Food should not only be valued for its nutrition but for the experience it gives us, and the energy it creates in our bodies. If “you are what you eat”, and food impacts our bodies on a cellular level, consider how it may impact our relationship to life. While you are becoming aware of the diversity and properties of the food you consume, consider that each food has its own unique energy. What if we assimilate not only the nutrients but the energy of the food we eat? In his book, The Energetics of Food: Encounters With Your Most Intimate Relationships, Steven Gagne explains that foods have their own distinct characteristics. He teaches that where foods come from and how they grow affect the energy they provide. For example, plant foods such as greens reach up towards the sun, soaking up the chlorophyll. Eating such foods provides our blood with oxygen therefore lifting our spirits, helping us to feel lighter. Other vegetables like squash grow close to the ground and are considered mood balancing. Root vegetables, which grown downward into the ground have a strong energy to ground us when we feel over-stimulated.

There is also a strong connection between food and mood. Some meal choices will make us feel dull and sluggish while others will raise our spirits and energy levels. Science tells us that the food-mood phenomenon is due to brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. These are chemical messengers that relay actions throughout the brain. Examples of these neurotransmitters are serotonin, which makes us feel relaxed; and dopamine and norepinephrine, which are stimulating. Eating carbohydrate rich foods release serotonin, which will make us feel relaxed but overdoing the carbs will create drowsiness. A protein rich meal will release the dopamine and norepinephrine causing us to feel alert and focused. In this case, overdoing the protein will cause us to feel tense and irritable.

Again, each of us will have a different reaction to food and mood. Only you can know the right amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fat you need in order to achieve the feelings of health and wellbeing you desire.

As we step closer towards FOOD FREEDOM, incorporate the techniques and strategies into our daily routines and mind-set, experience and appreciate a newfound energy, it will start to become apparent that feeling otherwise just doesn’t make any sense.