I can’t eat this diet for another day. I am going crazy!!!
Have you been sick and found answers to help heal your body? And those answers included changing your diet. Cutting out foods that were inflammatory. You started the diet with great gusto but now 1 month in, its a real drag. All you do is think about food, prep food for yourself and your family and you realize that food has now become a source of stress in your life. Can you relate? If so, read on, I have some fun solutions for you with the joy of food.
I am on Day 6 of the Medical Medium cleanse. And what has been coming up for me is how can I create meals that I find nourishing and exciting? And there are days where it seems too much to figure out, but overall I love cooking meals so I can get super excited about creating something new.
But that made me realize that not everyone enjoys cooking, or finds thinking about making meals enjoyable. Many of us are just trying to get through the day with the millions of things that we have to get done, managing work, health, kids, spouses and social life and home.
It’s a LOT. So often as has happened in American culture especially, is that we have taken shortcuts to make it through our busy busy, go-go-go lives. Many of our shortcuts have been with food. We have used microwaves for quick heating, freezer meals, TV dinners, ‘fast’ food, canned food, ready to eat packaged meals.
The food industry has capitalized upon this and has made options so easily available and we, as consumers for a good almost 80-90 years have gone along with this experiment. Hopefully, we will look back upon this time as one of the darkest times in human health, learn from it and never go there again. And our awakening for many of us has come from our sickness, or that of our children.
But, as Dickens said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
So even in our darkest times, there is tremendous good that is emerging and wisdom and knowing available to us to heal, grow and literally go back to basics. To go back into our kitchens and make them the centers of our home again. To gather with people, share food (and not just on the holidays), but more regularly and with that and in doing that, we educate each other about good nourishing food and we teach our children the value of cooking at home.
And with this, I want to circle back where I started. Finding JOY in our food. So many of you struggle with the changes in a new diet to align with the healthiest version of you. So many of you in your head crave the old foods. Your mind takes you to the cheeseburger, or the chocolate cake, or even just a piece of delicious gourmet cheese.
When we take things out of our diet, and change up our food, we are affecting DEEPLY the emotions that we have typically associated with food. Most of us today don’t eat to nourish. We eat to disassociate with emotions and feelings, or in other words, to numb out. When we cut out the foods that we use to numb out or create more serotonin that helps us feel good, we have lost the crutch and other emotions come up that make us feel like we are flailing. We can start hating and resisting the changes in food choices. We can lose our joy completely.
Do you know that if you eat without joy, you are really not nourishing your body? Your food will not nourish you as deeply if you eat in resistance to the idea of your new chosen diet. In your head you may intellectually believe that your diet is good for you, but if you lose your joy over it, there is no point.
I know – the struggle with food is REAL.
Now, not only do I have to cut out the no foods, now I have to find joy too?
Well, how much easier would it be to make good choices if you felt excited about them? How much easier would it be to look forward to a meal rather than feel heavy and upset about what you cannot eat.
Do you look at your plate of food and celebrate the opportunity to nourish your cells deeply, or do you look at your plate and see what is missing on it, what you would rather be eating.
So here are 7 tips on how to bring more joy into your daily food ritual (and these are personally REALLY helping me get through the deeper cleanse):
1. Prepare your food with love. For me, food preparation is a meditation. I look at food, and my ingredients and I get excited to see the joy in my creations. I am always thrilled to create foods that will nourish my body and those of others I feed.
2. Always prepare a treat of some kind. Something that you make just for you. If you haven’t landed on a nourishing treat for yourself, ask others about healthy desserts or other food flavors. What would you LOVE to have back in your diet – is it a type of food, like cheese? Is it a cultural cuisine like Thai? Then go out and find a healthy version of that food. And if you need help, ask! There is always a way to prepare a healthier version of a food you love, and plan that treat on a regular basis, like once a week or once every two weeks.
3. Make meals simple. Meals don’t have to be elaborate. In fact the simpler they are, the easier they are to prepare and to digest. This can create true JOY in your body at a CELLULAR level. I love watermelon. I often will choose to eat watermelon and watermelon juice for a day. This lightens my digestion, it allows me to get in touch with what I may be stuffing down emotionally and allows me to process things I would not otherwise process. And I have deep deep gratitude for my food and my choices in allowing me to lighten.
4. Find support. You remember above how I quoted Dickens? Is it the best of times? Well, this totally applies here. We are blessed to be in the information age, to find people, blogs, books, websites, meet up groups, pins on Pinterest and Instagram pics to zone in on what our needs are. I can GUARANTEE you that whatever your need, someone out there has a resource to help you meet that need. Whether its a recipe, a substitution that is healthy or a new restaurant that will help you get a meal you can eat, that YOU didn’t have to prepare!
5. Plan your meals. If you don’t have any idea what you are eating tomorrow or during the week, it is SO SO hard to find an appropriate meal last minute. And that is when we end up making choices that are less than ideal for ourselves. Spend time on the weekend looking at cookbooks and websites, pick recipes, buy ingredients and make a menu for the week. This way you know what you are having ahead of time. And your body and heart can be excited to expect the next meal given that you have ingredients purchased and all you have to do is to prep. One of my favorite things to do is to prep 2-3 different salad dressings and that way, I can choose to put together my salad last minute, but the hardest part which is the dressing is already done.
6. Never shop on an empty stomach. If you are at the grocery store and are hungry, first go and get yourself some food friendly to your diet (my favorite is cut fruit) and then you will not only shop as per your list, you will save money too on not buying things that you THOUGHT you wanted because you are so hungry.
7. Before putting any food in your mouth. Look at it. Mostly likely there is a TON of life force in that food and a consciousness in it. Thank your food, thank yourself for all the work you do to take care of your body, allow your mind and cells to open to receive the joy, healing and nourishment from your food. And don’t rush through this. REALLY connect with your food. This practice can make a huge difference to healing old emotions around food and really allowing you to align better with your choices.
I would love to hear from you about how you bring JOY to your meals and your nourishment. Please comment on the blog below and share your thoughts, and your favorite meals. I am sure others would love to hear from you and share that while the struggle is real, the solution can be found with more mindfulness around the practice of nourishing your body mind and soul with your food.
I LOVE you ALL!
14 thoughts on “The Joy of Food”
What an inspiring email. I love all your suggestions especially ‘make yourself a treat! Thank you!
Thanks Patti, I am so happy they resonated for you! Make a treat is my favourite one too.
What an inspiring email. I love all your suggestions especially ‘make yourself a treat! Thank you!
I am finding that I love to cook now more than before and feel it as a meditation. My issue is since I completely stopped taking the HCI supplements and just sticking to celery juice to restore my digestive juices; my hands have gotten so inflamed and slightly disfigured that the simplest of things is getting extremely difficult.
No matter what I eat and my diet is down to maybe 10 food items; my body is reacting sometimes extremely painfully. I don’t even want to eat anymore.
I do find joy in cooking now when ai can.
Lupita I am so sorry to hear that, this appears to be a healing reaction. In time it should clear and you will be able to do the things that you have missed doing. Wishing you love and healing.
This so resonates with me!….I find myself longing for foods that I used to love. Just this morning I was saying….okay…I have to get myself back on the raw regime, or at least raw during the day and cooked at night…..so I asked myself, “what did you eat during the day yesterday”….It was raw…my breakfast and all my snacks…..I have come to enjoy my snacks which I prepare ahead of time….I am still eating vegan too….I have just forgotten to be proud of what I am doing and have done. I love your post, and will read and re-read this often…..Thank You…..Blessings!
I do find it so hard to find replacements as I have a child unable to eat all tree nuts, all legumes, peas, mangos….and so many of the replacement recipes include these items…..going to try and put the joy of cooking back into my life by creating and trying new things…..thank you again!
Karen you’re welcome! Yes it can be so disappointing when many things are taken out, but really if we re-focus the mind, the joy is really there. It takes practice. You are a warrior goddess mama. And you are rocking this out. Thank you for being here and sharing.
Karen you are doing AMAZING. Glad you are celebrating yourself and are proud of yourself. You really should be. This is amazing progress.
Excellent post..need your email add..Thank you
Chetana best way to contact us is https://muneezaahmed.com/contact. Blessings!
I do feel joy in eating the
“AW Way”. I don’t thank my food wch I need to start to do but am inspired by the life energy and healing abilities my food brings on a cellular level. I miss the ease of eating some of the “NO foods” but it’s not necessarily those foods that I miss. The mindfulness in eating is great on one level and gets difficult when one is busy with life and if not home enuff clean eating can often get challenging…. We need a lot of time to shop often, and at times daily we must prepare at time of consumption( HM smoothie, celery juice)so these items can become difficult at times bc we can’t make ahead of time.
I have been eating and living this way for 9 months and it does get easier!!!
Thanks Muneeza! U give so much of ur time to help us evolve into healthier humans!!!!
I do feel joy in eating the
“AW Way”. I don’t thank my food wch I need to start to do but am inspired by the life energy and healing abilities my food brings on a cellular level. I miss the ease of eating some of the “NO foods” but it’s not necessarily those foods that I miss. The mindfulness in eating is great on one level and gets difficult when one is busy with life and if not home enuff clean eating can often get challenging…. We need a lot of time to shop often, and at times daily we must prepare at time of consumption( HM smoothie, celery juice)so these items can become difficult at times bc we can’t make ahead of time.
I have been eating and living this way for 9 months and it does get easier!!!
Thanks Muneeza! U give so much of ur time to help us evolve into healthier humans!!!!
Madelyne, thank you so much for sharing. yes, it does get easier and we become more skilled at meal prep and what tastes good to us. I am thrilled to hear about your commitment. Remember, look for the joy every day, and you will find it, I promise!