Heart Thoughts

May 2008

For the Love of Food

If you could pause for a moment, before you place a bite of food in your mouth, and ask yourself this simple question...

"Does this food reflect my deep love for my true-self?" Then wait long enough for your intuition to respond before you place the food into your mouth and then become disciplined enough to practice this simple action how differently would you feed yourself?

The understanding that your body is indeed a temple carrying your spirit and soul through life is an easy concept to grasp. However, feeding the body as a temple is a difficult action to practice.

What if one of the main reasons for obesity is a deep lack of self love and the need to insulate and protect one's self from being hurt? If there is truth in this statement then there must be an unbelievable amount of pain in this world.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States makes obesity a leading public health problem. The United States has the highest rates of obesity in the developed world. From 1980 to 2002, obesity has doubled in adults and overweight prevalence has tripled in children and adolescents.

From 2003-2004, "children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years, 17.1% were overweight...and 32.2% of adults aged 20 years or older were obese." The prevalence in the United States continues to rise. (Source: Wikipedia)

You are led to believe that the main cause of obesity
is poor diet and lack of proper exercise.

When one take's a step back and examines who controls how much a body is fed and exercised, one can only conclude it is the heart and mind inside of the body that controls one's diet and exercise.

When your heart and mind is not filled with love, and instead is being drowned with internal hurt and pain, the desire and drive to nurture and care for your body properly, can become extraneous.

Most actions are driven by your subconscious emotions, which are impossible to see because they are hidden away inside of your mind. How you know what these emotions are is we simply observe our diet and exercise habits, and they will paint a very clear picture of exactly how you feel about yourself.

The health and quality of the food that you invite into your temple and the care you give in exercising your body is an outward reflection of your internal emotions.

If one desires to improve their health, diet, and fitness
of their body, you must begin by improving your
inner-love of self.

French fries with melted cheese, dipped in ranch dressing, followed by a huge steak and baked potato with everything, chased with an extra large piece of mud pie, leading to a long nap in front of the television, before going to bed are usually not strong indicators of one's inner-love of self!

Nor is the 48 ounce diet soda, the bag of cookies or chips eaten before heading to the all-you-can-eat buffet, followed by hours in front of the computer. When you can take a step back from your every day habits, and observe your behaviours with an open and honest mind, it can be amazing at how unconscious you may have become in your lifestyle in regards to your diet, health, and exercise regime.

You can begin connecting with your inner-temple by allowing it to express through dance a couple of times each week. Take the time to walk 20-30 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Eat more fruit, vegetables, and seafood and less packaged, canned, or boxed food.

The intelligence residing inside of our body temple grows in gratitude and love. The long term benefit will equate to improved fitness, health, and vitality.

Affirmation:

"I joyfully express my love of my body temple
through my diet and exercise programs."

In Love and Peace,
David Allen Jones

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