One Day at a Time
Implementing Your New Nutritional Program

When we are presented with a new nutritional program with a list of foods that are healing for us, and another list of foods we must avoid, most people tend to respond on three different levels:

Heart Voice: Our heart says, “Oh yes, I really do want to be healthy and to give my body the foods that truly nourish and support it. This will be really good for me.”

Mind Voice: Our mind is the practical voice that says, “OK, I will find a way to eliminate all the “avoid” foods. Shall I just go through my cupboards and throw them all out? Or maybe I’ll just keep eating them anyway until they’re all gone, then gradually get onto the diet. Gosh, would that be a bad thing to do? Maybe do a little of both???”

Emotional Voice: Our emotions react quickly, saying “OMG the foods I have to avoid are the very foods I love! How will I ever be able to let go of those? And this is forever? For the rest of my life I should never eat these foods again? This feels like such a loss! But no, I want to do what is right for my body, so I will calm down and try this. Calming down now….taking a deep breath!”

Making it Easier
Our heart /wisdom is our best guide, so we can remind ourselves often of what it is saying to us. Go back to your good intentions, even write them down to refer to often. Post it on your fridge, or wherever you will see it often. Encourage yourself with kindness and optimism. You truly can restore your body to wellness.

Our practical mind is our organizer, deciding how we will go about embarking upon the diet. This is really up to you. Whether you immediately get rid of all the foods on your “avoid” list and go straight into the diet, or whether you ease gradually into it over a week or so, slowly letting go of the “avoid” foods, either way will be effective. You will see the greatest benefits if the gradual approach doesn’t extend over more than 10 days.

Our emotions often put up the greatest resistance.
Emotions feed thoughts, and thoughts feed more emotions, so it is important to observe and slow down this repetitive cycle. One of the best ways to appease this panic of “I’ll never be able to eat those foods again” is to focus on taking it one day at a time. What can often make it feel overwhelming is telling ourself “never again”, or “for the rest of my life”.

Focus on Today: The Present is our only true reality.
It can be helpful to approach this by just focusing on what you will eat today. Don’t worry about what you will/can or can’t eat tomorrow or the next day. Just stay with the present. Tell yourself, “OK, just for today I will stay away from my “avoid” foods”. It is much easier to deal with one day, today, than to think about the infinite future. If each day you decide that just for today you will not eat your “avoid” foods, then before you know it a week has past, then two weeks. (This approach works for almost anything we are trying to let go of : )) )
A meditation practice can be very helpful to stay in the present and not get too caught up in worrying about the future.

Once you have followed your plan for two weeks, some of your symptoms will begin to improve. Most people will start to feel some positive changes, either with physical symptoms or emotional symptoms. Some experience improvements in less than a week. After just two weeks not all changes will be dramatic, but your body will give you signs that positive changes are occurring.

Feeling Better Provides Motivation to Continue
When your symptoms improve, your body will then start to support your efforts in changing your diet. If you do go off your diet and indulge in one of those “avoid” foods, you will now be able to feel the negative impact of how those foods affect you. This in turn helps to encourage you when you realize how much the “avoid” foods have been hurting you and causing certain symptoms, even though they may taste good. Once you can make a direct correlation between certain foods and your symptoms, those foods really begin to lose their appeal!

Food is Truly Medicine
If we take this approach to what we eat, we will change the way we think about food – the right foods are fuel that keep us healthy.

The Easiest Way to Approach Our Diets

1. Some discipline is needed in order to get started. Our practical mind has to steer us away from our “avoid” foods. Stay focused on what you will eat today, avoid worrying about the future.
2. Soon the body will respond in positive ways, encouraging us to continue.
3. Do Follow-up consultations. These help you to see where you have improved so far (when symptoms disappear we easily forget about them and don’t realize our progress). They also provide guidance for the next 4 weeks on the diet. Adjustments usually have to be made once we see how your body is responding.
4. A meditation practice can be very helpful to stay grounded, be less vulnerable to emotions, and return to quiet mental clarity. This helps us to have a realistic perspective on all aspects of our life, not just our diet.

Be kind to yourself. The body is not perfect, and not all health issues are diet related, but you truly can achieve much greater health on a diet that is designed to fit your body’s specific constitutional needs.

New Website Address

In an effort to bring my spiritual teachings and nutritional guidance together in one location, I have changed my website address.

New Address: www.JaguangSunim.org

From this new site, visitors will have a choice to go either to my Zen meditation site, or my Five Element Sasang: Body Landscape site.

My old website address www.MyBodyLandscape.com is still working. For the next few months, anyone going to that address will be directed to the new address.
But this will eventually be phased out, so please note the new address and pass it on to anyone you wish to send to my website.
www.JaguangSunim.org

Chinese herbal Treatments

A Chinese herbal formula provides more potent, deep internal balancing and strengthening of our energies than what foods can provide. A ten-day treatment, taken once or twice a year, can protect our health and boost our stamina.
To order a treatment of Chinese herbs, just send me an email, or reply to this newsletter, and we can arrange that.

Learn more here:
https://jaguangsunim.org/services/#chinese-herbal-treatments