“Tom and Mary are finishing up their dinner at home and Tom takes dessert out of the oven. Mary, slightly disappointed, asks Tom, “How come you always cut the ends off the apple pie? That’s my favorite part!”
Tom replies, “Funny. I don’t know. I always have done that. Come to think of it, my mother did that as well. I’ll call her right now and find out why.”
Tom calls his mom and asks, “Mom, how come you always cut the ends off the apple pie?”
His mom laughs and says, “I don’t know. Great question! I always have done that and come to think.... I don't know why! Wait, I think my mother did that as well. Why don’t you call Grandma and ask her?”
“Tom then calls his grandmother. After the cordial greetings, he asks, “Grandma, how come you always cut the ends off the apple pie?”
Grandma laughs out loud and says, “Because when I was learning to bake we only had a 10 inch baking pan and an 8 inch serving tray!”
And so, the apple (pie) doesn’t fall far from the tree. While our parents had the best of intentions for us, we should remember that, typically, they were following the ideas their parents taught them many years ago. Our parents may have made some changes as they became adults, but quite often the patterns of what’s right and wrong and what is healthy and unhealthy (and how to bake and serve an apple pie!) are ingrained in them from their childhood. Among these hand-me-down belief systems is, of course, diet.
Times change, and so does our understanding of heath, science, pain, and illness. While some people repeat the dietary patterns of their childhood, many of us have listened to the myriad of experts. Sadly, when it comes to diet, the conclusions of experts seem to change as often as each year’s styles of shoes. Everyone has a theory, and all swear they’re correct. So what kind of diet is best for an empath?!?!
The Empath Diet, obviously!
I once ordered Chinese takeout at one of those places where the kitchen is right behind the cashier. You can see the cooks, and they can see you. Shortly after I ordered, I witnessed the two cooks arguing with each other. When I shared this with my friend, who is Chinese, she said, “That’s just the way we talk to each other—loudly!” But I could feel that there was animosity between the two cooks, and when I got home, my first bite felt horrible. The food felt lifeless, lacking taste. This was my first realization that everything we ingest contains the energy of those who prepared it.
The Empath Diet emphasizes awareness of each food’s inherent energetic state and also how it is grown, distributed, prepared, and served. If it’s made by an angry cook, you’re eating the energy of anger. If you prepare your meals quickly and when stressed, you’re eating the energy of "anxiet-me" and the reaction to that, often called “fight or flight.” If your food has been processed by machines programmed by people who are only in it for the profit (junk food), you’re eating the energy of greed in addition to the physically harmful preservatives, colorings, and flavor and texture enhancements. If what you’re eating has pesticides, you’re eating the energy of death. And if you’re eating muscles or byproducts of a factory farmed animal, physically, you’re eating remnants of growth hormones, antibiotics, and so on, and metaphysically you’re eating the energy of torture and the toxicity of the animal’s fear prior to and during slaughter—or even their entire lifetime’s pain and suffering.
Conversely, if you’re eating organic vegetables and fruits, you’re absorbing the groundedness of the root vegetables, the spirit of the plants, and the energy of the organic farmer who probably cares about his produce a lot more than mass-produced profit-centric farming practices.
Empaths and HSPs need to think of everything as energy, including food. And we’ll likely feel better and be more vibrant eating higher vibration organic foods, low to no gluten, much less or no refined sugars, and more raw or warmed as opposed to cooked whenever possible. That’s not solely because I think so, or because millions of others do, but because ingesting higher vibration foods that are prepared lovingly makes sense energetically.
Some of you, for a variety of reasons, may have tried eating healthier and felt worse initially. Certainly your individual constitution has an effect, as does your culture, heredity, and environment. But if you have initially felt worse changing to a cleaner diet, try opening to the possibility that you may be detoxing energetic or physical remnants of years or even decades of lower-vibration foods. Also do an honest internal inquiry: What is my neuro-association with this food? Ask yourself if eating what’s known to be healthy for most people can have the effect it’s having on you, in and of itself.
In addition, your energy when preparing your meals affects both the food and your ability to absorb the nutrients. Part of the reason people used to regularly say grace at the beginning of the meal was to cultivate a state of gratitude in their body before eating. This boosts the body’s ability to absorb the nutrients.
What about carbs-fats-proteins? Which should we focus on and which should we minimize?
Logically, if someone is lifting weights, they should be more conscious of protein input. And for those looking to lose weight, they should certainly be aware of excessive carbohydrate consumption in addition to the possibility of emotional eating. But I’d like to go deeper into another matter, or non-matter, as it were.
The energy within each food or drink is as (or for some, more) important than its physical makeup.
What will vibrate higher: a raw organic carrot or a “pastry” made with processed sugar and chemicals? The answer is obvious, but making and acting upon the better choice can be difficult at first. I like to say, “I get to eat fresh fruits and vegetables” rather than think that my choices are limited. No one wants to feel limited. I also don’t want to let my tongue and its learned fondness for animal fat and sweets rule my mind. In fact, after a short time avoiding animal products and sweets, I’ve developed an aversion to them, the anti-sweet tooth. It comes down to making wise choices in line with what your body--not your mind--knows you need.
I prefer eating to live rather than living to eat. No worries if you’re the latter, but I will ask you, “Are you craving sweets because you’re missing the sweetness of life? Are you eating what’s familiar while potentially denying or ignoring how doing so negatively affects you? Are you living your life’s purpose and managing your emotions well enough that you don’t need to overindulge in food to make up for the feelings of emptiness or despair?”
I’m just asking questions.
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The above is an excerpt from the book, Empathipedia: Healing for Empaths & Highly Sensitive Persons
For more, including:
- how food is often the original control mechanism;
- how our brains and certain foods trick us into eating more;
- emotional eating;
- how the persons at social gatherings and shared meals can affect our digestion; and
- how our emotional and energetic state while eating can affect our health,
see Empathipedia Healing for Empaths and Highly Sensitive Persons or schedule a free 15-minute consult using the link at the very top of this page!
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Vegan Sushi Photograph ©JulieHasson.com. Use with Permission.