Change

By Kathleen Downey

Change can be challenging. Everything from becoming a first-time wife or mom to not-so-fun changes when relationship issues can cause heartbreak, loss and emotionally-charged situations. These can sometimes cause you to turn to convenient comfort foods for solace. Knowing what is being triggered in these moments can change a knee-jerk reaction of turning to comfort food to one of thoughtful contemplation, and the centering of energy with a deep breath and communication which will serve you much better.

What are comfort foods? What do they bring us back to emotionally? They bring us back to a time when we did not have to make decisions, or learn more than how to call out to our parents for our basic needs. Comfort foods bring us back to late infancy and the foods our mothers gave to us.

Wheat, dairy and sugary foods were, and unfortunately still are, common choices for many who are emotionally charged or in a hurry. Much of our convenient and familiar foods are laden with the most allergenic and acid-producing ingredients. These foods are inexpensive to farm and produce. Our market place is overwhelmed with them, as are our bodies. If you eat the same foods over and over on a daily basis, you will develop sensitivities to them.

The small intestines are energetically responsible for discernment and decision making. They are very long and are folded up inside our bodies, creating the need for us to chew our food until it is nearly liquid. The small intestines absorb our nutrients and digest several food groups; they are also energetically connected to the emotion of grief. When we feel grief we will have a hard time making a decision due to our small intestines being imbalanced. If we eat foods we are sensitive to the same can occur.

If you are experiencing abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue or headaches after eating, chances are you are allergic or intolerant to what you are eating. Some of us started having reactions to wheat in early childhood due to intolerance of the gluten protein found in wheat, barley and rye. This is called celiac or co-eliac disease. When our body is exposed to this protein and three peptides found in the protein, the enzyme tTG modifies the protein, and the immune system cross reacts with the small bowel tissue causing inflammation. This leads to truncating or atrophy of the villi lining of the small intestines, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients.

Doctors say nothing except that a life-long avoidance of gluten products will transform this condition, a condition first documented by Greek physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia in the 1st Century CE. As far back as that science was recognizing the problems wheat caused. In the U.S. it‘s estimated that 1 in 107 people have celiac disease, yet wheat and gluten production has expanded for centuries. Many of us have been or still are addicted to gluten products. They break down as sugar and are in most comfort foods.

It is difficult to break away from this pattern of eating. Some of us need guidance to overcome emotional issues that bring us to these foods. Knowing a disease like celiac has been around for so long should help one to recognize how important it is to take your health into your own hands. Many of my clients over the last 20 years have discovered in sessions with me that they should avoid gluten, sugar and dairy and they wanted recipes, so I wrote a book. In Healthy is Delicious — More than a Cookbook, I share the gluten-free, dairy-, soy- and sugar-free recipes I‘ve been using to stay healthy for over 20 years since I first struggled with reactions to inflammation-producing foods. I included 80 pages on the nutritional value of whole organic non-GMO produce, alternative grains, nut milks, nut and veggie cheeses and super foods.

There is a section on food combining, which is very important because every food group digests differently. It takes watermelon only 15 minutes to digest, starches take 2 to 3 hours, and proteins take 4 hours. The old idea that we need to eat meat and potatoes or fish with rice is really overworking your digestion and can cause an acid reaction. Do not mix starches and proteins — you’ll feel better.

A change in diet can be a struggle for so many. Comfort foods taken away can cause anxiety if the underlying emotional issues are not healed. Recognizing that it is not always easy, our well-being, or lack there of, may be due to food allergies or sensitivities. Sometimes these sensitivities are overlooked because you won’t have all the usual symptoms.

Sometimes we are out of touch with how we feel because we’ve suffered enough trauma in life through loss or other changes. Often we no longer notice how we feel because we think it’s normal not to feel well.

The cause of symptoms for many of my clients were revealed without invasive testing but by the Shamanic journey and Soul Retrieval, which gets to the heart of any issue while empowering us. When we discover the emotional issue(s) at the bottom of the digestive troubles and it is resolved, the change of diet is not a struggle.

Many times exposure to environmental toxins producing parasites, which invade your body creating inflammation in the liver, is the problem. The elimination of dairy, sugar and wheat or gluten products will greatly ease this inflammation and acid environment. There are cleanses and minerals that will also help balance the organs when the environment is a causative factor.

We can learn many things from change, including how empowering it is to reach out for help. You are not alone and never have to be.

Kathleen Downey is a Shamanic Counselor, Past-Life Therapist, Nutritionist and author of Healthy is Delicious — More than a Cookbook. She is available for private sessions worldwide and is holding Retreats for Safe Detoxing in Hawaii January 2014, Soul Retrieval Training in Hawaii February 2014, Past-Life Therapy Training in Niagara Falls March 2014. Details at www.corelevelhealing.net