Two of my biggest passions in life are food and spirituality. I’m a big believer that humans are a part of the earth (or the human energy? The human consciousness? Whatever you want to call it) and I don’t believe we are any more intelligent or worthy than any other being on the planet… This extends to other humans, animals, plants, bacteria, mushrooms (obviously) and everything on this earth, even down to a dead leaf that’s fallen off a tree.

CONNECTING WITH THE EARTH…

Let’s look at eating… What you eat literally becomes you… the amino acids, the vitamins, the minerals in that food (and a whole lot more magic that is yet to be discovered) are all literally broken down and used as building blocks for your hormones, structures, enzymes etc. A carrot is not just a certain amount of vitamin C, an egg is more than just a bunch of macros you’ve now got to plug into myfitnesspal. What is this more? I don’t think science has even begun to discover what makes food good for us. I think in years to come, we’ll look back on this phase of existence and laugh at the idea that food was reduced down into a bunch of numbers… More on this later, but this is one reason why I don’t work as a nutritionist in clinic.

In some sense (and certainly in my opinion) you can’t get closer to the earth than eating… the earth is actually BECOMING you. Food is grown in the soil, borrowing nutrients (and magic) from the earth and we eat this food and it literally gives us life – a magic far beyond the calorie measure of energy. The world “calorie” has really ruined the term “energy”.

When you look at eating this way, you can see how special it is, and I really do think eating should be and always is a spiritual experience. We owe this food our life, we cannot live without it. And not just life, but also happiness and positive emotions. Mood, depression and anxiety is undeniably linked to what we eat, and as someone who values happiness above everything, a plate of food to me is SO much more than some calories, or something you have to eat, or something you mindlessly consume while watching Netflix.

On that note, with the current state of disease in the modern world (autoimmunity, mood disorders, psychiatric conditions), I believe a large part of it is our current state of disconnect from our earth and all it’s beings.

This extends to the air we breathe (which by the way would also not be there without the earth and it’s plants) and the interactions we have with every part of life, from swimming in the ocean, to walking barefoot in nature, to breathing in air, and of course to eating and drinking. This is a part of our connection with our earth. We are part of our earth weather we like it or not, and to quote the Disney classic Pocahontus (aka best movie ever)…

“YOU THINK YOU OWN WHATEVER LAND YOU LAND ON, THE EARTH IS JUST A DEAD THING YOU CAN CLAIM”

Not to get angry, but how dare we humans think that we can bulldoze and claim the earth for what we want. We should be the ones bowing down to it for giving us life, not the other way round. Err that got a bit religious… moving on…

THE FRUIT AND VEGGIES YOU EAT AND WHERE THEY ARE GROWN…

I often talk about shopping at the farmer’s market from a proper organic local farm, not just a middle man retailer who imports from a variety of places. I’m talking radishes that were pulled out of the ground the morning you paid the guy who actually pulled them out. I’m talking the stalls that sell small amounts of fruit and veg (not every variety known to mankind/ womankind/ beingkind?) and only sell what they grow. The more you shop from authentic organic farms you’ll realise growing fruit and veg is not a straightforward and easy process, and they are very much subject to weather changes, soil, changes, pests etc – this is what you want! This is nature and the ecosystem!

Now as much as I try to deny it, I am a city girl. I’ve never grown up on a farm, I’ve never grown my own food, I’ve never slaughtered an animal. But through my own obsession with health, life, food, sustainability and spirituality I learn as I go along.

Anyway… What do you think?

Xxx