Internal Awareness

What a great day! Okay, so now most of you see this title and probably think I'm referring to some profoundly insightful personal exploration of one's psyche. That could be, of course, but certainly was not the case with our first lecture of the day. Internal Awareness, my friends, is just that. The very necessary awareness of our own internal workings, particularly as it relates to digestion and absorption of food. I was thinking about this while on the road to Florida knowing that this is an important part of true health. For more years than I can count I have never hesitated to discuss food with any of you. We have discussed the purchase of it in all of its forms whether it be local, organic, frozen, exotic, whatever. We have also discussed at enormous length, the preparation of it as so many of us are foodies bordering on chef calibre :-) or at least fancy ourselves to be such. We have discussed the eating of it and all of the sensory stimulations that this entails. We prepare it based on flavours, colours, textures, sometimes nutritional combinations, and we applaud ourselves with a job well done and commend one another on another great meal. We have, for the most part, done this our entire adult lives. We have exchanged favourite recipes and revelled in preparing a loved ones favourite foods. Never, in all of my years, do I remember anyone ever discussing what happens to it after it leaves our mouths. With the exception of always being told as a child to "chew your food" there has never been much discussion beyond the ingestion of it. I am very happy to say and know that it's not too late to learn that it's not what we EAT but what we ABSORB that is important. Today was all about digestion and ENZYMES, the cornerstone that liquefies our food so that the nutrients in it can find their way into our bloodstreams with a little help from our pancreas, liver, gall bladder, etc. I believe that if I had ever spent as much time on this aspect of my food as I did on the part before it entered my mouth I likely never would have had colon cancer. I also think that this is one of the major reasons that colon cancer is heading shortly, if not already there, to being the #1 cause of cancer deaths in North America. People really do need to talk about this. Especially men, who seem, at the moment to have more incidence of colon cancer although women are quickly catching up, unfortunately. We must be aware of what our body tells us after we eat. Having to pop Tums, Rolaids, or prescription antacids is not the answer to stomach upset. Finding out the reason and eliminating the cause is the answer so that we don't remain a society of malnourished, albeit overfed people because we can't absorb any of the nutriton in our food due to the stressed out condition of our digestive organs. If we listen to our bodies they will tell us whether we are doing it right or not. We really do have to listen. We should be eliminating each meal within a few hours of having eaten it. That's what kids do. Ever notice that those little guys have great big poops relative to their size? That's because all of their systems work as they were intended. They have not become bogged down by the nature and quantity of what is put into them. How many of us can say the same thing? We really do have to get there because our lives depend on it. And by the way, you may have deduced that I think potty mouth is a good thing! Be well and chew your food until it's really mush! Love, Sally xoxo