Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!
Holiday Celebrations & Food Temptations!
Managing those diet “cheats” with traditional holiday foods.
This holiday season will be unlike any other, with the pandemic and restrictions. However most of us will still be tempted by special holiday foods that we don’t usually encounter at other times of year.
If you are the Lesser or Greater Yin constitution you may be tempted with wine, cranberry sauce, salty snacks and other cooling foods.
If you are the Lesser Yang constitution there will be temptations of turkey, stuffing, and all those sweets and desserts!
So how do we manage at times like this, when there are so many temptations, and family members are urging us to eat these foods? Well, let’s face it, we all “cheat” on our diets now and then. The main thing to be careful of is that we don’t cheat too often, or with too much of the foods that throw our bodies off balance. Remember that it takes time for the body to recover again.
If you have been following your Body Constitution diet for a year or more, you will already have experienced how your body reacts to foods that are “off” your list. So keep that in mind, remind yourself of how you felt the last time you ate that food, and let that guide you as to whether you can tolerate a little or not.
If you have been following your Body Constitution diet for only a few months or just a few weeks, then your body may still be in the process of communicating how it feels when you eat some of the foods off your list. So you may not yet have a clear idea of what you can get away with a little of, and what you can’t.
Guidelines for Holiday Eating
* Make a plan:
If you have some control over the menu, then plan on making holiday foods that are within your food lists. Find out what else will be served and decide ahead of time what you can indulge in a little, and what is really off limits for your body. This gives you some emotional space when faced with foods that don’t serve your body, rather than making impulsive decisions on the spur of the moment.
* Get creative:
Find ways to make traditional dishes with ingredients that nourish your constitution. For example:
If you are Lesser Yin, instead of red or white wine, choose hot apple cider or cold sparkling apple champagne. Or, instead of cranberry sauce make apple sauce or dried cherry sauce.
If you are Lesser Yang, have ham instead of turkey. Make cranberry sauce cooked in white grape juice and raisins. Sweets at holiday time are the most challenging temptations for you at this time of year. Make desserts with barley flour instead of wheat flour, use white grape juice or other fruit juices, raisins, dried strawberries, and dried mango etc, for sweeteners.
* Try to resist too many temptations:
Set limits for how much you will eat of the foods that hurt your constitution. Allow yourself a few treats, but with moderation. Being disciplined about sticking to our diet actually helps us to feel better about ourselves in the end. If we indulge too much, we end up becoming discouraged and feeling badly about ourselves later, as well as physically unwell.
* Visualize the outcome:
It took me a long time to finally let go of the desire for sweets and desserts, so I understand how those of you who are Lesser Yang struggle with this. I found it very helpful to keep a mental picture of how I felt the last time I ate something sweet – sometimes I will write it in a journal so I don’t forget – and recall this picture or physical sensation as I look at a food I am tempted to eat. I recall how I physically felt, the impact of that food on my body, and then ask myself, “Do I really want to go through that again?”
* Plan your antidotes:
When you eat foods that go against your body constitution, you can help to recover from the effects by eating something that is on your most nourishing list, as soon as you can. So if you are Lesser Yin and you eat something cooling, then follow it with something that is very warming. If you are Lesser Yang and eat something warming, follow it with something very cooling.
This doesn’t cancel out or “neutralize” the effect of the food you cheated on, but it does help to restore strength in the internal organs that were depleted by your “cheat” foods.
* Motto: Stay Healthy
Enjoy the holidays, but take care of yourself and stay healthy. Too much indulging in the wrong foods will make you feel sick or tired, or irritable. Stay as closely to your diet as you can, without feeling like it takes all the pleasure out of the holiday season.
Winter is Here! Chinese Herbs Will Protect Your Immune System
The cold damp weather is the time of year to pay extra special attention to our health. Cold and flu viruses flourish, and we often spend less time outdoors getting exercise.
A Chinese herbal formula designed for your Sasang Body Constitution will strengthen your weaker or more vulnerable internal organs, strengthen and protect your immune system, and act as a tonic to give you more energy.
Chinese herbs can also help you to recover from your holiday food “cheats”.
If you have taken an herbal formula from me in the past, you can simply re-order another 10 day treatment by sending me an email or using the order link below. Shipping charges will be added to the prices on the order form.
If you have never taken herbs for your body constitution, send me an email and we can begin the process of finding the ideal formula for you.
There are also specific Chinese herb formulas designed for your Body Constitution to treat the common cold and flu symptoms. It is always good to have 3-4 packages of those on hand in the freezer to take at the first sign of a cold or flu. In many cases the herbs can eliminate the symptoms in 24-48 hours.
Featured Client
My Featured Client this issue is a young woman who is still a teenager, and has done a remarkable job at being disciplined about her diet and resolving her health issues. Congratulations Claire on doing so well with your health transformation!
Claire Capron,
France
“I first heard about Body Landscape when my mother started her journey through it. As I was in high school, and thus still living with my parents, I was able to witness all of the good things it brought her. This motivated me to take a consultation.
I was not experiencing many physical problems, but what troubled me was high fatigue even though I slept at least 8 hours every night. Being a Lesser Yin type, I did not have many big changes to make in my daily diet.
Soon, I started to feel the difference in my body when I ate warming and neutral foods. However, I kept having some cool food sometimes – I used to be a big sushi lover.
Then, last Christmas, I got sick and became unfriendly with food for the following months. I was never hungry, waited until my stomach ached and burnt like fire before eating. Every time I ate, even very small quantities, my stomach bloated and I felt nauseous. I feared all the time to be sick again. I ran several medical tests but any doctor knew or was able to explain what I had.
After almost 3 months in this situation, I asked for a Follow-up consultation with Jaguang and got advised to follow the Water Rhythm practice. This is a very strong healing method, which requires a very strict following of several rules, in addition of the Lesser Yin diet. The regular Follow-up consultations helped me sticking to it, but I was mostly motivated by the will to finally heal, understand what was wrong, and to feel good in my body again.
Results showed up quickly. Now I gained back confidence and trust in my body. I have no more nausea and my stomach is almost never bloated. Appetite came back, such as the joy to eat. Jaguang helped me to understand how my body works and what I can do to take care of it. I never got back to eating sushis or any cool food because I feel that my body does not want or need it.
I also experience the link between food and emotions. As an anxious person, I notice that my anxiety reduced, the deeper I got into this journey. High school and university are very stressful and intense for the mind as well as for the body which goes through a lot of changements. Body Landscape is also about getting to know ourselves and accepting who we are.”