What truly constitutes or defines a diet? Is it something that has intention, consciousness or is it simply a term that defines the way we eat in-order to lose weight?
The dictionary has more than one definition. 1. Food and drink regularly consumed: free. 2. An allowance of food prescribed for a special reason ( as to lose weight) The thesaurus has 4 definitions: 1. A deliberative body-council, board, committee 2. A body of delegates- parliament, congress, legislature. 3. To go without food. fast, go hungry,starve. 4. Foods one eats. Dietary. In addition to those definitions, I also looked up deliberative, which means to consider carefully.
What we do know for a fact is food is essential for life. How we choose to consume it is also becoming essential for life. There are very many choices of what we can consume. Food and food like substances are everywhere. The choices that truly, safely sustain us seem to be getting more difficult to recognize or discern. There seems to be a category or title for the way we are supposed to eat. Adding more confusion and definitions to our choices. Titles like, fat free, vegan, vegetarian, heart healthy, gluten free, cholesterol free, organic, non GMO, low carb, natural. On top of those labels there are titles of diets. The latest one in fashion is the Paleo Diet. Paleo as in Paleolithic? From times when dinosaurs walked the planet? When times were easier to acquire food? Simply step out of the cave and collect whatever green plants and berries are located in the area, then go kill a wild animal and cook it over an open fire? Simplicity is relative. Intention and mindfulness are deliberate. When we choose to focus on honoring our bodies, our beliefs and our personal integrity our choices are easier and become clearer to us.
Choose what you eat by how it nurtures your body, soul, mind and what you stand for. Eat with intention. Eat with consciousness Eat mindfully. Do not eat by the name of the diet, because the food is cheap or because it is the latest fad, and especially not because you will lose those extra pounds and fit into your jeans from high school. By trusting and empowering ourselves to make informed choices, our “diet” is our responsibility. It is not the responsibility of the grocery store, the government, the food and diet marketers, and certainly not Taco Bell or McDonald’s.
The clearer we become about who we are, what nurtures us and what we want, the clearer our demands on the people who supply the food will be. This does not mean we can no longer eat the foods we like. This means every time we choose a food we do like we are guaranteed to have the best ingredients for it, and to know that when we go to the store or a restaurant they too are serving us food that will help us to thrive and be healthy. Everyone needs to eat! Food is our fuel, our sustenance. We deserve to have it in the cleanest, purest, healthiest form it comes in.
Honor yourself! Get clear! Make your choice! Eat well!
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