"My" What's in it for me...

What’s in it for Me?

I have struggled with my weight off and on since I stopped playing competitive tennis in high school. Yes, that was many year ago…For me, it has always been about “losing” weight, only to gain it all back again after succeeding at whatever diet I was on at the time. Like most people, I have tried every fad diet out there from shakes, packaged foods and diet pills to purchasing home exercise equipment or pricey gym memberships. I have fasted and gone sugar-free. I have been both vegan and vegetarian. I have juiced and exercised and even gone as far as coffee enemas as part of my weight loss efforts. Seriously! But to no avail, at least not long term. It has taken me years, literally to figure out what was missing in my weight loss endeavors. The truth? Spirituality. Yes, I have always considered myself a spiritual person, more religious in my early years, but I grew up hearing that my body was God’s temple. While I knew this on an intellectual level it never connected with me on a deep spiritual level until now. I don’t know why it has taken me this long to have this epiphany and for me, right now, the "why" is not important. What’s important is that suddenly, the concept of "conscious eating" is intriguing to me. I am beginning to question how I mask and numb with food and even more importantly, why. I am beginning to explore how certain foods make me feel and how I feel when I reach for certain foods. I am beginning to notice that my food choices affect me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and that I can block or expand my spiritual connection based on the foods I consume and/or don’t consume. I have used food because I have been afraid. I have been afraid of myself, my identity as a powerful, spiritual being, and fully living the life that I came to this planet to experience. In essence, I have been using food to hide from the goddess I am.

Today is day 5 of our 90 day Weight Release Journey. When I started on this path I agreed to no coffee, no sugar, no starches, no dairy and no alcohol with a focus on protein and vegetables and an allowance of one fruit (low glycemic) per day. It was not my intention to give up animal protein, but I am exploring this option. So much has been presented to me since Monday when we began our journey on the benefits of a plant based/raw diet. People are coming out of the wood work to tell me about a two documentaries that I must see: “Forks over Knives” and “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”. In addition, this week I met Kathleen Bowman, raw food chef, professional harpist and hypnotherapist who suggested I read, Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. I purchased the book and have been devouring every page. I will end today with this quote by Cousens, “One cannot eat one’s way to God, by a vegetarian diet-and particularly a high-percentage live-food diet-is a powerful aid in the process of spiritual evolution.”