How I nourish my body

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As counsellors we are sometimes accused of focusing too much on feelings but how we feel about our bodies influence how we take care of this precious gift.  I recently watched a documentary on wounded ex soldiers trekking to the North Pole and was reminded of what our bodies can do.  I discuss this in my book An A-Z for your life.

How do we nourish our bodies?  How do we decide what to eat and drink and what to say “no!” to?  For some it is all about taste.

A recent blend: kale and raspberries

You may eat the foods you were raised on, replicating recipes from your parents.  I do a bit of this but I now live in a different part of the world, in a different time and a different household.  Plus with increased indoor living, stress, technology, pollution, central heating and ageing my bodily needs must now be different.

How do I optimise what I feed my body?  Is it a combination of taste and heritage?  The health guidelines recommend 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, plenty of water and not too much alcohol, caffeine or fizzy drinks.  My diet is close to this but I have a few niggling health issues that have no medical solution.  I am convinced that fine-tuning what I eat and don’t eat is the answer.  Diets tend to be about slimming and I have never really dieted.

I have been thinking of making some changes to what I eat to see if it improves my health concerns.  Some months ago a friend loaned me a book about eating for your blood type and I find the arguments very convincing.  It seems to be scientific and by relating to specific blood types I can be sure that it takes my body chemistry into account.  This feels much safer than just choosing something that is in vogue but based on different body types, or genetic background than my own.  Apparently, our blood type go back further in our ancestry, and is a more useful key to our optimum diet than race or current environment.   Alongside this I’ve been reading up on green smoothies and raw food.  Incredibly these are compatible and imply some overall truth.

Having read the book on blood type I am very keen to try tweaking my diet towards the optimum for my blood type.  I don’t claim to understand all the science behind it but I do know that some foods are more easily digested than others.  I am not yet ready to give up meat but I do love fish and vegetables so these can be part of the majority of meals.  Probably the biggest difference is being able to be more specific about the fruits that are best for me, and those that are not as good.  A few of my favourites will be shelved whilst I try this out.  It’s my first attempt to follow some sort of diet and feels like a big commitment to trust my body’s nourishment to this approach.  A wide range of foods are included: – carb, veg, fruit, fish, greens, red wine – so this is not particularly difficult.  If I link my reading on green smoothies and raw living this is not so much a change of what is eaten but how it is prepared. What will be cooked, juiced or blended? It is less about menu and more about recipe.

As a holistic practitioner I am intrigued that it also targets the most suitable exercises for different blood types.  It suggests, for example, that those with blood type O would benefit from eating lots of meat and undertaking high energy exercises whilst for those with blood type A, being vegetarian and practicing gentler and more meditative exercises such as Tai Chi and Pilates are likely to be beneficial.

So how do you nourish your body?  We are all making these decisions everyday.  Does it depend on taste, family background, cost, convenience or public health information?  

Are most plays about unhappy men?

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I recently enjoyed Kevin Spacey in Richard III at the Old Vic. I had seen several Shakespearean productions although not specifically this play.  It was a brilliant production directed by Sam Mendes and Kevin Spacey was great in the role.  The team wanted the audience to fall in love with the dialogue so the performance covered an absorbing 3 hours!  They gave us enough time to get hold of the setting and the characters. Kevin Spacey as Richard III was captivating and charismatic.  He was also bitter, angry, manipulative, egocentric and altogether not a nice person.

 

A couple weeks later I went to see Butley with Dominic West.  This is the story of a university professor and his relationship with his mentee over a period of time.  I am a big fan of Dominic West and his acting was superb.  During the play we find out about the lengths and depths of their relationship, the other people in their lives and gain some insight into the changing power balance between them.  Although it is possible to feel sad for Butley and the situation he finds himself in, one is not really drawn to him.  He is bitter, angry, repressed, emotionally blind, lost and emotionally cold.  It was quite a sad ending in that the character seemed resigned and hopeless.

 

I was very disappointed with the ending in Butley. I don’t think I need an upbeat happy ending. Also, characters don’t all have to be nice because that is not realistic, but is it too much to hope for depth and transformation?  I wonder if this will become a new criterion for the plays I choose to see.   It may be that I expect more from the theatre than from the film industry.

 

Have you seen any plays recently and how did you relate to the characters?

Marianne Williamson in London

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I saw Marianne speak at Alternatives in London a couple days ago and wanted to record something here.  At this time when there is so much conflict and stress in the world it’s good to have other voices.  She does not ignore the problems but talks of us needing to come together to find a new way to unite good actions and have a positive impact.  Marianne is wise, confident, charismatic and caring.  I am amazed at how she can speak of God and not sound religious but spiritual.  In the Q&A that followed she showed great empathy to those asking difficult questions, wanting guidance on working through their painful experiences.  Very moving.

This is not so much a summary of what was said but noting the aspects that resonated:

  • We find God through and in each other
  • We can value the differences and separateness of our embodied selves but would do well to recognise ourselves as spiritual beings also
  • Our assignment is to be our authentic selves and take responsibility for our lives 100% of the time
  • We may already know what we feel called to do in life so now it’s about taking action

Do any of these ideas resonate with you?

Will the new crime website have the same impact as school league tables?

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Last week the government introduced a new crime website – www.police.uk – where we can find out the level and type of crime on every street in the U.K.  This is meant to keep residents informed with what is going on in their area.  It should also help us to keep the police accountable for how they spend their time. This information has always been available but it was a bit more complicated to find before and less publicised.

It’s great if we all have more information so we can help our communities to be safer and better places to live.  My worry is that it will have the same impact as school league tables – www.education.gov.uk/performancetables

There were always schools of varying success but once school league tables tell you that your local school is on the bottom of a list then you will look for a school at the top of the list.  Many house moves have occurred to facilitate access to better schools.  Similarly there have always been varying amounts of crime but once these lists are compiled then the differences will be clear, and lots of individual decisions will probably lead to more low crime and high crime areas, with a lot less in between.

I hope that I am wrong and we continue to have diverse communities where we look out for our neighbours and work with the authorities to keep our communities safe.

It is true that some people have a fear of crime that is out of proportion to reality and finding that crime is lower than they think should be helpful.  However there are others who don’t want to think about the reality of crime and believe it wont happen to them and for those these statistics might increase their anxiety.  As a counsellor I know that such anxiety affects people differently and needs to be worked through.

So, how do you feel about having such information available to you?  Will it help you be more involved in your community/neighbourhood scheme?  Is it just a tool to spy on people you know in other areas of the country?  Is it all a cunning way to get us involved before more cuts?  I’d love to hear what you think about it – please leave a comment below

Love after Love by Derek Walcott

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The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other’s welcome.

and say, sit here. Eat

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

“Love after Love” from COLLECTED POEMS 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott. Copyright © 1986 by Derek Walcott. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC