Spiritual Nutrition: The Most Important Ingredient in Food is Love

You already have the precious mixture
that will make you well. Use it.

                                                   —Rumi (13th Century)

Food is simple. At least, it used to be. Knowing what to eat and whether it was healthy and healing for us was clear. It was instinctual. We did not have to think about food. We just ate it.

Today, food has become complicated. As humans normally do with most issues, we overthink them, relying too much on our intellect instead of intuition. At a time when we have countless scientific studies telling us this is good or that is bad, it seems that identifying what food really is would become easier. It has not.

How many times have you watched the evening news cite a recent study that declares eggs, red meat, or any other food is bad for you in some way? How long did it take before the same programs reported on a newer study praising the virtues of these same foods? It is no wonder we are confused about what food is and whether it is good for us.

Adding more complication are labels like all natural, vitamin-fortified, organic, and so on. Who knows what to eat anymore? The good news is that food is still simple if you trust yourself and know what to look for.


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To Each His Own

The biggest mistake those in the healing food movement make is to assume that their way is the only way. Someone will experience a dramatic healing then write a book about it and insist that everyone should be eating the way they do. This only creates more confusion. Just as there are many paths to God, I believe there are many paths to healing.

As a physician I have seen two people create the same condition in their bodies but for very different reasons, so naturally the route to healing for both is different. The same goes for food. Although one person may have healed from something with a raw vegan diet, another can regain wellness using macrobiotics or by consuming red meat. Having experienced a healing of my own, I can sincerely tell you that diet, although an extremely important part of any healing plan, is only one part.

In Ayurvedic traditions, the body has three humor centers that balance energy and wellness. These are called the doshas. When one is too dominant or weak, illness can occur. Ayurvedic medicine treats illness with nutrition among other interventions. Each dosha has specific characteristics. Vatta (air/ether) represents elements that are dry, light, cold, and clear. Pitta (fire/water) carries qualities that are sharp, hot, and liquid. While Kapha (earth/water) represents things that are heavy, slow, oily, and dense. Depending on the illness, patients are given foods with these various qualities to correct the imbalance.

Although one person may need something hot and spicy to aid healing, another may need something bitter and bland. Food is literally used as medicine, therefore a prescription that is good for one person would never be right for another with a completely different condition. Would you take a blood pressure pill to ease back pain?

I encourage everyone to explore, so long as their diet is based on whole, real food.

Taking The Garbage Out

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is when they confuse cleansing diets with sustaining diets. Someone may experience dramatic results on a raw vegan diet and then assume that, because it has brought their desired results, it is a sign that they are supposed to eat that way for the rest of their lives.

I believe there are diets that are optimal for cleansing and healing, but that does not mean our bodies are designed to sustain themselves on those diets. Just because someone achieves great results from a juice fast does not mean they are supposed to drink only juice for the rest of their lives. To remain on a healing diet for too long, the body is denied specific nutrients that it needs and invites additional health problems later on.

The body is either cleansing or building at any one time, but it cannot do both simultaneously. That is why we have no appetite when we are sick. Our body does not want food because it knows it has to redirect its energy normally used for digestion and building toward cleansing and healing. Once the healing is done, however, it needs to rebuild. That is why you are usually very hungry after recovering from a long illness. If we remain on a cleansing diet indefinitely, we become deficient and our bodies never get a chance to fully recover.

In a state of good health, a diet should be balanced by including a wide variety of foods. I feel animal products in moderation are very important to good health because they provide nutrients we cannot get anywhere else in nature. In 10,000 BCE, prehistoric cavemen were not getting their B12 supplements at a vitamin store. Taking our cue from nature, our diets should be balanced and simple. I suggest eating real food, some animal products, mostly plants, as raw as possible, in moderate amounts.

What About Digestive Cleansing or Fasting?

You should plan on doing at least two major digestive cleanses or fasts per year. There are many great programs available you can do at home. Most include detoxifying herbs, an intestinal bulking agent to help move waste out, and a natural laxative herbal tea. To be effective, a cleanse needs to last between four and seven days. If you can have a couple of colonic irrigations during the process, it is even better. On an occasional weekend throughout the year, it is a good idea to give your digestive system a rest. This includes not taking supplements.

While a good fast can eliminate most harmful toxins, I strongly recommend that everyone is tested for heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and mercury. These metals are quarantined by the body because they are so toxic and difficult to remove through standard cleansing. The proper removal process is not difficult but it needs to be done by a physician. Heavy metals hiding in the body can easily undermine the best of health programs.

The Spirit of Food

No matter what we eat or how we eat it, we must remember that food is alive and just like any other sentient being it has consciousness and a spirit. When we are grateful, we offer a very powerful energy that affects everything in our immediate sphere. Because everything is energy, we affect the quality and energetic composition of our food when we say grace and are truly thankful for it.

Do not just be thankful for the food, but thank the food itself, especially if it contains meat from animals who gave their lives to provide you with nutrients and energy. Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto has done some dramatic research showing the powerful effects of energy and our attitude on food.

He took two canning jars, filled them with cooked white rice, and screwed the lids on. After placing them on a shelf in an elementary school classroom, he gave the children specific instructions. Each morning they were to say “thank you” and “I love you” several times to one jar of rice. They were to tell the other “I hate you” and speak unkindly to it.

Ordinarily, cooked rice will breakdown, mold, and decompose like any other cooked food in a matter of weeks. Amazingly, the rice in the jar the children were yelling at started to decompose much faster than usual. In a matter of days it was already discolored. A week later, it was a black, decayed, gelatinous mass. The rice they thanked every day remained completely white. It looked like it had just come out of the serving pot minutes ago, after months of being in the jar. Even after one year, the rice that was being shown gratitude and love by the children stayed pure white.

Our thoughts, either positive or negative, generate energy that is transmitted like a vibration through water. Sound vibrations move through water four times faster than through the air. Water is in everything that is alive, including you and your food. Feelings of gratitude and respect for your food create vibrations in the water that change its energetic structure. Your body is over 70 percent water, so how are the vibrations from your thoughts affecting you?

Your Body is Listening to You While You Eat

Your body is listening to you while you eat, so be sure to remain in a calm, grateful mindset during meals. Sit, do not stand, when eating and direct as much of your attention to the meal as possible. No reading, watching TV, or doing work. Any additional activity creates a diversion of energy that must be directed toward digestion.

Eat with love and gratitude, but remember to prepare food for others with the same amount of love. We put our energy into everything we do. We change its vibration just by being involved with it, including food.

If we love making a special dinner for someone, our love goes directly into the food and changes its energetic vibration. As a result, that person receives our love and it becomes part of the energy they emanate and affects their whole mind and body. Because food is a form of endearment in many cultures, the most important ingredient we can include in its preparation is our love. When we feed others in this way, we allow everyone to be nourished in the Light we all share.

©2015 Keidi Keating. Published by New Page Books
a division of Career Press, Pompton Plains, NJ. 
800-227-3371.  All rights reserved.

Article Source

The Light: A Book of Wisdom: How to Lead an Enlightened Life Filled with Love, Joy, Truth, and BeautyThe Light: A Book of Wisdom: How to Lead an Enlightened Life Filled with Love, Joy, Truth, and Beauty
by Keidi Keating.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book on Amazon.

About the Author of this excerpt

Habib Sadeghi, D.OHabib Sadeghi, D.O, is the founder of Be Hive of Healing, an integrative health center based in Los Angeles. With more than 15 years of direct patient care, he provides a comprehensive knowledge of revolutionary healing protocols through a unique and individualized approach to healthcare that includes evidence-based, western medical interventions and intuitive eastern healing modalities. He is regularly sought after as an expert in the fields of dietary supplementation, detoxification, and holistic interventions for chronic conditions and venues around the world. Dr. Sadeghi is also an on-air expert for health issues for FOX News and Geraldo at Large.  For more information about Dr. Sadeghi, go to www.behiveofhealing.com.

Watch a video: TED Talk: How emotions and thoughts affect our health (with Dr. Habib Sadeghi)

About the Author of the book

Keidi KeatingKeidi Keating experienced a sudden spiritual awakening at the age of 30, after a series of transformational healing sessions. One night, an orb of glowing white light appeared in her bedroom and instructed her to put together a book of light to assist and support others on their journeys to enlightenment. She gathered some of the planet’s greatest spiritual teachers and authors to contribute chapters. Three years later, after a lot of hard work and synchronistic magic, The Light spilled its rays to readers. Keidi now speaks at events throughout the world, and she continues to write books that empower people to awaken their divine inner light. Her Website is www.keidikeating.com.