STORY 1:
I was with Master 4 in the kitchen and he pretended to pass me imaginary lollies and cookies out of a tin.
‘Read the ingredients, Jo’, he said.
‘Mm,’ I said. ‘Sugar, glucose syrup, colours, flavours.’
He piped up, ‘food acid.’
‘Yes, probably that too. Not real food hey?’
‘No. No real food at all…’
As usual, he was proud that he was validating what he already knew about RED-LIGHT-FOOD (as we call it, you may know of this term that I’ve written about before).
It’s tempting to jump to conclusions and assume he wants to eat lollies and cookies. And yet I’ve seen many times now that he prefers for me to stay consistent, and say no. He is happier that I prove my love over and over by saying no to unhealthy foods. (I never would have guessed this could happen!)
STORY 2:
Master 4 and I (unusually) visited the supermarket together, twice in the last week. Both times he went bezerk at the check-outs with the crazy (yes, CRAZY!) display of confectionary. He fingered and grabbed and begged and negotiated diplomatically until I was simply over the drama. I bent down to him and did what I never do.
I said, ‘That stuff is shit. It’s shit. And I don’t buy SHIT.’ (You thought I was going to say I relented and bought the tic-tacs, didn’t you?)
You should have seen how thrilled Master 4 was! Not only had I validated what he already knew, which is what he was actually baiting me for, but I empowered him to ‘adult status’ by swearing in conversation with him. Officially a big boy. He told the people in the queue behind us, ‘we don’t buy that because it’s SHIT. I’m 4.’
Well done, son 🙂
Have you ever noticed that when you DON’T RELENT to begging, your kids are happier? Mine certainly is. He tests me out to see if I’m consistent with my truth. He is always happy when I stay passionately with my truth and show him that I’m faithful to my beliefs.
Kids love consistency. And he loves knowing that because I love him I only buy him foods that will help him feel happy.
STORY 3:
I was starving and thinking about lunch. I was thinking about heavy, hot foods. Then I walked past my climbing snow-pea vine, grabbed about 10, and loved eating the crunchy juicy mini-harvest with my bare feet on the grass. 3 hours later I realised I hadn’t been hungry afterwards. I had been NOURISHED.
It is the LIFE-FORCE of food that fuels us. Life force = ENERGY. The greater the energy in the food, the more nourished we are. The more life in the food, the greater the energy. Whole, fresh foods nourish.
Energy in food is important. Breaking down, refining, processing and cooking whole foods (as done for most packet food) destroys the energy.
We need to eat food fresh and whole – and in fact, the more spiritually sensitive we are, the more we feel nourished merely from connecting with the energy within life foods.
Taste and the sensations of eating are blessings, they are wonder experiences. A part of the experience of being here. Even more satisfying is the experience of eating WHOLE ENERGY that our bodies are built to receive.
STORY 4:
There was an article floating around Facebook recently about the components of each whole food and the long ‘label’ description if we ever labeled an apple, for example.
The writer was very clever, but missed an essential point. Whole fresh foods are consumed together in one energetic movement. Additives, (ingredients added after processing) do not contain the whole-food energy that we need to be nourished and live well.
Yes, we pick up all sorts of natural chemical compounds from whole foods.
It’s the togetherness of this whole food that completes us and keeps our body in working order.
Additives put things out of order. They complicate diet by blending random bits of different foods and non-foods (lab compounds). How can we possibly know that our bodies are getting what they need with all this breaking, chopping, changing?
Processing food turns something very simple – the act of nourishing our body – into a thousand-piece puzzle.
Whole foods are simple. Simple. Makes SENSE. And so does a simple, sensible approach.
Day by day we aim to repair our bodies and have trust, faith and optimism for the future. You can join me as I walk to wellness in the private facebook group Joanna Haley Homestead (Journey to Wellness)
Joanna Haley, Author