I've recently watched the movie, The Hunger Games - where, in one world, excess is rampant and the other deprivation - and there is no middle ground.
Are we playing a game with food at every turn? If so, does the body always lose when we are extreme with food?
I'm mean really - When was the last time you actually felt hungry ... that feeling when the tummy is grumbling and you need to eat to support your body to continue it's activity? Eating is obviously essential to our survival, but nowadays we don't have to get it with a bow and arrow. Though sometimes the market on a Saturday morning feels like a battlefield! Food that poisons us is accessible on every shelf in the supermarket and we willingly gorge ourselves, as it there will be no more tomorrow. We indulge the taste buds and the body retaliates as a result with exhaustion, acne, IBS, bloating, cramps - the list is too long!!
I'm sat here now on a Sunday morning having just returned from a walk and done my stretches and weights. My tummy is rumbling a little and I'm pondering the connection I've just made with my body from the gentle exercise and how that connection needs nurturing and building. If I don't build my connection to my body, how will it communicate its wisdom with me?
Consistency with my connection to myself is something that has been a challenge for me. I connect deeply and return to myself quickly. I have chosen not to build that in my body to have as a reference point or marker to return to. Hence, the relationship I have with food can either build love in my body, or take me away from myself.
I've never been in a situation where I have been neglected or hungry. My life has been relatively middle class, so I've always known there would be food on my table. So there's a comfort for me with food. It fills me up and satisfies me. It's not like we are eating to survive anymore - or am I still playing out some old pattern of filling the void that isn't needed anymore?
When I am in disregard with under or over eating, my body hardens. The hardness doesn't allow the flow of my natural expression. The middle ground is to be aware and slow down and allow myself to truly listen to my body and what it needs.
My Hunger Games are about how I playfully engage with food and the choices to build or to diminish love in my body. There's a deep underlying care I have for myself and a wisdom that doesn't need the extremes of excess or to deprive myself of anything. A simplicity that only eats when I need to and listens to my body's signals.
I have just had a glorious weekend in Somerset and had delicious food provided by the Love in a Cup Cafe in Tytherington, Somerset, UK. On Saturday they served, with delightful divinity, a broccoli and spinach soup which inspired me to share my take on it ...
One head of broccoli, including the stalk, chopped
One large brown onion, chopped
Three cups chopped spinach (fresh of frozen)
Stock
Brown the onions in a little olive oil till starting to caramelize
Add the broccoli to the pan with a little stock and simmer gently till soft
Season with pepper, sea salt, turmeric and a little nutmeg
Add the spinach and cook through, adding stock so it remains thick and wholesome
Blend and serve with fresh chopped red chilli and a sprinkle of fresh basil leaves
Perfect soup for confirming back to your body how divine you truly are :)
We are all delightful and divine and our body's reflect that love - don't fight it, let it shine!!
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