How do you decide what to eat? Food is information. Food is energy. It can provide emotional, mental, and spiritual support if we allow it and nourish us in a multitude of ways. When we start to consider all the benefits of what we drink and eat, we may begin to make different choices and gravitate more easily towards our natural state of well-being.

When we peel the layers of the onion of Food, we first see the physical aspect of food as we perceive it on the outside. But peel a layer, and you realize that food is highly emotional. Some people eat the same foods, or cuisine, over and over because of emotional affiliations with food. It can be the food they grew up on, that reminds them of home and family or because it’s fun and enjoyable.

The next layer of the onion of food is the mental sphere, the thinking realm, our mind, our mood and how our behaviors and mental patterns are affected and change with food. Research shows that certain mood states such as anxiety, depression, joy, flourishing and creativity generate different eating behaviors and vice versa, that certain eating behaviors are leading towards certain mood states. There’s a bidirectional flow with food and mood.

The next layer is that of spiritual connection. By spirituality, if we define it as a sense of connection, meaning and purpose, then through the experience of eating food, we may sense a connection with the land, the plants, the animals and the whole experience of growing food and it may make it feel more embracing, more universal and take us out of the ME and into the WE of living.

The other layer of food and eating is that of energy. Food is energetic. Not just because food gives energy in terms of calories but because food is energetic in and of itself (energetic medicine – the energy of meat, fish, chicken and beans varies even if all provide protein for instance). Food has a subtle energy, as evidenced by plants who respond to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) around them for instance.

I find that we often focus too much on the physical aspects of food, and do not look at the other layers as much we tend to polarize around food (good food, bad food) or even disconnect from several aspects of ourselves. Most people only look at the physicality of food and count calories, yet always wondering what to eat or if they’re eating the right food.. And what about someone who eats for spirituality instead of just focusing on the physical aspect of food? Can you see how the food choices this person make will be very different? For example, yogis traditionally eat a vegetarian diet in order to support a peaceful state of mind and a supple body both conducing to deeper states of meditation.

To try to get back to the fundamental nature of food in an effort to deeply nourish yourself, traditional systems of medicine have looked different elements in food that connect with these multi-dimensional layers of the onion of food:

• The physical aspect of food connects us to the earth element,
• The emotional aspects of food connected with the element of water
• The mental aspect of food connected with the air element
• The spiritual sphere associated with the fire element in food

Indeed, ancient traditions looked at food as having subtle energy, rooted in nature and in their environment in different ways (native American medicine, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Folk medicine). Here are a few examples of the medicine of nature:

Within Native American Medicine, one can learn about the four directions:

• East: Corresponds to illumination, new beginnings, winged animals like birds taking flights
• South: Warmth, fire element, coyote, laughter, playfulness, being in the fiery heart
• West: Pioneering, the water element, going deep, the bear, strength and flexibility
• North: Ancestry, dream space, the Buffalo animal in some traditions

We have these four directions always around us and now we can think about them in terms of the four corners of our plate. What’s on the Northern part of our plate, the southern part of the plate. The plate is symbolic, like a microcosm of nature. You can have a little fun and do an energy reading on what somebody’s eating. What does it say about them? How is the food positioned on the plate? What are the colors? What’s the energy of the food they’re eating?

There’s also Ayurvedic medicine, one of the oldest system of medicine, and which has been a guide for me and the people I coach over the years. Ayurveda is the science of life and emphasizes flowing with our body’s natural wisdom to maintain health or recover from illness. It looks at various body types and how do we used food to bring balance to our natural constitution. In science we’re seeing a convergence between Ayurveda and genomics. Certain foods do better indeed for certain people. This is personalized nutrition and it’s 5,000 years old!

Then there’s Traditional Chinese Medicine, a system that addresses imbalances in the body to promote healing. It uses meridians and organ systems and uses different frames of reference that do connect into the element again and in that system certain foods generate certain properties in the body: warming, cooling, dampness, dryness, etc.

When it comes to food and knowing what to eat, I believe it’s important to look at bio-individuality and combining science and other layers beyond the physical nature of food, such as spirituality. Together they create a holistic view of why we eat, how we eat, and what we’re eating. We see the plate as more than literal, but also symbolic.

Eating is a journey of personal growth, not just physical, as it enables us to grow our psyche and spirit if we allow it. My diet has become more and more intuitive over the years, because I have become more attuned to who I am inside, my moods, my mind, my emotions, my desires, my spirit and vice versa. The higher quality of food I eat, in the right energetic balance, the more creative, joyful and spiritual I become. My food journey started as a sports performance quest in my 20’s, tinted with vanity, then transformed into healing two auto-immune diseases in my 30’s, and now it is about regulating all parts of myself and PLEASURE on a day to day basis. I take cues from all these aspects when choosing what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Crunched for time? Try Zenberry Greens superfood protein smoothies. Perfect for on-the-go healthy eating.

LISTEN IN, my new 6-week Small Group Coaching program will take you on this journey of eating for your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. You’ll consider your goals, your nature, your traditions, and the energetics of food and using food to balance your natural constitution. Only 4 weeks left to sign-up for this unique experience. I will be interviewing each applicant to ensure that your individual needs are met as you advance your education and wellness journey. Let me know if you have any questions and click below to review the week by week curriculum. Thank you for reading.