The Far Reaches of Food: How far does your bite take you?

While interest in the energetic properties of food doesn’t seem to be mainstream yet, the undercurrent of food, health and awareness is definitely full of leaders in the field who are interested in more than just the biochemical affect food has on the body.   In reading Steve Gagnes book, Food Energetics, I came across this one line that particularly struck my interest “The femininity of dairy products is undoubtedly one of its most appealing factors to humans.”  This sentenced triggered my curiosity, flooding my mind with all sorts of questions.  There is no doubt that our society loves dairy.  Now, whether it is for the femininity of it or not, I can’t say.  Many would say it has nothing to do with “femininity” and all to do with the proteins that mimic opiates in the body (this is called “molecular mimicry”) getting, in a sense high (this phenomena can also happen when consuming gluten).  But what I can say is that food affects us in ways our science labs haven’t been able to prove.  I know this from numerous personal experiences,  and I’m sure you do to, but for clarity’s sake I’ll share with you my most recent example.

I live in Seattle and this weekend was so fortunate to have out of town relatives come in for a visit.  We had a fantastic time touring the great city, catching all the main attractions, and in the midst of our exploring around town we ate out for several of our meals.  I usually avoid gluten and am a conscious-eating kind of girl, but since I don’t have a strong sensitivity to gluten and I was with seven others, we just did what was easiest. Probably no shock, but turns out the easiest food to get on the go is bread.  From sandwiches and burgers (veggie burgers mind you) to quick snacks, everything contained bread or bread-like particles (gluten & wheat). The result:  One extremely fatigued girl with an unhappy belly.  I experienced a dramatic change in how I emotionally and physically felt, and more importantly my own clarity.  What was even more shocking, was that as we reached day 3, I actually had a hard time remembering before this diet change.  It was like I knew I felt better off wheat and gluten, but I didn’t actually believe it.  Luckily my intellect and conviction pulled me through and as I bid farewell to my family I also said a not so sorrowful goodbye to bread, wheat and gluten.  Within the next day I no longer needed to remember if I felt better on a gluten free diet, I experienced it firsthand.

Moral of the story:  Deviating from our usual healthful diet for a short period of time is not always a bad thing.  It can show us just how powerful and controlling food is and remind us that there actually is a purpose in taking care  of ourselves.  Not only should we strive to be conscious eaters, but humble ones as well.  Changing one’s diet is one of the most challenging tasks we are faced with, because it is messing with our biochemistry, affecting our thought processes and emotional states. Basically, when we start tinkering with the diet we’re messing with our survival instincts, not matter how evolved we are.

So, are dairy products loved for their feminine essence? I can’t say.  What I can say is food certainly affects us in more profound ways than we typically recognize.  Next time you take a bite, ask yourself, just how far is this bite going to take me? and then check it out.  You might be surprised by the answer.

-Amber