What do I need to eat to be nourished? Supporting your earth element & aligning nutritional choices with nourishment

For those of you who may be striving to change your diet, perhaps for health purposes, to calm inflammation or lighten your load, remember it is critical to avoid fad diets and perhaps abandon the word diet all together. In order to maintain and sustain a lifestyle or new way, a balanced, sustainable approach will work best in the long run. You don’t have to torture yourself! 

When you are thinking about making needed changes in your daily food habits, instead of thinking about taking things away and limiting yourself, see what happens if you shift your thinking to “what can I give myself? How can I nourish myself? What will satisfy and satiate me that is still in alignment with my health? How can I take care of myself and enjoy my food? How can I bring in gratitude for my body and all it does for me, even though it presents challenges?” Even if you don’t have all of the answers (and we rarely do, plus, it’s a shifting landscape) asking these questions can shift our bodies from feeling the nausea of shame to becoming interested in new possibilities for ourselves. 

We have access to a vast sea of information, which can be a wonderful tool, as well as potentially confusing and overwhelming. Being a taoist medicine practitioner and alchemist, I always ask, where is the balance? What can I sustain? I’m sorry to say, there isn’t one answer for everyone. I wish there was because I would give it to all of you. Eating to nourish, fuel and heal is different for every bod. If you aren’t sure where to start, try simple clean eating for 30 days.  If you are dealing with inflammation, IBD, IBS, autoimmune disease, Chronic Fatigue, pain, joint issues, migraines, or any GI distress at all (Gerd, Reflux, bloating, gas, indigestion, constipation, loose stools) or trying to lose some extra weight, I suggest working with anti-inflammatory foods and recipes. There are wonderful books, cookbooks and websites loaded full of scrumptious recipes to follow or be inspired by. I always recommend batch cooking for us busy folks (and who isn’t these days?). If you aren’t familiar, batch cooking keeps things easy and simple. Bake or cook up trays of your favorite yummy nourishing grains, veggies and proteins and keep in the fridge. Throw together a buddha bowl or healthy grain bowl, and voila, Lunch or dinner is served! Overnight oats with nut milk and raw honey is a great morning fuel gruel. 

When adapting to a new eating lifestyle, and a new way of relating to your food, it’s important to be prepared. Batch cooking is a simple way to do that so you’re not feeling pressured or rushed to make a whole meal in the moment. That’s when we end up jumping the tracks and reverting to what might not be the healthiest for us. Remember, all digestion belongs to the realm of earth. The sumptuous, delicious, sensual earth element beckons us to delight in our meals, chewing lavishly, taking our time and feeling gratitude and positivity while we do it. Earth always suggests we sit and take our time, avoid stressful conversation or work when eating, and try not to eat standing up (no shame or judgement here! I do it all the time). Look, it’s a process. And there are a lot of moving parts in life. Give yourself some kindness, patience and gentleness. We are interfacing with a world full of toxins and stressors that are out of our control. Pause and take a breath. You are okay, you are whole. You are not defective. We all deal with chronic upheavals and physical duress in one form or another. 

Earth belongs to late summer, the cloying, heavy humidity of the harvest, and speaks of digestion on all levels. That’s thoughts, ideas, emotions and the food we intake. Overthinking and worry slows down our digestion and things spin round and round. Even if you do not relate to the earth element as a constitution or your base point of reference, we all have earth at the center and we all need good nourishment to thrive. Earth loves warm, delicious soups, warm grains (think oats, wild rice, and quinoa), root vegetables, warm tea with honey, fermented foods, and likes to stay away from cold, raw foods (stay away from the smoothies!) especially as the season shifts from summer to late summer into fall. 

Be a bit of a science detective for yourself. Pay attention to how your body responds to what you eat. You can keep a diary or make some notes if you’d like. Take the time to care about it. Let your body know you give a F and are trying. If you experience food sensitivities (gluten, dairy, sulfates, histamines, nightshades) do the best you can to avoid your triggers. If you’re at a party and the pizza beckons, and there aren’t better choices available, do what you need to do. Eat it or don’t. Just accept it, radically. You might have gas, bloating or other irritating symptoms. It’s okay! It happens! Enjoy your life and move on. Know you might have a bit of a reaction and that’s alright. Begin anew each day, each meal, each moment. I am a huge fan of high quality enzymes and probiotics, which can work miracles in these situations as well as improving your GI and immune functions overall (quality of life). Be kind to yourself. The guild, shame and self-criticism are worse for you than the cookie you ate.