Energetics of Food
The goal of Food Energetics is to reconnect with nature by
consciously and proactively choosing our foods and living their effects. Environmentalists focus on how we impact our
environment and nutritionists focus on how quantities or parts (and sometimes
qualities) of food from our environment impact us. We need to be aware of and work on both of
these aspects because they are intertwined.
When trying to use food to heal the body, there are no magic
pills. Foods work synergistically with
each other and within you. The magic pill
focus is very oversimplified. Just like
with pharmaceuticals, foods have desired effects and undesired side effects,
especially when consumed in excess. A
dietitian may know that brown rice heals the intestines and may encourage you
to eat brown rice every day to heal constipation or diarrhea. Theoretically according to Chinese Medicine,
brown rice ‘resonates’ with the lower intestines. But what if eating habits were poor in the
past? The lower intestines may not have
the ability to be nourished by brown rice.
It may be too hard for the body to digest it. The digestive system may be accustomed to
processing junk food (easy, fast and devoid of nutrients) and may just create a
bunch of gas instead. So what works in
one person may not work for another.
In order to heal, the desire or will to heal yourself is so
necessary and provides the positive emotional energy feeding the physical
body. Healing is not a separate way of
life although sometimes we are more focused on it. The state of health is always changing and
moving forward physically, mentally and spiritually. A good goal is to choose foods with purpose,
adventure, and constant new discovery.
Like exercise, the body needs to always change it up for your body to
grow stronger. Most types of diets have
both positive and negative aspects that change with your changing body.
The State of the Food Supply (State
of the Union)
What is the state of our food supply and how does it effect
us? We have always known food as a
substance or having a quality to it. Most
of us intuitively sense how our food makes us feel, especially comfort
foods. Valuable knowledge of food and
healing has been built on over thousands of years. Our food supply and the modern medical model
have moved away from or have become disconnected from nature and this base of
knowledge. Traditional people respect
and understand the power of their foods and the inherent (fixed within)
energy. Most people in the US have been
drawn away from their instinctual knowledge of what nourishes them without
realizing it because the trajectory taken by our food system. It goes along with disconnection on a grander
scale with waging wars on everything from other countries and small farmers to
viruses, bacteria and obesity. Medical
research and the general public have been focusing on looking at specific parts
of our food and declaring our foundational knowledge as “unscientific”. What we see now emerging is that traditional
knowledge of food and healing is being brought to the forefront, coming in
through the back door waiting to be scientifically proven. People want scientific proof before they are
going to believe it.
Meanwhile, our daily food is a critical link to our
adaptation to the ever-changing environment and the challenges we will be
facing. There is so much intelligence in
our food experience. The food experience
includes:
- ·
The history of our food that can be seen through
the seeds, their genetics and adaptability.
- ·
How the environment and types of food systems
affect our foods (such as big agriculture produce and animal protein
production)
- ·
If/how the food is processed
- ·
How the food is cooked
- ·
How the food is chewed
- ·
A person’s state of mind when the food is eaten and
digested (quickly, slowly, angrily…)
Our experience with food is recorded electrically through
our digestive system onto the awareness of our nervous system.
The energetics of food complement other healing modalities
such as Ayurvedic Medicine (India), Chinese Medicine, Unani Medicine (practiced
by Hippocrates – still in the Middle East), Energy Medicine (Donna Eden), Elemental
Medicine (Air/Fire/Water/Earth), Vibrational Medicine, Functional Medicine, chakra
balancing, Feng Shui and Homeopathy.
How food affects us depends on:
- ·
The balance of our body when ingesting the food
(starting energy point)
- ·
The energy of the food being ingested (processed, local,
plant-based, artificial)
- ·
The health of the digestive system (can have
lots of clogged debris and emotional energy)
Food can be analyzed in different ways. The most common is chemical analysis. It is from this viewpoint that much of the
food research is conducted and doctors and dieticians/nutritionists are
trained. This is an important aspect of
nutrition, but a big part of the picture includes the energetic effects down to
the cellular level. Cells communicate
and vibrate. We live in a sea of energy
that includes the cosmos. We are
constantly communicating with this energy like a two-way street, with energy
both within our bodies and outside of them.
Physicists are clear that energy can neither be created nor destroyed
and that the nature of energy is that it is changeable, malleable and even
adaptable. Matter (like a desk) is
simply energy that is dense. The
particles that make up matter are the same particles that make up energy and
they are constantly in a state of flux.
Research done by Masaru Emoto on water molecules helps us to
start to understand the way energy moves and how the energy in our food can
affect us. He has shown how water can
take emotions into itself (energy imprint occurs) and retain memories of these
emotions in the water molecules. He
exposes the water to written words for example, freezes the water, and then
compares the various crystals that result.
The “Thank you” crystals are balanced and well formed, while the
“Stupid” crystals are deformed and broken.
We are about 70% water! The
crystals within us contain energy from our emotions. Different foods, plants and animals, are made
up of water and can carry emotional energy.
Lets look at the process of eating. The main parts are: choosing your food, chewing,
digesting, assimilating, absorbing, utilizing, and animating. All of
these parts energetically alter the food.
There is more to the cells of your food than just ‘burning fuel’. A calorie is not a calorie. Looking at the calories of a food is a good
place to start but there is so much more to it.
Food affects our spiritual power, emotional power and physical (nutritional)
power. Some people are ready to work at
an energetic level when it comes to improving their food, exercise,
spirituality and other parts of their lives.
There is so much information and types of practices in the field of
Energy Medicine to help you. We merge
with our food. Now think about junk food
and what it is turning you into!
Eating is a biochemical and electrical event and is
described with the term ‘entrainment’ by Steve Gagne (researching and teaching
food energetics since 1972), meaning to “draw after or into”. Balance is always being seeked within our
bodies AND between the food and our bodies, either being entraining or being
entrained. For example, a carrot grows
down into the soil to seek vital nutrients.
When its picked, its out of place and will continue to seek its own
level. Eating the carrot resonates with
the lower part of our body, the intestines, bladder, and reproductive
organs. The nutritional elements and the
qualities (or essence) of the food are entrained by our body.
Steve Gagne describes the energetics of food by categorizing
foods in these ways:
·
Temperament – basic nature
o
Moisture (damp, dry)
o
Temperature (hot, warm, cool, cold)
·
Character – growth and behavior patterns
o
Direction (down/up, in/out)
o
Speed (fast/ slow, regulated/irregular rhythm)
·
Body Position – area of the body where the food
resonates
o
Upper (chest, lungs, heart and throat)
o
Middle (liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas,
stomach and kidneys)
o
Lower (intestines, bladder and reproductive
organs)
Working with food this way can be quit complex but can help
set you on a healthier path when certain symptoms, diseases or deficiencies
come up.
One working model (from traditional Chinese medicine) that
helps to understand food energetics is the nature of the five flavors or
tastes. The five flavors of food (sour,
sweet, pungent, bitter, and salty) affect different parts of our bodies in
different ways. They correlate to a
filling/emptying/or balancing within an organ.
The five flavors are neither good nor bad for organs, but produce an
energetic effect on the organs. For
example, a congested liver unable to handle the deluge of toxins the body
intakes may be full and hot. This may
correlate to a hot and angry temperament.
Eating sour foods may benefit that person by cooling and promoting the
emptying of the liver, since the sour energy has the following qualities:
- ·
enters the liver (is associated with the
gallbladder)
- ·
astringent (contracts the tissues)
- ·
tendency to empty fullness
- ·
cooling
Simple ways to energetically balance your body using food:
- 1.
Try to get all five flavors in your main meal to
notice a difference in how you feel and what you crave.
- 2.
Try to eat locally grown (produce and animal
products) as much as you can. Your body
more easily assimilates the nutrients from the food and it also provides a
connection with your community and natural surroundings.
- 3.
Eat with the seasons as much as you can (goes
with #2)
- 4.
Take 3 deep breathes and pray or think of things
that you are grateful for at the beginning of each meal.
Resources
Food Energetics, The Spiritual, emotional,
and Nutritional Power of What We Eat, by Steve Gagne.
Energy Medicine, by Donna Eden
A Practical Guide to Vibrational Medicine,
Energy Healing and Spiritual Transformation, by Richard Gerber, M.D.
Cell Talk, by John E. Upledger,
D.O.,O.M.M.
The Miracle of Water, by Masaru Emoto
