span the body and nonbody (soul) parts of our being, they are an excellent way to access the body-soul connection. By tapping into what our chakras are telling us, we are able to better make choices that support integration of our layers of being.
Understanding our health through our chakras enables us to move beyond ensuring that the body has physical food for energy to live by taking us into the realm of food as “spiritual sustenance” or “food for the soul.” The synergy of chakras and food provides a superhighway to accessing spirituality, or our interconnectedness with all of life. Together, the chakras and food help us to recognize that life is greater than the sum of its parts. When we shed the idea of food being functional and replace it with choosing to eat to feel the gentle weblike connection with all of life, food takes on a note of Divinity and sacredness. Many cultures and religions have created spiritual practices—such as giving thanks (“grace”) for the meal— around eating as a way of acknowledging this sacred act.
Understanding our health through our chakras enables us to move beyond ensuring that the body has physical food for energy to live by taking us into the realm of food as “spiritual sustenance” or “food for the soul.”
UNLOCKING THE SECRET MESSAGES OF FOODS
Emerging science is shedding light on perhaps another dimension to the already existing nutrition foundation. In addition to providing energy, or calories, for the body to function, constituents within food act as messengers that communicate with our body's DNA and influence, to a large extent, the types of proteins and other compounds that cells manufacture. Taking this a step deeper, into the atomic level, the vibrating energetic charged particles of food interact to a significant degree electrically within the fluid matrix inside the body. These vibrations ripple through the system, creating a surge of electrical currents to enhance or deplete the energy state of the cells. The takeaway is that food carries information that will signal our bodies to create proteins to support a vital, creative, optimal structure or to lead to dysfunctional states such as inflammation and pain.
Nutritionists are taught in school that proteins and carbohydrates both create the same energy currency within the body. For every gram of protein or carbohydrate eaten, 4 kilocalories of energy are available to use. It is now known that these basic nutrients, despite the fact that they are similar in calories, have a different vibration or electrical potential. People can consume the same number of calories, but the metabolic effects within the cells can be different. Protein from vegetables like soybeans and protein from animals like milk-derived casein create different responses in the body even though both are protein. Therefore, the new message is that the quality of food, and the dietary signature it carries for the cells, is perhaps most essential.
“Rainbowed eating” is one of the keys to enhancing the whole of our selves.
Unfortunately, it appears that the American profile of eating, referred to by some as the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.), has a deficit of good food signals. We are eating what I like to call the “Brown, Yellow, and White Foods Diet” because it is limited in supplying us with abundant, healthy compounds from plants (“phytochemicals”) that equip our cells to work optimally. The food industry has stripped away the colors of foods to give us processed cereals, breads, meats, flours, and baked goods. We are left with lackluster eating, devoid of the rich, flavorful phytochemicals that send high-quality information to our cells, allowing us to flourish. Each compound of color, whether the purple anthocyanidins found in grapes or the red lycopene in tomatoes, has a specific function in the body. If we omit a color from the rainbow spectrum, we are not providing ourselves with the physiological and spiritual functions of that vibration. Hence, as you will uncover in subsequent chapters, “rainbowed eating” is one of the keys to enhancing the whole of our selves.
Not only is the quality of food important, but also how the food is eaten. Think of all the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. Do you think this region of Europe experiences less cardiovascular complications because they eat whole foods rich in precious plant compounds that are heart-protective and antiaging? Most likely, but perhaps not entirely. One point that is often overlooked is the manner in which Mediterranean natives eat: a meal is an event potentially lasting for hours in the company of friends and family. Eating in these countries is an important social event, and working hours are adjusted to accommodate longer lunches, enabling the individual to go home to eat and relax before returning to work again. Imagine how little stress is felt when you have 2 hours to eat lunch versus 30 minutes, and how that can impact your physiological and spiritual responses to food! Eating under pressure may result in absorbing fewer nutrients and feeling ungrounded.
Without a sense of pleasure and being present in the moment of eating, we may want to eat more to satisfy our need to connect with the experience.
Eating begins before and lasts after the first bite is taken. It starts in the grocery store when we are engaged in food selection or as far back as the field when we planted seeds in the soil. In the grocery store, what colors call out to us? What shapes, forms, tactile sensations, words on packages invite us to buy them? How mindful are we when we grocery shop, or are we distracted by cell phone calls or mental preoccupation with the day's events? If we are growing our own food, are we conscious of the quality of soil we use, our mindset when we are watering the plants, the location in which the seeds are planted? The process of eating continues to the stage of meal preparation, where we gift our olfactory sense with rich aromas and heightened flavors, eventually signaling our gastric juices to begin flowing and specific gut peptides for satiety to be released. If we make a meal with others, in a community setting, the quality of the experience expands many times, as it magnifies our interconnection with others. After the meal, the eating experience continues on the physiological level through the processes of digestion, absorption, and assimilation. If we eat quickly, without mindfulness, we may not be efficient at integrating these food messages into our body and soul. Without a sense of pleasure and being present in the moment of eating, we may want to eat more to satisfy our need to connect with the experience. Therefore, eating while doing other things, such as driving in a car, watching TV, or reading a book, may take away healing energy from the eating experience rather than provide it.
QUANTUM “PHOODS”
Indeed, modern physics gives a whole new twist on how to view living matter. Essentially, all living organisms are compositions of cosmic, dynamic, responsive particles vibrating at a specific frequency. It has been said that the building block of life, the atom, is made of more than 90 percent empty space, implying that only about 10 percent of what is seen as the organism is actual reality. The chunk of most physical life-forms is vibrating energy. These particles of dancing matter form a web of connection, sending signals and creating patterns, vortices, and cascading effects. Therefore, when we think of ourselves as molecules in motion, it is highly plausible that the frequency generated by these interacting particles is modified by our thoughts, our words, the air we breathe, and even the food we eat. In support of this concept, many published research studies, such as those on meditation, prayer, visualization, and diet, support that our minds, words, and environment are powerful and, in ways beyond our understanding, influence emotional, mental, and physical makeup.
We are energy. Animals are energy. Plants are energy. Water is energy. Air is energy. It follows that foods created from animals and plants are energy. Just as each human being is multidimensional and complex, with layers upon layers of emotions, thoughts, history, and potential, so is each living organism. Each animal or plant is composed of the same fine vibrating matter, and like humans, some vibrate quickly and some more slowly. The vibration of food interacts with our inherent vibration, and an exchange of energy occurs. When we feel stuck in a way of thinking or move slowly through the day, eating beef, which carries slower vibrations, adds to our feelings of lethargy. However, when we eat a spicy black bean dish, with spices and beans carrying a higher resonance of energy than that of beef, we stay alert and energetic for hours after eating.
The fact that foods have vibrations is not new. The Bhagavad Gita classifies foods containing a relatively high energy vibration or promoting purity and vitality of body and soul