Do you struggle to control your cravings or food blow outs? Are you fighting yourself? Do you keep “going off” sugar, processed foods, or any other unsuspecting food subcategory? Maybe there is a different way to look at it.
There is an anecdote I’ve heard:
“If you are carrying stones in your hands and you think they are diamonds, I will not renounce those stones. I will simply say, “Be alert, have another look!” – OSHO
Let’s look at nutrition. When you learn something through true knowledge (verified through your own experience) what the true diamonds are of the nutritional world, you will no longer have to control your desire for picking up stone after stone, whether it’s cakes, diet drinks, too many stimulants… It doesn’t matter what the craving or “weakness” is, why would you pick it up when you know with your entire being that it is not a diamond.. and that you have the choice?
For us to try and CONTROL is impossible. Who is controlling who?? Although the conscious mind can uncover more of, or learn about the patterns of the subconscious, the concept of control is a flop. You cannot “ban” foods from your life with long term success. Doing this simply leaves the mind in a split, schizophrenic state, which is not able to see clearly. What does this mean? The mind becomes “split” in that there is a divergence between what we think (or know) we “should” be doing/eating, and what we actually “are” doing or eating. Interestingly, a split mind will also result from being overworked, or stressed. So we see nutritional decisions can be compromised when we are in these states.
Success comes from awareness through true knowledge and experience.
So, if we can’t control ourselves, what can we do? When the knowledge is still false (i.e. it is “given” to you.. you read it in the books, the latest magazines.. or heard from seminars, peers, experts), it is not powerful. This is critical to understand. When you “know” something from an external source it is not part of you – it carries little weight against the subconscious. You think it is powerful and true, but that is a trick. Without it being true knowledge, we aren’t fully convinced what is a diamond and what is actually a stone.
We have heard ABC is healthy/unhealthy… we think that we “know” this now, but we are still not sure at a deep level. With food, the marketing on the packet can still trick us and will carry as much weight as other forms of learned (false) knowledge. We need to develop not just our own experience, but experience with awareness.
The nutritional journey is, like all others, an awareness journey. It is complete once you know for your OWN self which are your stones and which are your diamonds. This can take much trial and error, as you need to find out for yourself! Use a reliable source to BEGIN with.. then start your own journey. Be patient! 3-5 years would be about the average that I have seen. This is a short timeframe to fully COMPLETE the journey if you have been on a different path for 30-40 years. The true knowledge MUST be developed, or else it will always fail.
Which foods make YOU feel good, recover well, sleep well?
If you have the awareness to answer this question fully, without any reservations and with true knowledge, then “eating well” gets a lot easier.
This is the focus of any “challenges” we have run at our gym – starting to discover what makes you feel good. It is your launching pad for more awareness around food. Increasing awareness is a “challenge”!
Then suddenly, without warning, the whole debacle around nutrition suddenly disappears for you. It was once a crystallised problem in reality, craving this, sneaking that.. Now it has evaporated – it doesn’t exist. There is in fact never a problem with food. Good foods, bad foods.. both have existed forever, they have just changed shape and colours. It is just the differences in awareness and the type of knowledge that we like to identify with that creates the gap.
You then walk along and are surprised at some of the stones people are still thinking are diamonds!
