A Five-minute Excercise To Re-align Your Eating Habits With Nature
Posted on June 14, 2012 by Rose Anderson, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
When we are disconnected from nature, we lose the instincts that tell us what foods and how much to eat. Here's how to reconnect.
If you’re working and living the typical life of the American adult,
you’re probably spending your days going from one sensory-deprivation
chamber to another. We go from our houses, to our cars, to sitting on the
highway and staring at other cars, to working all day. Then we return home
to stare at the television because we’re too exhausted to do anything
else.
The things that engaged our senses when we were more in touch with the
natural world—where our food actually comes from—just aren’t as
accessible any more. You may not have experienced a true multi-sensory
connection to nature since you were very young, and you almost certainly
haven’t experienced it as an adult in a way that balances your instinct to
eat. This exercise is designed to give you that experience so that you
become open to understanding your surroundings and your desire for food in a different way.
**Don’t think too hard about this, or try to be perfect, or worry about
what people think. All matters right now is that you do the exercise. It
should only take you about five minutes.
1. Get a piece of fruit or a raw vegetable that you know you love but
never eat because you’re always full of the fats, carbohydrates, and
packaged foods the sensory-deprivation lifestyle makes you crave. I love
fresh strawberries, myself.
2. Once you’ve gotten your natural food and washed it, you have to decide
on the time and place to do the exercise. You will need to be where you
can experience nature in all five senses with minimal distraction: lots of
plants, the smell of fresh air, the breeze on your skin, the sounds of
bird singing or even just the peace of silence. I live in the suburbs, and
my house is surrounded on all sides by neighbors. I can still step out my
back door any evening and have my own little nature meditation while the
rest of the world is indoors watching TV. I do prefer to visit a nice
wooded park whenever possible, but if this makes too much demand on your
time or convenience, you won’t do it at all! Keep it simple.
3. Now you’re in your natural setting, with your natural food. Take some
deep breaths, and relax. Become aware of the nature around you in all of
your senses: seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing. Finally, when you relaxed
and fully present to your surroundings, add taste by taking a bite of your
chosen natural food. Chew slowly, really taste it, and truly enjoy it!
When you perform this exercise, your mind and body are aligned with nature
in a way that you probably haven’t experienced in a very long time, if
ever. What’s more, you have now had a very conscious and deliberate
experience of natural, balanced eating and how good it is!
You will go right back to your sensory-deprivation lifestyle, but you have
given your deepest survival instincts a solid reassurance that everything
is OK. You are taking this back with you.
Do not underestimate the effect that even just a few minutes of aligning
your eating with nature can have. Set up a reminder for yourself to do
this a couple times per week to start, and you may start to notice subtle
changes in your relationship with food. Let this new relationship grow and
evolve. And remember, this is only the beginning!
To happier eating!
Rose
http://www.pricelessearth.org/
1-410-929-3053
