How to Create LOVING Thoughts Around Dietary Restrictions
Traditional food practices such as fermentation + sprouting, are the antidote to our fast-paced, productivity-obsessed world.
Because these practices require thoughtful preparation, deep devotion, and loving care. Strapped for time? Here’s a simple practice that you can start today at zero cost: The expression of gratitude.
There are many reasons to express gratitude. Personally, I've used gratitude as a tool to prime my body in order to receive food’s restorative health benefits and to create loving thoughts arounds dietary restrictions.
Here is how I built a successful gratitude practice:
Step one: With my eyes closed... I gently but silently spoke into my heart: I’m open to receiving, accepting, assimilating, and integrating this healing. My body has the capacity to heal, because it has healed before.
These affirmations (courtesy of Danielle LaPorte) helped me to dissolve any mental blocks and prime my body to truly receive the deep nourishment and restorative health benefits.
Step two: I expressed specific gratitude. I appreciated my supplements for supporting my digestive function as well as sealing the lining of the gut. Second, I thanked the deeply nourishing, anti-fungal food on my plate for starving out the candida and rebalancing my gut health so that I would experience less GI distress.
REFLECTION: My relationship to my diet gradually softened, as my attitude towards my anti-fungal protocol started to shift from resenting the restrictions to embracing the restorative benefits. Because with each spoonful, I was gently reminded of the food’s restorative benefits. This shift is such a testament that the body is a vehicle of (emotional) energy.
The reason gratitude worked for me: Because I set myself for success. I used a post-it note as an environmental trigger that reminded me to practice gratitude before every meal.
To introduce the new habit of gratitude, I placed the post-it note on my supplements (an existing habit). This is called habit-stacking.
Habit-stacking and the environmental trigger, helped me to introduce + maintain a consistent practice of gratitude. And consistency is key for any practice to be successful. Because practices work effectively over time, as they continue to harmonize and restore things into balance.
And that's why I will carry-on with my gratitude practice.
Footnotes
Expressing gratitude is not quite as straightforward as being thankful. There is a profound difference.
Gratitude is a deep appreciation that is specific, while thankfulness is more general and often transactional.
For example: I am thankful for the food on my plate, but I am grateful for the healing benefits it bestows on my GI system so that I will experience less GI distress.