Benefits of Conscious Eating

One of the things that adding more raw to my daily food did was bring me to an awareness of my own eating patterns, and connected me to the language of my body. By that I mean that our body only has the means of physical signals to communicate with 'us' - the conscious self that thinks it knows or  can figure out everything. I realized I had used food to numb myself out to that communication forever.

When I began to eat with conscious awareness, I noticed how I felt both before and after I ate. I realized I really did have a reaction to wheat that made me congested and my nose feel swollen. I had NEVER noticed before. I no longer have that reaction with wheat, but I don't much care for it. I have CHOSEN to not eat it, rather than feeling like I can't eat it.

Now for some people that have never had food issues, that may well be normal for them. But, remember I used to weigh 300 pounds, and though it was 20 years ago now, it seems like yesterday sometimes, when  I am reminded of what it felt like to be overwhelmed by my own body, and feeling betrayed and confused by it as if it were a stranger to me and I was trapped inside.

I will see someone struggling in an airplane seat and instantly recall the feel of the armrests against my sides as I would attempt to make myself smaller so I didn't invade someone else's space, energetically apologizing for being me.By the same token,  I still marvel when I click a seatbelt around me in the airplane now and have to pull it tighter - that it really is me. When the gentleman in the aisle in front asked for a seatbelt extender I instantly remembered having to ask for one myself once and the shame that washed over me as I did. I was 8 months pregnant, but the withering look the flight attendant shot me, shaming to the bone.

So raw food is the first thing that seems to have freed me from so many of the misunderstandings I had about how and why I ate. I thought I was eating to numb out, but really I was eating to fill up a void that was an aching painful emptiness. I was already numb. I was trying to feel. I was trying to wake myself up and bring myself back in by chewing and crunching.

Notice for yourself as you eat more raw, and clear yourself out, and wake yourself up, how you really feel. And if I can suggest one thing: don't be afraid of the feelings. We are feeling beings. That's why we are here. LET yourself feel.