Spring is the perfect time to release all within and around you that is not supporting life. What do you no longer need to carry into spring? How about all those outdated stories and beliefs that you tell about yourself, and to anyone else who will listen? Or how about releasing a long-standing reluctance to forgive someone in your life, past or present? Budding and flowering nature encourages and inspires us to consider new potential within our bodies and our lives.
Get curious about everything and everyone that makes you feel alive and nourished. Your life force is not only supported with generosity and love but also by true healthy foods. Your body intuitively knows what it desires for nourishment. Practice whole-heartedly listening to what your body wants this spring, whether it is real food, nurturance from another human or animal, gardening, or just soaking in all the beauty and flowering abundance all around you.
You have most likely heard ”You are what you eat.” Can you also believe “You are as healthy as your kitchen?” If all within your kitchen is alive with life force, you will embody and be a reflection of that empowering energy. All that is not created from the earth can not ultimately fuel your body, your health, or sustain the planet. As you nurture and honor your body, you also nurture and care for the earth.
As you enjoy the enlivening earth this spring, consider what might be in your kitchen that is not supporting your own flowering towards optimum radiant health. Consider these 10 things that you and your family can truly live and flourish without, creating space in your cupboards and refrigerator, room to breath in your clothes, and save some cash in the process. You may choose to make a clean sweep of your kitchen, replenish your pantry with healthier alternatives with each trip to the grocery store, or commit to one new healthy step each week.
1) Consider not buying foods that trigger you to unconsciously overeat. These are most often processed foods that are easy to grab and quickly eat when you are stressed, anxious, bored, frustrated, fearful, etc. You most likely already know what foods, what situations, and what times of day trigger you to overeat and bring on guilt or shame later on. A simple truth is that you can’t unconsciously eat what is not in your cupboard or refrigerator. Get curious about what your body and soul are really asking for and practice checking in to all your body knows and wants, minute by minute.
2) Ditto on not buying and eating overly-processed “junk” foods that are easy to eat “on the go,” in your car, in front of the television, over the sink, or while multi-tasking.
3) Intend to eliminate over time all foods containing high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners or laden with sugar (including sucrose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, and lactose on food labels). Get curious about reading labels and checking ingredients. In most cases, ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. The first few ingredients make up the “bulk” of the food.
4) Eliminate all foods containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, i.e. “trans fats” and all refined or non-whole grain flour products.
5) Consider reducing or eliminating “foods” that you have no idea what is in it or where it comes from. Get suspicious of food producers and vendors that might not be putting your health first on their list of priorities. Ask questions while eating out.
6) Be suspicious of any ingredient that you can’t pronounce, have no idea what it is or what it does to your body, including potentially unsafe artificial additives, preservatives and coloring.
7) Consider eliminating any packaged foods with more than 10 ingredients… the more the ingredients, the more the processing, the further from the earth.
8) Try removing common food “allergies” from your diet, such as dairy, eggs, gluten, wheat, white sugar, soy, peanuts, and any thing that doesn’t seem to “agree” with you, for two to three weeks. Take note when you feel more energetic, sleep better, diminish or clear chronic sinus and digestive problems and headaches, and lose weight.
9) If this applies, reduce and limit stimulants and depressants, including caffeine (coffee, tea, sodas, and chocolate) and alcohol. Ponder all the ways you might increase energy or relax without resorting to food or beverages.
10) Try taking a free spring holiday from all foods, beverages and unhealthy habits that may instantly “pick you up.” while depleting you in a deeper way.
Give yourself the opportunity to tune in to your own wise body’s signals for hunger, nourishment, relaxation, and sleep. Get curious about your routines, habits, and all within and around that no longer supports a radiant healthy you. Use the new energy of spring to support you. What do you, body and soul, really need moment to moment? I offer coaching to co-create a healthy kitchen that inspires and encourages you and your family towards intuitive healthy eating.
The wide arms of the Life-Mother hold me.
Deep gratitude for my artful tour guide through the wise world of the blessed conscious flowers: Jane Ellen Blossom of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Check out her and her wonderful services at Transitional Integration.
