1- Your diet should vary with your state of health
The modern way of eating is often based on what the analytical brain or the news dictate. However, quantity and quality of food for optimal health are first and foremost related to your condition, age, and sex. It sounds profoundly trivial but so often forgotten, with so-called “miracle” products and recipes widely spread around.
Have you recently paid attention to your state of health, or decode the early signs given by your body?
2- Stop eating before you feel full.
This is where ancient European culture meets the Japanese’s “Hara hachi bu:: “Eat until 80% full”. Moderation is the advice given by Cassien in a time when scarcity was norm! “The rule is to eat what we need for living, not what our appetite asks for”.
Reflect on the quantity you eat? Eat slowly and wait 20 minutes before eating more, to ensure you are still hungry.
3- Avoid too much bread
According to Cassien, “this is not the wine but the bread that caused crimes and decadence”. This statement is in perfect alignment with current research about excess simple carbohydrates like bread causing mood and metabolic disorders.
Have you ever realize how much your food affect your mood?
4- Nothing between meals
Cassien recommended the absence of food before or after community meals and at night to “address the internal battles of the soul”.
There is two reminders in this simple statement:
– Snacking has been widely recommended. If it may be useful to recover from certain metabolic disorders, it is certainly not conducive to health for most people.
– Eating is a practice designed to be shared. Sharing a meal brings joy and sacredness in the act of eating, which in turn impacts positively your digestion.
Try for a week to resist the call of your fridge or pantry between meals, as a way to “win your internal battles”.
5- Avoid to eat too early, too much and avoid “gourmet attitude”
Cassien talked about three types of “gourmandise” to avoid: eating before it’s time, eating in excess and look for food more enticing food that tend to be more caloric.
Cassien was an early adept of chrono-nutrition (more about it in the next posts): we are beings of habits and when you eat is as important as what you eat.
He also underlined the importance of nourishing, nutrient dense foods and understood the addictive power of rich foods, now explained by neuroscience.
Reflect on your eating patterns: when do you eat?
6- Don’t exaggerate
Cassien also pointed out that any sort of excess is not a good example and wrote : «Those who deprive themselves are better not to be shown as examples as they did not receive the gift of science and wisdom”.
The 21st century in the western world is an era of excess: we are at the same time over fed and under nourished. Perpetual movement for balance is the core of life.
What are you doing in excess? Deprivation or over consumption?
These moderate and benevolent statements are a good foundation on your journey to growth and evolution. It all starts by rest ,reset and reflect.
Yours in health and wellness.
PS: I acknowledge Jean-Marc Dupuis’ newsletter as I make it mine to share with you.
PPS: The Food focus detox™ is the perfect program to rest, reset and reflect around your food choices.