What Nourishes You Beyond Food? There's More Than One Way to Eat Well November 05 2017
Things have gotten a little busy in my personal life and at work recently. Lots of changes and growth and and growing pains and joy and grief. I'm traveling to DC a lot to be with my father and the rest of my immediate family as he continues to deal with memory loss, decreased mobility from MS, and an impending surgery to remove his kidney with a cancerous tumor.
When stressed out, when my natural inclination - and habit - is to eat a lot more Devil's Food cupcakes and chocolate bars and pretty much all desserts, like the lemon curd I took out of the freezer this afternoon and ate half the jar in 5 minutes... Or I can help myself decrease my stress level, and the cravings shift to vegetables and meat. Fascinating!
When I nourish myself in so many other ways, my eating habits follow. I hadn't realized how powerful this is. It goes both ways with diets - eating better can help make us feel better, and nourishing ourselves in ways beyond food can make us feel better and naturally eat better too... a lovely, positively reinforcing cycle.
How do you nourish yourself beyond food?
One of my main ways in the last year especially has been singing kirtan. It's a group call and response singing of mantras that help us invoke different feelings, and they have really helped me accept and transform difficult emotions and feel peace within change.
It's helped me so much that I've taken voice lessons and harmonium lessons the last year and now am offering kirtan with Noah Wilson, a heartfelt and talented musician.
If you feel called, please join us! Tuesday 6:30pm at the Community Health Center in Lafayette.
Check out the Facebook event with all the details here. By donation. Bring the kids!
We'll sing together to nourish our spirits and community... and then eat some Chewy Cinnamon Raisin and Almond Super Cookies together afterward.
Everyone is welcome, it's a group healing practice and no singing talent or experience is required!
If you come or not, I invite you to take this week to make a change - even if it's pausing for a nap 20 minute nap! - that nourishes your soul.
I'm working extra catering gigs, navigating a wonderful new relationship that is also filled with personal growth, and testing the waters as a singer (with an audience) too.
So I've been watching my eating habits throughout all this and noticed something. Eating well, eating foods that I know will make my body feel good, helps support me during these times of transition. Often it feels like I'm forcing it, though.When stressed out, when my natural inclination - and habit - is to eat a lot more Devil's Food cupcakes and chocolate bars and pretty much all desserts, like the lemon curd I took out of the freezer this afternoon and ate half the jar in 5 minutes... Or I can help myself decrease my stress level, and the cravings shift to vegetables and meat. Fascinating!
When I nourish myself in so many other ways, my eating habits follow. I hadn't realized how powerful this is. It goes both ways with diets - eating better can help make us feel better, and nourishing ourselves in ways beyond food can make us feel better and naturally eat better too... a lovely, positively reinforcing cycle.
How do you nourish yourself beyond food?
One of my main ways in the last year especially has been singing kirtan. It's a group call and response singing of mantras that help us invoke different feelings, and they have really helped me accept and transform difficult emotions and feel peace within change.
It's helped me so much that I've taken voice lessons and harmonium lessons the last year and now am offering kirtan with Noah Wilson, a heartfelt and talented musician.If you feel called, please join us! Tuesday 6:30pm at the Community Health Center in Lafayette.
Check out the Facebook event with all the details here. By donation. Bring the kids!
We'll sing together to nourish our spirits and community... and then eat some Chewy Cinnamon Raisin and Almond Super Cookies together afterward.
Everyone is welcome, it's a group healing practice and no singing talent or experience is required!
If you come or not, I invite you to take this week to make a change - even if it's pausing for a nap 20 minute nap! - that nourishes your soul.
