Let’s dive into the first few layers of food and emotions. This insight is the result of years of research and exploration into how we emotionally connect with things that comfort us on a spiritual level but fail to nourish us physically. It also uncovers how our feelings in the moment subconsciously influence the foods we choose.
In almost every culture, food has long played a dual physical and spiritual role, and with that, many rules have been handed down. The Jewish tradition forbids eating pork, the Hindus forbid eating beef, and many Native American tribes prohibit eating foods that are not sacred. Conversely, there are spiritual foods that bestow spiritual power.
Sometimes the remedy lies in what we take in, and sometimes it’s dependent upon what we leave out. The question is, how do we know what to eat or drink and what not to? This is the domain of spiritual nutrition. In the midst of too many (often conflicting) choices, there is the still, small voice within each of us that knows the answer to our question. It’s the voice of our intuitive selves, the part of us that is innately connected to our deepest truth and always attuned to what we need in body, mind, and soul. Our intuition reminds us to slow down, listen, and pay attention to the messages and signs that our bodies are continuously delivering about which spiritual foods are best for us in any given moment. These messages can be transmitted in a variety of ways, such as genuine hunger, cravings, addictions, allergies, good and bad moods, energy levels from high to low, physical discomfort, and pleasurable sensations.
The purpose of this blog is to teach you how to pay intuitive attention to what your body needs right now, drawing on a number of energetic perspectives of food. If you are a subtle energy practitioner, the tools and information contained here can also be used with clients when you deem it appropriate to help them adopt a more spiritual diet that heals on many levels.
Food, Mood, And Mind
Cravings are important memos from the body and are its way of telling us about our emotional needs. They can also provide clues as to the limiting beliefs or negative self-talk that might be contributing to an emotional upset, whether that disruption is a minor, temporary state or a chronic, debilitating pattern. Cravings are tools and guides in the discipline of spiritual nutrition. The food and feelings connections outlined here can shed some light on the interplay between certain thoughts, feelings, and emotions that may be seeking your attention.
The Emotional Messages Of Food
Using this list can help you begin to see your cravings and food choices through a lens of self-acceptance, self-respect, and kindness and make the shift to eating healthier, spiritual foods as a result.
For instance, if you find that you’ve primarily been eating crunchy foods, such as popcorn, celery, and chips, you might guess that you are angry. Take some time to figure out what or who you are angry with, and perhaps what subtle energy boundaries you believe have been violated or that you are violating in others. If your snack list is full of gooey, sticky breadstuffs, you are probably seeking comfort in all the wrong places—in food instead of relationships. By taking stock of your diet, you can get in touch with your inner heart and respond to your deeper needs in more self-loving ways than literally feeding your feelings, which is ideal when living in alignment with the tenets of spiritual nutrition. If you change your attitude and behavior, your food cravings and dietary habits will also become healthier.
Crunchy foods: Anger. Crunchy foods help us act out our anger in a safe way, providing us an outlet so we don’t have to deal with the people or circumstances causing us to be angry.
Salty foods: Fear. We crave salty foods because we want to have more “spice” in our lives but are too scared to take a risk.
High-gluten or wheat products: Comfort and safety. What’s more comforting than a warm cinnamon roll, mashed potatoes, or a bowl of pasta? Gluten products give us the comfort and safety we need in a non-threatening way. Has a cinnamon roll ever rejected you?
Sugar: Excitement. When we can’t provide excitement for ourselves, sugar does it for us; if we’re unable to allow someone else to share joy with us, we can use sugar as a substitute playmate.
Dairy (milk, ice cream, fatty cheese): Love. Our first food was milk—mother’s milk. Rich, sugary, and/or fatty dairy products represent the unconditional love we received—or were supposed to receive—during infancy. We crave dairy products and foods when we desire unconditional love and protection and can’t find it in our everyday lives.
Chocolate: Sexual drive. We’re all sensual, sexual beings. Eating chocolate is a safe way to feel sensual when our life lacks romance. It’s also a substitute for the physical love we need but might be too frightened to obtain.
Alcohol: Acceptance. If you don’t feel accepted for who you really are, or worse, if you were punished for being yourself when you were young, alcohol can provide the illusion of self-acceptance. It can also protect you from the perceived dangers of intimacy. The sugar in alcohol can serve as a substitute for excitement. The corn in alcohol can buffer feelings of failure, and grain alcohol can give us the warm feelings we might lack in our relationships.
Corn: Success. We all want to be and to feel successful. Eating corn or corn products can not only momentarily imbue us with a sense of professional success, but also cushion us from deep-seated feelings of insecurity and failure.
Fatty foods: Shame. Fatty foods hide our internal shame. They also cocoon us in a bubble of shame (fat) so we’re safe from other people. After all, letting someone in close might make us feel even worse about ourselves.
The Mental Messages Of Food
The following are common limiting beliefs and negative internal messages related to certain foods, spiritual and otherwise. I am forever concerned at how negatively certain foods can affect our mental status..
Crunchy foods: Anger causes trouble. If someone is angry with me, they don’t love me.
Salty foods: It’s dangerous to be vibrant or enthusiastic. Being different causes rejection. Don’t take risks. It’s not safe to take risks.
High-gluten or wheat products: No one will give me what I really need. The world isn’t safe. I can’t rely on anyone but myself for love or comfort.
Sugar: It’s not okay (it’s evil) to have fun. I don’t deserve to be joyful.
Dairy (milk, ice cream, or cheese): I am unlovable. No one will ever love me the way I really am. Love is conditional.
Chocolate: Sex is bad. My sensuality is dangerous.
Alcohol: People will hurt me if I show who I really am. No one will accept my true self.
Corn: Success leads to pride. I am a failure. I will never succeed.
Fatty foods: I am a bad person. I don’t deserve anything good. I am unworthy of love.
Food And The Chakras: Eating Vibrationally For The Subtle Body
You can strengthen a particular chakra by eating the spiritual foods and supplements that are energetically associated with it, provided you aren’t allergic to those foods and don’t go to extremes. All foods carry frequency-based messages and have the ability to change our vibration, according to the principles of spiritual nutrition.
Chakra One
Spiritual Food Fuel: Red foods, such as meat, beets, grapes, strawberries, and cherries
Spiritual Message: You deserve to be alive, safe, strong, and passionate.
Chakra Two
Spiritual Food Fuel: Orange foods, such as yams, salmon, sweet potatoes, papaya, and wheat
Spiritual Message: Your feelings are good, desired, and desirable.
Chakra Three
Spiritual Food Fuel: Yellow foods, especially corn, also grapefruit and squashes
Spiritual Message: You deserve success. You are intelligent. You can learn what you need to know.
Chakra Four
Spiritual Food Fuel: Green foods, such as vegetables and sauces
Spiritual Message: You are loved and loveable. You deserve healthy relationships.
Chakra Five
Spiritual Food Fuel: Blue foods, such as berries, as well as all spices, which stimulate the mouth
Spiritual Message: You can be honest and have integrity. You can manifest your needs. It is safe to communicate.
Chakra Six
Spiritual Food Fuel: Purple foods, such as grapes, and vision-inducing substances like wine, tobacco, and organic cocoa
Spiritual Message: You are acceptable as you are. You are made in the Creator’s image. You deserve to make healthy choices.
Chakra Seven
Spiritual Food Fuel: White foods, such as parsnips, white asparagus, and fish; ceremonial substances like wormwood (used in absinthe), kava, salvia, wine and bread (as in communion); sacred herbs, including sage and lemongrass
Spiritual Message: You have a unique destiny. You are connected to the Divine. There is divine destiny.
Chakra Eight
Spiritual Food Fuel: Black foods (carbon based), such as alcohol, coffee, white flour, and sugar; past-life foods of meaning (often the foods that trigger issues); also colloidal silver
Spiritual Message: You can draw on the past for guidance and power. You deserve to be freed from the past. You can choose a new future.
Chakra Nine
Spiritual Food Fuel: Colloidal gold, bee pollen, honey; also foods symbolizing your soul
Spiritual Message: You are designed for greatness.
Chakra Ten
Spiritual Food Fuel: Earth foods: nuts, grains, potatoes, herbs, water
Spiritual Message: Your body is the meeting ground between the Divine and nature.
Chakra Eleven
Spiritual Food Fuel: Vibrational substances such as homeopathic tinctures, teas, and blessed water
Spiritual Message: Negativity can transmute into positivity.
Chakra Twelve
Spiritual Food Fuel: Minerals and vitamins; substances that benefit your unique physiology
Spiritual Message: You are fully human and fully divine.
Eating Seasonally With Ayurveda
Ayurveda recognizes six seasons rather than four, and each season involves general food and activity recommendations to support health and happiness and keep you in balance with the principles of spiritual nutrition.
March–April—Vasanta-ritu, spring.
Eat lightly and sleep lightly.
May–June—Grishma-ritu, summer.
Eat lightly and drink cold fluids.
July–August—Varsha-ritu, monsoon.
Reinforce the appetite and eat hot foods.
September–October—Sharad-ritu, short summer.
Eat cool, sweet, and astringent foods.
November–December—Hemanta-ritu, winter.
Eat and exercise a lot.
January–February—Shishira-ritu, cold winter.
As with Hemanta-ritu, eat and exercise, and also spend time in reflection.
The Rasas, Or Six Tastes
Diet is an important aspect of Ayurvedic medicine, as it is in traditional Chinese medicine, and food is intimately connected to the elements of nature within and around us. The beautiful alchemy of Ayurveda involves properly combining, avoiding, or increasing foods and spices of different natures. These natures are shown in the six basic rasas, or tastes, of Ayurveda, an important component of spiritual nutrition.
Sweet: adds the elements of earth and water; nourishes, cools, and moistens; includes rice, wheat, and sugar.
Sour: adds earth and fire; warms and oils; includes acidic fruits.
Salty: adds water and fire; dissolves, softens, and stimulates; in all salts.
Bitter: adds air and ether; cools, dries, and purifies; in green vegetables and spices such as turmeric and goldenseal.
Pungent: adds air and fire; warms, dries, and stimulates; in ginger and mustard.
Astringent: adds air and earth; cools and dries; in honey, buttermilk, pomegranate, and spices such as turmeric (which is also bitter).
Tasteful Healing
Taste: Sweet
Elements added: Earth and water
What it does for the body: Nourishes, cools, and moistens
Spiritual Foods it’s found in: Rice, wheat, sugar, and root vegetables
Taste: Sour
Elements added: Earth and fire
What it does for the body: Warms and oils
Spiritual Foods it’s found in: Acidic fruits
Taste: Salty
Elements Added: Water and fire
What it does for the body: Dissolves, softens, and stimulates
Spiritual Foods it’s found in: Salts
Taste: Bitter
Elements added: Air and ether
What it does for the body: Cools, dries, and purifies
Spiritual Foods it’s found in: Green vegetables, spices such as turmeric and goldenseal
Taste: Pungent
Elements added: Air and fire
What it does for the body: Warms, dries, and stimulates
Spiritual Foods it’s found in: Ginger, mustard, and cayenne pepper
Taste: Astringent
Elements added: Air and earth
What it does for the body: Cools and dries
Spiritual Foods it’s found in: Honey, buttermilk, beans, pomegranate, and turmeric
Food And Emotions: The Five-phase Approach To Soothing Heart And Mind
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the five basic flavors in foods are frequently used to transform an emotion into fire in order to recalibrate the body. Spiritual foods can also be used to uplift and enhance important emotions, as well as to reduce troubling emotions and calm overstimulated emotions. Incorporating the five flavors into your diet supports the free flow of qi (vital life-force energy) and calms and nourishes shen (spirit and the psyche), an integral component of spiritual nutrition.
From a Western point of view, it can seem confusing to enhance so-called negative emotions such as anger, worry, sadness, or fear, or to reduce the seemingly positive emotion of joy. From an Eastern perspective, all emotions are considered normal, healthy physiological responses to stimulation, as long as they are kept in check and balanced. Too little or too much of any emotion, especially for a prolonged duration, will cause pathological damage to the organs and meridians and imbalance our spiritual nutrition.
For instance, too much joy will scatter the spirit and cause anxiety. This type of joy is not the sort that leads to deep contentment and peace, but rather overexcitement and hyperactivity. Lacking anger, our qi cannot rise, and we might fail to stand up for others or ourselves. If we’re too angry, we become violent and cruel. If we don’t worry enough, we might miss something important in our lives; we won’t reach out and bond with others. Too much worry leads to despair and weakness. Sadness helps us feel love; this would be a shallow world if we could not feel loss. Too much sadness, however, will lead to being consumed by grief, and fear causes the qi to descend, helping us back down and take stock of a situation. If we are too scared, our mind becomes scattered, and we can’t think or act correctly. As you can see, every emotion is important in our spiritual nutrition when equalized and accessible.
Flavor: Sour
Meridians: Liver and Gallbladder
Emotions Enhanced: Anger
Emotions Reduced: Thought
Flavor: Bitter
Meridians: Heart and Small Intestine
Emotions Enhanced: Joy
Emotions Reduced: Sadness and worry
Flavor: Sweet
Meridians: Spleen and Stomach
Emotions Enhanced: Thought
Emotions Reduced: Fear and shock
Flavor: Pungent
Meridians: Lung and Large Intestine
Emotions Enhanced: Worry and sadness
Emotions Reduced: Anger
Flavor: Salty
Meridians: Kidney and Bladder
Emotions Enhanced: Fear and shock
Emotions Reduced: Joy
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