We Are What We Eat

Have you ever heard of food energetics? I hadn't until very recently but once I did I became fascinated.

Basically, we are what we eat. It's quite simple. Eating lots of chicken will affect your body, personality, moods and mind very differently than if you ate lots of kale. You merge with your food, because your food goes to your blood, cells, organs, etc.

For example, a carrot – which deeply penetrates the earth to get its nutrients –will go deeply inside of you when eaten and penetrate your intestines to ground itself, therefore grounding you too.

We can also look at it like this: a plant is a lesser system because it cannot move or eat anything. An animal will have a greater system than a plant, because it can eat a plant and we are an even greater system, because we can eat both the plant and the animal.

Furthermore, certain food will affect your body differently because of how they are grown, their own energy and how they are cooked.

Kale is a green plant with serrated leaves; it affects the upper part of our body, lungs, hearts and circulatory system. These plants tend to lighten and enlighten us. Eating kale, dandelion, chives or chicken will have a drying effect on the upper body, like helping someone with a damp couch for example.

But, too much will also affect your personality. You will have increased erratic energy, hyperactive and obsessive behavior.

Then, you have carrots or eggs: they are more penetrating with more intensity and tenacity. Carrots have less water around their roots. Also grilled meat, fish and parsnips will all have a gathering and tightening effect on the lower body (intestines, stomach, etc.).

Then, we should consider the rhythms of the food; some are regulated and fast like kidney beans, others are irregular and fast like coffee, or slow and regulated like cheese or whole grains and last one is slow and irregular like alcohol.

Eat plenty of food with fast irregular rhythms and you will be able to do many things, maybe even stimulate your imagination beyond what you thought possible but be careful not to get in your own way.

Eat plenty of food with slow regular rhythms and you can become more stable and less erratic, maybe not very exciting but at least more reliable.

There is so much to the dynamic of food. If I have piqued your curiosity and you would like to know more, I would recommend this amazing book by Steve Gagne called Food Energetics.

There is energy and power in the food we eat so choose consciously, not based on what society tells you to eat or what you grow up on but truly based on your balance, your rhythms and what changes you want to see in yourself. It will help you change, it will support your changes because it's inside of you. It will be fueling your emotions, moods, mind and body. Be aware, be smart and listen to your body.

Hope this was interesting to you! More later.

Sev Degnan, health coach