The energetics of food

It's week five for me and I'm still going strong!  I still have many low energy days, due to low thyroid hormone conversion. Even though I'm not there yet, I feel like I've found some important keys to my personal healing process. Let me tell you more.

Many people go raw assuming that they can eat anything, as long as it's not cooked, and that their body will magically find its perfect balance and restore itself. This does, indeed, work for many people, and some of them go on to write books, extolling the virtues of whatever their particular regimen is. Well, it's just not that simple. I suspect that for every one of these people, there is another person who just isn't feeling all that great, or, even feeling worse! This is where digging a little deeper comes into play.

For me, that deeper digging came in the form of going to see a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner. So, I went to see a sweet little Chinese lady named Dr. Sheng, who was one of the top TCM practitioners in Shanghai, before moving to the U.S. At my second appointment, she shook her head and said "I'm not going to treat your symptoms; I need to completely rebuild you. This takes six months to two years" Wow- no wonder I'm not "better" yet!

She also told me that some of the foods I was eating a lot of were directly contributing to some symptoms I'd been experiencing. I learned that for me, right now, spicy things like ginger, garlic and cinnamon, were connected to excessive dreaming and even nightmares I had been having, because they were adding too much heat to the heart meridian, where there was already a buildup of heat. They were also making my skin break out. So, I cut them out and I noticed a big difference within days.

This inspired me to really dig in and learn more about the energetics of food. I've had a great book- "Healing With Whole Foods" by Paul Pitchford, for a few years and I'd learned a lot from it, but knowing exactly which  imbalances I was dealing with allowed me to gain a new level of knowledge from it and to adjust my diet, accordingly. I now know which foods nourish "kidney yin" (which I'm trying to build) and which foods clear "damp heat", which I have a buildup of. I now also know how to look at my tongue and get clues as to what's going on in my body.

Let me tell you, it's so empowering to know what's going on inside of your body and how each food affects that balance. Every food has a different energetic quality that can work with or against what you're trying to accomplish. I can see the effects of this, already. I'm excited to see how much progress I will make, now that I understand what I'm doing. Beyond just what I eat, I've learned what lifestyle practices will best support me and which ones do me the most harmed.

 I encourage everyone to take advantage of ancient constitutional medicine systems like TCM or Ayurveda. You will learn a lot of practical, self-empowering info.

Knowledge is power, baby!

-Erin