Healing is a journey. It isn’t always an easy path. There are no assured outcomes of any kind. It requires you to have a deep level of trust in the process. It requires the ability to surrender to the journey. To allow whatever needs to come up, without any thought of judgement; fully embracing yourself with love and acceptance. It is embracing what is, in all its entirety.

Healing is like a river. The river has all sorts of variations. Sometimes the river is raging, with a currrent that makes it very difficult to navigate. It is in these cases, that you may require someone to assist you. You need to be able to trust that the right person is showing up at the right time to help you navigate these strong waters.

In some cases, the river twists and turns, presenting you with new surroundings, requiring a degree of adaptability. You will have to be fearless.  You may come around the corner and be beset with a new set of rapids, perhaps even rocks, completely surprising you and knocking you off balance. You must navigate this territory with great care to ensure you aren’t thrown so off course, that you will be unable to recover. In this instance, it is important to be gentle with yourself and allow whatever needs to arise within you while you navigate these waters, whatever it is, fully embrace it. Embrace the emotions, embrace the fear, anger, sadness, loneliness, vulnerability whatever may arise in this river.

There are moments when you will fight the current, when it will be very difficult in the river, in your life, when you will struggle, when you really need to let go and trust, knowing that the river is taking you in one direction, only one direction and the more you can surrender to the journey the easier it will be, that no matter what, you are safe in divine care.

In more pleasant times, the river grows serene. You can float down the river, letting its stream carry you gently and assuredly. In these moments you are surrendering to the current. You are floating along, with nary a care in the world. Embrace these moments when you are clearly going with the flow. Remember these moments because life is full of them if you are awake and aware.  

The water will be clear and beautiful, everything will seem to be in perfect order, those moments of absolute clarity, where the stars seem to line up in perfect unison, revealing their universal plan. In these moments, you will experience a peace that passes all understanding. You will float along, embracing the journey and wondering in awe at its beauty.

In other moments the river will become dark and murky. You will have no idea where you are going or if you will even get there, wherever “it is”. The journey will feel cold, ominous, and lonely. You will be frustrated, disheartened, and discouraged. You will feel that I can’t continue this. I would rather give up and let the river swallow me up. I might drown in this river. There is too much heaviness in this river.

You may catch yourself on debris in the river; you may find yourself weighed down by things, making your journey even more difficult. You might ask yourself, if it is also important that you carry other debris with you, that it might in fact, be easier to let go of the debris that no longer serves a purpose in your life. You might see yourself letting go of relationships, friendships, jobs, cities, ways of being and anything else that no longer serves you or benefits you in a positive way. There is sadness but there is also hope that in performing this conscious act of self love that you will attract more joyful experiences into your life.

The most important thing to remember is when you are traveling on your own healing journey, on your own river of life to not judge your experience of anything, rather embrace the beautiful being that you are free of any judgements, free of conditioning, free of shoulds and free of regrets; embrace the divine being of light that you are. You have had the courage to navigate the river of your life.

If you look at the scope and depth of what you have been through, at what you have learned, what you have had the courage to face, the trials and tribulations on one pole and on the other pole, the joy, the insights, the love, the breakthroughs, and finally the hope that by going through all of this you have become more radiant in your own personal expression of divine light, love, compassion and have gained a greater understanding of yourself and your place in your own life’s journey.

In today’s world with the stressors of everyday life being many, it is prudent to pay some attention to what we are putting into our body on a daily basis in the way of nutrition. When I look at food, I pay attention to how much ‘life force energy’ is in the food. Life force energy is a term that denotes how much energy you have available to you in your body. How much life force energy do you have for your daily activities, the things that are required of you and the things that you want to do? How resilient are you? The more life force energy that exists in your food leads to more life force energy in your cells, tissues, and organs. Nutrition can be a great tool to assist with promoting health for your body, mind and spirit.

Look at the ‘vibrational’ energy of your food and how high the life force energy is in it? Foods that are raw will have more energy in them than foods that are cooked. Food that is consumed fresh has more energy than food that comes out of a box or has been sitting on the shelf for long periods of time. Frozen foods have less life force energy than fresh foods. Foods higher in life force energy include fruits and vegetables whereas foods lower in life force energy would include meat, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol, flour, and sugar. Foods that are more acidic might be another way these foods are classified versus more health promoting alkaline foods.

There are many teachers that have written about ‘energy’ and potentiality in food. One of the best is Dr. Gabriel Cousens, M.D. a holistic psychiatrist who has written many books including ‘Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet’ and ‘Conscious Eating’. He talks about chakras and how eating different foods can influence chakras in your body. Chakras are subtle energy centers in your body. There are seven major chakras in the body. These chakras feed the organs with energy in the body depending on where they are located.  Please read the books I have listed above if you are interested in this. I will talk briefly about chakras and keep it simpler for now.

Choosing to eat all colors of the rainbow will subtly influence your chakra system and increase your micronutrient levels of nutrition. This will also increase the life force energy in your body. I will focus on fruits and vegetables primarily as most people do not eat enough servings of them.  

Eating red foods will have a subtle effect on your root chakra which is your center of security and stability. Are you feeling grounded or anxious at this time? If you are feeling more anxious or fearful about things you might choose to eat more red foods which support the root chakra. Red foods add more grounding energy to your body. Choose foods like red peppers, beets, tomatoes, strawberries, apples, cranberries, raspberries and cherries to support this chakra.

Do you want more passion in your life? You might choose to eat more orange colored fruits and vegetables which support the second chakra (located just below your belly button). This chakra focuses on relationships, intimate ones as well as relationship to money; creative expression is fueled by this chakra. Eat oranges, mangos, tangerines, orange peppers, apricots, carrots, peaches, papaya, pumpkin, and sweet potato to support this chakra.

Your third chakra is located above your belly button; this is your center of personal power and self esteem.  Choose yellow foods such as yellow peppers, yellow tomatoes, golden beets, sweet corn, squash, and yellow grapefruit to strengthen this center. Whole grains like buckwheat, quinoa, oats, rice, rye, or whole wheat would also be supportive.

The heart chakra is in the middle of your chest; your capacity to love others and receive love is influenced by your heart chakra. How open is your heart? Choosing green foods such as spinach, kale, leaf lettuce, romaine, arugula, avocados, cucumbers, parsley, cilantro and basil would support your heart chakra.

The throat chakra is next; blue is the color that supports it. Do you speak your truth to yourself and others? This is the center of your personal communication and expression. Choose foods such as blueberries, bilberries, blackberries, blue potatoes, and blue corn to support this chakra.

Your third eye chakra is located between your eyes; purple foods influence this chakra. It is your intuitive centre; where you sense things. Do you have insights about your life? Beets, huckleberries, grapes, purple cabbage, plums, and eggplant will support this chakra.

Lastly, the crown chakra is located at the top of your head. This is the center of your spiritual connection; where you connect to divinity. Do you have a connection to a higher power? Choose golden or white foods such as cauliflower, artichokes, onions, daikon radish, fennel and quinoa to support this chakra.

Foods can influence your energy, health and vibration of your body. Looking at food through a different lens may renew your interest in what you are putting into your body to influence your mind, body and spirit. Let food be your medicine…

If you are interested in chakras, please read about them at your local library or pick up books by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. Until next time, be well!

 

 

In the last post, I talked about environmental estrogen and gave some suggestions that you can implement to cut down on your exposure to it. In this post, I will talk about supporting your elimination of excess estrogen once it is in your body.

Estrogen is made by the ovaries, placenta (in pregnancy) and your fat cells (post menopause). Estrogen is metabolized by enzymes in the liver and is eventually changed to a glucuronic acid complex which can leave the liver via the bile and pass into your intestine. Foods to include that support this conversion in your body include red raspberries, high fiber (wheat bran, psyllium),oranges and apples. Diets that support a healthy metabolite of estrogen (C2) include one that is low in fat and high in fiber. A diet that promotes unhealthy estrogen metabolites(C16, C4) would be one that is high in fat, high in sugar, and low in protein. This is why it is so important to focus on diet when looking at any health imbalance.

Once the breakdown products of estrogen pass into your intestine, you need healthy bowel function to eliminate it out of your body. Women who have high levels of an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase (made by certain bacteria that colonize your intestine) can cause free estrogen levels to be reabsorbed back into the bloodstream through the intestinal walls. Diets that are higher in saturated fat and meat will increase these bacteria which we don’t want so minimize these substances in your diet. If you are constipated, make sure the constipation is treated because it could indirectly affect your hormone balance.

Other foods which are champions when it comes to balancing female hormones include the brassica family (kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc). Eat these foods at least three times per week. These foods contain indole-3-carbinol which helps promotes the conversion of estrogen to healthy metabolites. Eat them raw or lightly steamed to obtain the best benefit.

Please book in an appointment to talk more about balancing female hormones. There are many herbs and homoepathic medicines that I use in my practice that can support women’s health as well as specific nutrients. Please refer to The Natural Medicine Guide to Breast Cancer by Sat Dharam Kaur, ND for a thorough book on women’s health if you want to learn more.