are, quote, unquote, medical doctors, they don't know, they don't know what the causes. That's what autoimmune means. We don't know. We actually don't know why your body is attacking your own body. And I know why. The people in the holistic world know why. There's so many reasons. I mean, just look at the quality of our water, right? Water is a whole different ballgame. I'll probably hit that on another podcast. But if there's one thing you do for your

health is invest in a high quality water filter, ideally filtration for the entire house. And then that way you can cook with the water and you can freeze your ice cubes with the water and do all those things. Yeah. Yeah. It's unfortunate that the quality of our water in most places in most cities and towns is just not even drinkable. And then what do they do? They put bleach in it. You can smell the chlorine in the water. You really think we're supposed to be drinking that? I don't think so. Yeah. So anyway, so starting about just looking at the quality of your food, ideally, if you have the opportunity to grow your own food, that's going to be your best bet. That's the only way, you know, local farms are great as long as you absolutely know that they're not spraying.

Just because a farm is locally, you know, growing doesn't mean they're not using toxic pesticides on the foods as well. So that's the first thing. You really want to be mindful about what are you ingesting into your body. If it comes in a box, most likely it's processed, right? It's been treated and maybe bleached and then stripped of nutritional value. Like that's what they do with all the processed bread. And then they add in a bunch of synthetic vitamins and minerals, like into your cereal boxes, things like that.

So ignorance is not. education is key. And especially now these days, you really, it's just time for us to step in and activate our sovereign divinity. You know, we need to take our power back and stop giving our power to those in the white coats, thinking that they know better and that they actually have our highest, you know, invest in mind. Most of them do not. So first thing, as you are preparing or cooking your meal, you know, whether you're making yourself a salad or you're cooking, you know, a healthy stir fry. Are you preparing and cooking your meal with love and gratitude for your food?

Everything is energy. Everything is energy. And so when you're, you know, putting your hands on whatever it's, if it's meat, if you're vegan, if you're vegetarian, if you're, you know, you are being mindful and ingesting animal, having gratitude for their, and it's actually, there's actually been the latest studies in research, and I haven't known this for a while, but that our plants actually have a consciousness as well. And so that's pretty cool, right, to think about that. So really giving and being in that space of gratitude. And just imagine that you're sprinkling your food with showers of light and love as you're

preparing and fusing it with light and love and whatever you're drinking as well. Fresh water. Number two. Use a smaller plate or bowl than usual. So I do appreciate beauty and color and patterns. So I have a few of my favorite, like, colorful. bowls or plates that I use. And that makes me happy when I eat.

So maybe invite you to do the same. You could just use color. And if you're familiar with the chakras, which I will be doing a future podcast on that, understanding the energy centers in the body and how each chakra relates to us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. in every chakra has a different color, seed symbol, sound, frequency, all these things. So perhaps maybe you're working on, let's say you really want to attract partnership and divine love or romance. So maybe you use a green bowl or a pink bowl in connection to the fourth chakra.

Number three, Claire and declutter, you're eating space. So clean it off. Clean the energy out in the space, right? You could maybe, I'm a big fan of Paulo Santo. You could sage. You could just spray some frankincense in the air, air, and just clear out the space where you're going to eat. Number four, turn on your favorite music or create a playlist on Spotify. Right. If you are in Spotify, you could follow me there as well. Obviously, subscribe to the podcast, but I also have music playlist, too, that you might be interested in. Music actually changes the frequency, the vibrational frequency of the space that you're in. So maybe it's classical music or yogi-ish music or just some fun music, just some of your favorite artists that you put on the list.

Number five, once you're seated in front of your food, gratitude. Give thanks for all of the people, the animals and the plants that have contributed to, to this amazing food and meal, right? From the farmers, from the pickers, the truck drivers, the grocery store, stalkers, all of it, including your chef. Maybe if you are the chef, give yourself love. If your partner created the meal, then give them love as well. Number six, cut up your food into small pieces and chew each bite at least 20 times.

I'm actually being generous here. They actually say to do between 25 to 35 times to chew your food. Remember, your stomach does not have teeth. So the digestion starts in the mouth, especially with carbohydrates. Right. We produce an enzyme called amylase, and it actually will begin to break down your carbs in your mouth. So chew, chew, chew, chew. get those pieces smaller.

Now you won't be able to digest animal protein in your mouth, but at least if you have smaller pieces, it will help to be more efficient once it actually gets to your stomach. Imagine your food is medicine. Number seven, feeding and nourishing every cell, every fiber, every organ and system and gland in the body. And just imagine that you're just pulling that amazing, beautiful, natural medicine from the food.

As you're chewing your food, continue to be grateful for it. So again, in this space, I know this might be challenging. You're going to say, oh, my goodness, like so many of us are multitasking throughout the day. So I invite you to choose one meal a day for you to do this with. It could be breakfast, it could be lunch. It could be your dinner. And just be present with. your food, what you're doing. I will tell you this. It literally takes 20 minutes before your brain,

your hypothalamus registers that you're actually full. So what happens when we're mindlessly eating and eating very fast as we eat out how sometimes you inhale your food and you wonder why you don't actually feel full. And then later, you know, perfect example is during the holidays. We often do that. We'll overeat on things. And then later you're, you know, laying in the big, comfortable chair with a really bloated belly. So what if we ate when we were hungry and stopped when we were comfortable? Just doing that in itself, and again, I'm not saying that you might want to lose weight, but you would be healthier in all aspects of your life. And if you're looking to lose weight, just by doing that, you would actually lose weight. Put your fork down as in between bites,

right? So put your fork down as you're chewing. Instead of, we've all seen, we've all done it and we've all seen other people do it, where they inhale their food, where they're just, it's bite after bite after bite, and there's just all this food in your mouth. And then again, you know, you wonder why there's an epidemic of gut issues out there. There's a lot of other reasons for that, but that'll be another podcast that I'll chat about. So when your brain starts to signal that you've had enough food, the food actually won't taste as good anymore. So again, if you're not being present, if you're not being mindful, you're not really going to notice that. So stop when you're comfortable, not when you're full and just push your plate away. It's a practice. It's a new, it's a habit. It takes time. And then And lastly, delete, destroy, and uncreate any beliefs, any old wounds or micro or macro traumas that are getting in the way of you having a healthy, loving relationship with food as well as your body. And I invite you to, again, in your journal, notebook, just take some notes and start to think about your relationship with food and with your body. because again, if you're constantly feeding your body, just low quality processed toxic crap, you know, which is all the going through the fast food lines and just eating packaged stuff,

all of it, you're literally disrespecting your body. You are. Now, I understand that not everybody can afford to do organic and this and that and this. I hear it all the time, but I will tell you that if you become more mindful, and more conscious, that even the cheap process stuff, you can prepare things, healthier things, a healthier way of being. You know, some vegetables, you could do Basmati rice, you could do a healthier meat product. If you're doing that, you know, if you're looking to be more vegetarian or vegan,

then, oh my goodness, chickpeas and lus. lentils and beans, things like that, those are all very inexpensive. And, you know, you add in the good spices and like I said, you could do quinoa. There's definitely ways that you can eat healthier. And then adding in the vegetables to it. And really the key there, if you are vegan or vegetarian, the key to keeping yourself full longer because, you know, protein, animal protein helps to stabilize your blood sugar level. is so the key, again, if you're vegan or vegetarian, is to increase the good fats in your diet,

things like avocado, coconut. Those are going to be the things that are going to be work for you and keeping you full or longer, increasing the good quality fats in your diet. So again, just a quick review here as we go through about beginning to heal your relationship with food and your body. Number one, preparing or cooking your meal, infuse it with love and gratitude. Number two, use a smaller plate or bowl than usual. Number three, clear and declutter your eating space.

Number four, play some high frequency music while you eat. Number five, once seated in front of your food, connect into gratitude for all of the people that contributed to bringing this food to you as well as yourself. Number six, cut up your food into small pieces and chew a lot 20 to 25 to 30 times. Number seven, imagine your food as medicine, feeding and nourishing every cell. Continue to be grateful for chewing as you're chewing the food. take a deep breath between bites, stop when you're comfortable. And once again, lastly, delete, destroy, and uncreat any beliefs, old wounds, or traumas

that are getting in the way of you having a healthy, loving relationship with food as well as your body. And I encourage you to journal on that. Because this is, again, if this is something, if you're listening all the way through, this may have struck a chord for you. and hopefully this podcast has helped you to plant some seeds of looking at your relationship with food in a different way. Remember, I'm here for you. I'm here. If you need support, reach out. I got you. And remember to be and see the magic in everyday life. Victoria Hafer here, signing off.