12 Nutritional Facts From Marc David, Who Founded of the Institute For the Psychology of Eating
There's no such thing as a good food or a bad food. We are conditioned to think of foods as good and bad but no food is morally good or bad. Food is neutral. If you have food like a doughnut, it is automatically labeled as bad, then you think you are bad for eating it and you want to punish yourself. You judge peoples spiritual worth when you see what people put in their shopping cart. Or you see someone eating like you do and you tell yourself that this person is special. When you say a food is bad for you, all a person hears is that they are a bad person for eating that food. Let go of judgement around this being good or bad. So, when you see food as neutral, it allows for more information and body wisdom to come forth. There are so many complexities and rich information about food. We should stop questioning foods and judging them as good or bad. It's about seeing food through new eyes.
If there is no such thing as a good food and a bad food than what am I supposed to eat and how do I judge the value of the food? The dose makes the poison. Every substance has a toxic dose. Caffeine, even water (drowning). Less about foods and more about how much of it and what works for you. What is the food worth or not worth to your body? When you add pleasure, something happens with the metabolism. Gauge for yourself and tune into own body wisdom. Ask yourself, how much would work for me?
There is no one perfect diet. Its all about bio-chemical individuality. Most of the info you have been fed is for a one size fits all diet. We want to find the perfect way to eat for health and energy. If we can only find the exact combinations. It's about change. Relax into changing the body. What's going to work for me this day?
There is a spectrum of nutrition. There is a rainbow of potential diets on a large spectrum. Vegetarian, meat eaters, low allergy foods, etc. Things to consider are age, level of health, male or female, season, location, thoughts, beliefs. Your diet will want to change if you elevate exercise. A new job will include a new way to eat or a marriage. We need to figure out how we eat and what the body needs best.
Every nutritional system has one important nugget of wisdom for you. Low-carb diet, low sugar, Atkins, etc. If you are eating too many refined carbs like bread, cake cookies, etc. cut them down. Figure out what can you take from this and apply to your life in a way that is doable and works.
Experts generally misread your body. Any diet can potentially work, it depends on you. If you believe, stay accountable and adhere to a particular program, you just may find success along the way. Just know that experts want to help, but your job is know what diet might work for you. Look for those nuggets of wisdom and work with that.
Three levels of diet. Maintenance - kind of diet that works for you that you will follow day in and day out with staple foods. Therapeutic - would follow if you have a disease like gout - lower in meat proteins. Do as long as you have the condition. Not long term. Perfect to help issue then go back to maintenance diet. Experimental - lets try eating this and see what happens. Use observation to see if this is something you want to participate in. Is it a good experiment?
We all see food differently - food is impacted by the way we see it. Different conditions looks different to us. What we see will impact metabolism of the meal. Examine how we see food and understand ways we create stress around a meal. Create internal freedom and it will expand metabolism.
We are in a relationship with food - love, commitment, need, dependency, participation, pleasure, change, uncertainty, conflict. These words equally describe relationships with food. Stop looking for perfect diet. Find freedom with food. We change and that's ok. It's good to understand our evolving relationship. Discoveries need to be made. Our body is interested in specifics and wants us to pay attention to it. Body wisdom will come through with more awareness. Embrace your relationship with food. Aim to receive health, pleasure and satisfaction.
Nourishment super cedes nutrition. Most of us are conditioned to think if food as nutritional and to look at the content of that food. Food is much more that sum total of chemicals. Nutrients are what helps us feel healthy, energized and give us a sense of life. Food can be nutritional and nourish the body, but so does music, sound, color, beauty, light, oxygen, a good book, touch, everything in our environment, a favorite sports team, etc. Sounds translates to healing effects in the body. Anything nourishing for us impacts us on a metabolic and nutritional level. Some foods embody something that gives you love and healing. There is power beyond the nutritional profile of the food. If a food takes you back home to yourself, it can be nourishing and nutritional.
The new definition of metabolism - what you think, feel and believe dramatically effects the processes in the body. Stress effects metabolism but so does laughter, hope, love and forgiveness. Metabolism is sum total of all chemical reactions in the body plus it’s the sum total of who you are, what you are thinking, what you are feeling, what you are believing in each and every moment, dramatically impacts the chemistry of your being.
You are on a nutritional journey. Fall in love with it. Nutrition is a story of how we live our lives and what works for us. How we eat alone or with others. What are we supposed to feed ourselves? It's changing. We have a choice to be confused or upset about our journey or we can be enlivened by it and interested. Fall in love with the unknown. Ask big questions that allow information to come through in a bigger and better way.