Are you what you eat?

A little while ago a comment caught my attention, that a guy named German made about raw food.  He said that eating food without cooking it, and even a large percentage of raw vegetables and seeds in one’s daily diet, was the idiot’s way of eating, that there was nothing better than eating a big juicy steak, a Serrano ham or a pork tenderloin that beats marinated ribs or seasoned loin fillets.

At that very moment I remembered the well-known riff that says “you are what you eat”, and by playing a little with that statement, I imagined this nice fellow with ribs from seasoned bodies, like a marinated and spicy tenderloin, and a good “steak”.  I didn’t want to even think about how a man would look like with a few serrano hams or with the other “fillets” he eats.

Of course this is just playing with the phrase, which could make German angry and a come back whereby he told me I was a carrot with alfalfa hair (because these foods are predominant in my diet).  It is well understood that it’s just a game and that I am not what some guy says, nor am I some beautiful woman with soft carrot skin, alfalfa eyes, and why not seductive lips, red like beets.

But beyond this play on words…what is it exactly that the phrase “you are what you eat” means?

Are you what you eat?

Some people say that eating red meat, for example, should be more aggressive because the energy contained in the meat is usually one of low vibrations because the animal was mistreated, or suffered from excessive stress while it was being killed.  Or that the pain or anger remains impregnated in the meat and they pass these effects on to the human body.  Some people also say that if you include refined sugar in your diet you will become more susceptible and depressive because sugar creates strong body imbalances, while it is believed that those that eat more or less in a vegetarian fashion have “cleaner” bodies and energy, and enjoy a higher quality life, both physically and emotionally.

What you eat: what you think

You could say a lot of things about this.  If you just observe a little bit and use a bit of common sense, you could see that this rule is not always fulfilled: some people eat meat and are peaceful in their temperament, while there are vegetarians that are very stressed or depressed, or people that care too much about what they eat and are sickly.  There are even people that eat junk food all the time and don’t get sick.

It’s true that food has both biological and emotional effects on the body, and that without a doubt, a balanced, varied, and high-quality diet brings health and a higher quality of life.  It seems like this goes a little bit further than just eating to be.

I have observed, over the course of a few years, the way in which people eat, and effectively, the majority of individuals who think they eat well, have health problems or altered emotional states, like anxiety, excessive stress, anger problems, etc.  When we take a look at their diets, you can easily find a lot of harmful fats, refined products or animal foods, junk food or low quality food.  I have also seen that the more a diet is fixed, the more the quality of life is fixed.

And yet, on the other hand, I realize also that when a person intends to change their diet, for whatever reason, during the process of dietary change a lot of people are confronted with their own emotional worlds: some people become more sad than usual, others feel angry, and other can’t change their habits so easily, etc.  So changing ones diet, in some way, is also transforming or changing a habit in how one lives or thinks about life.

So you could say that eating is related to your personal philosophy and that it speaks a lot about your character.  To put it in more precise words, it’s not exactly which food you eat that makes you certain ways, bur rather it is how we eat that reveals who you are.

We eat slowly, quickly, we savor things, we eat just to eat, we eat “junk” food, we eating “healthy” foods, we eat with disgust or just to fill your stomach, we eat without restriction, to satiate the palate, to be without hunger, etc.

If you observe, all of this is the same thing we do with our life experiences: we live in a hurry, slowly, we savor, we turn it into something junky (we complain), we live “full” (be it just by having company to avoid being alone, feeling lonely, empty, etc).  We live with no discipline, or to satiate no more than that one moment (to distract yourself from the pain you feel, etc.), etc.

So, for what it’s worth, what matters most is the way in which you eat, rather than the food itself, allowing us to change the initial phrase.  “You are what you eat”, by “You are the way in which you eat”, which would be much truer.  So from here on out, every time you eat, pay attention not only to what you eat, but also in how you eat:  and you will then know how you truly are and what you are living in your life.

Revised by: Dra. Loredana Lunadei on 12/31/2017

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