Feed your spirit

Take a journey with me. Imagine you are a kernel of wheat. Depending on a variety of factors, the possibilities of what you will become are virtually endless. For example, if you were grown by a kind, loving farmer who tended to you carefully, watered you with pure, clean water and was happy to be a farmer, you will be a happy kernel of wheat with vibrant energy. On the other hand, if you were genetically modified for mass production and profit so that you could be ground into flour, bleached and enriched and made into crackers with partially hydrogenated oils, you will be one unhappy “kernel” of wheat with little to no nutritional value.

Which kernel of wheat would you rather be? Which kernel of wheat would you rather eat? Growing conditions and the energy put into growing your food in part determines the spirituality of the food you are eating. The spirituality and quality of your food in part determines how your spirit is nourished. Look a little deeper with me.

The first kernel of wheat has vibrant energy because the person growing it put his loving energy into it. The soil quality was rich and organic. The water was from a mountain-fed spring, containing many minerals and nutrients. The second kernel of wheat was grown from a genetically modified seed so that it could be mass produced in poor growing conditions to be sold for the ultimate profit. The soil was filled with pesticides and fertilizers (a.k.a. chemicals). The water was probably recycled and chlorinated. The seed was not planted and tended by human hands, but rather by machines using petrochemicals as fuel. The fumes from that fuel settled into the dirt and therefore became part of the plant. Don’t tell me that the bleaching of the flour cleansed the wheat from all this contamination. In fact the bleaching process added more contaminants and chemicals. In addition the processing of this poor kernel of wheat destroyed the nutrients and denatured the proteins to such an extent that the “powers that be” decided it needed to be enriched with vitamins and nutrients (no longer in their whole food form) so that your body perhaps gains some nutrition by eating it. In actuality your body no longer recognizes this “kernel” of wheat as a food substance and instead recognizes it as a toxic substance. Your body is highly intelligent. Take a moment to acknowledge this now. After this substance (bleached, enriched flour) is formed it is then combined with other harmful substances such as partially hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup to form packaged foods meant to last a long time on the shelves of the grocery store. Further, the workers at the packaging plant are probably not happy to be working there, as they are working in artificially lit conditions with little pay.

Do you see how the spirit of this poor kernel of wheat has been leached away? Do you see how your spirit can become deadened by eating deadened food? The food you eat influences your state of health- spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical. What foods will you choose to enhance your spiritual being?

The above scenarios are the best and the worst of what can happen. Have you decided which life you want for yourself? Most likely you will find that your food choices fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. As you choose your food, use conscious awareness to the best of your ability. Consider where the food was grown. How far has it traveled to get to your dinner table? What were the growing conditions? Do you know the people who grew it? If you eat animal protein, what kind of food were they fed? Were they packed together in factory farms without sunlight and with lots of antibiotics and hormones or were they free-ranging in the sunlight eating grass? You have the power to choose. You are intelligent to make the right choices for your body. Eat your food. You do not have to let it eat you.

I am so grateful to have a local farm where I can get fresh, pure vegetables. My food choices extend far beyond the farm, however. If I eat a packaged food, I want to know the ingredients. Are the foods still in whole food form or have they been pushed through an extruder with heat and pressure to form a cereal flake? How has my olive oil or butter been processed? As a Holistic Health Counselor, I practice extreme self-care. Making the food choices that are best for my body is a powerful way for me to feed my spirit.