conscious consumption
as a trainer and nutritionist, i’ve had the opportunity to have a front row seat in many different lives. one of the best parts of my job is having the opportunity to connect with all kinds of people from all walks of life. something that i’ve noticed as a constant for people, regardless of background, is their understanding of their bodies and the constituent parts of their “selves”. it brings much joy to have the opportunity to ignite their curiosity and stoke their interest.
what makes us
you may have heard the saying that “we are star stuff”— while true, this take is a bit ethereal and keeps a bit of a chasm between the cosmos and little old us as individuals. are cells are made from the materials we consume from our skin (both inside and outside). through an extremely reductionist perspective, the air we’re surrounded by, the food and beverage we intake, and the vibrations of the sounds that surround us influence our make up on a cellular level.
the act of being well in our bodies becomes a multilayered, highly nuanced/individual pathway which, in my opinion, should offer a sense of relief. the more variables there are, the less complicated it happens to become.
assimilation
in ayurveda, the things that we consume are transformed through three main theories of metabolism. we can take the opportunity to unpack those theories another time, for now— we can focus on the concept of irrigation as our main framework for understanding. in a theory of irrigation, what we consume is first absorbed by the skin tissues (most often recognized by the ones in the gut).
after consumption, our other tissues (called dhatus in ayurveda) each progressively get to pick from the remaining nutrients. this path begins with the blood plasma and ends with the organs of reproduction. along the pathway, disturbances in a tissue can indicate a root issue earlier on in the pathway or, if you’re really keen, can give you a sense of what to expect next without taking steps to change.
it’s the practice of intuition for me. it boils down to getting uncomfortable and then getting familiar with yourself to tap in and take small daily steps to keep you body and spirit fresh.
elimination
as the saying goes, “you are what you eat”— but the addendum is the key to the castle. “you are what you eat and assimilate”, the vital things that are taken in by your body become you, but the things that are waste products to your body are eliminated. it is in these two processes that we are able to maintain towards balance. when we experiences blockages, the stagnant waste products start to be assimilated into our tissues.
when this happens, we begin to experience the things like lethargy, brain fog, anxiety, insomnia, gas, bloating. so be it the food we eat, the spaces we inhabit, or the language that we use towards ourselves, we can find wellness through discerning and addressing that which doesn’t serve us versus that which does.
