Lucid Nutrition

The Five Food Contemplations

The following is a beautiful description of Mindful Eating as practiced at The Wake Up House Austin:

This orange is an ambassador from the entire cosmos.

Eating a meal mindfully can be a meditative and nourishing practice. As we serve our food we can already begin practicing. Serving ourselves, we realize that many elements, such as the rain, sunshine, earth, air and love, have all come together to form this wonderful meal. In fact, through this food we see that the entire universe is supporting our existence.

We are aware of the whole community as we serve ourselves and we take an amount of food that is good for us. Before eating, the bell will be invited for three sounds and we can enjoy breathing in and out while practicing the five contemplations.

We can take our time as we eat, chewing each mouthful at least 30 times, until the food becomes liquefied. This aids the digestive process. Let us enjoy every morsel of our food and the presence of the brothers and sisters around us. Let us establish ourselves in the present moment, eating in such a way that solidity, joy and peace is possible during the time of eating.

Eating in silence, the food becomes real with our mindfulness and we are fully aware of its nourishment. In order to deepen our practice of mindful eating and support the peaceful atmosphere, we remain seated during this silent period. After twenty minutes of silent eating, two sounds of the bell will be invited. We may then start a mindful conversation with our friend or begin to get up from the table.

Upon finishing our meal, we take a few moments to notice that we have finished, our bowl is now empty and our hunger is satisfied. Gratitude fills us as we realize how fortunate we are to have had this nourishing food to eat, supporting us on the path of love and understanding.

1. This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard work.

2. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.

3. May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.

4. May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, and preserve our planet.

5. We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our Community, and nourish our ideal of serving living beings.

Can you imagine how your eating habits will change if you were to simply & slowly recite the 5 contemplative eating contemplations before each meal? I invite you to experiment with me. 

How Our Weight Affects Us.

I am going to be doing a number of posts exploring how our eating patterns impact our minds and our lives. The following post was written by a very dear friend of mine, who I am so glad I met online, Christine. She will be joining LucidNutrition.com on her path to health, struggles included. You will get to know more about her as soon as she sends me her bio!! But for now, I will just tell you that she is great!! So, Thanks Christine for sharing such intimate thoughts with us. We love you!

An Intimate Meditation Towards Change. Crossposted from ByFlutter.com

We have a socially acceptable bias against fat people. People with weight problems are made fun of, reviled, rejected and thought less of across the board.

In movies, on television, in our media we are bombarded with the stereotype that women with weight problems curl up and eat french fries and ice cream from a bucket and men with weight problems are the funny guys who play side kick to their more attractive friends.

The assumption is that weight carries with it, pound for pound an inverse relationship to worth. The more you weigh, the less you are worth, as a person. The larger you get, the less you are seen. The bigger your pant size, the less likely to be loved.This is not to say that society is to blame for the weight problems of people, but it certainly helps perpetuate the last great wall of prejudice as I see it.

For me, as I am ever flexing and extending an undulating and fluid mass of numbers on a scale, I see the difference in how the world responds. When I am thinner I get appreciative stares, people pay attention when I speak and ask intelligent questions. Doors are held open for me. I am permitted to linger in nice clothing stores without being derisively stared at by the shop girls. I am congratulated for slimming down and working hard.

As if, when I am heavy, I am lazy and slovenly. It seems absurd to pack on weight in order to hide. It is like balancing an elephant on a teacup. You would think that someone would notice that, but people walk past with not so much as a glance. Where as, the thinner me is rarely left without a word, or a proposition. I realize that this is why, when I start to approach a more socially acceptable weight, a switch flips in my brain. The big, red switch with the word “DANGER!” on it. Danger, I might be expected to be as intelligent as I am. Danger, people may expect more from me. Danger, I may have to ward off advances. Danger, I may no longer have a built in excuse to fail.

That’s it for me, really. I see how people bypass me at this weight and I can point my chubby finger and say, “See? They won’t LET me succeed.” When the truth is, it is fear of fully exposing myself that keeps me in my fat suit.This is a disorder. This is not a normal way of thinking. To obsess over food. To indulge then deny. To fluctuate tens of pounds. To control my body in such a way that is not healthy for it.

It destroys me to feel this way, to feel less than. To know exactly what I am doing in a very logical sense and to do it anyway. I am better than this and it is not good enough.

It just isn’t.

Junk Food Charm Bracelet by Nights Requiem.

We are indeed much more than we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are. ~ Adelle Davis

Once a Lucid Eater, Always Lucid.

Mindful Eating Inspiration

By Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindful eating is very pleasant. We sit beautifully. We are aware of the people that are sitting around us. We are aware of the food on our plates. This is a deep practice. Each morsel of food is an ambassador from the cosmos. When we pick up a piece of a vegetable, we look at it for half a second. We look mindfully to really recognize the piece of food, the piece of carrot or string bean. We should know that this is a piece of carrot or a string bean. We identify it with our mindfulness: "I know this is a piece of carrot. This is a piece of string bean." It only takes a fraction of a second.

When we are mindful, we recognize what we are picking up. When we put it into our mouth, we know what we are putting into our mouth. When we chew it, we know what we are chewing. It's very simple.

Some of us, while looking at a piece of carrot, can see the whole cosmos in it, can see the sunshine in it, can see the earth in it. It has come from the whole cosmos for our nourishment.

You may like to smile to it before you put it in your mouth. When you chew it, you are aware that you are chewing a piece of carrot. Don't put anything else into your mouth, like your projects, your worries, your fear, just put the carrot in.

And when you chew, chew only the carrot, not your projects or your ideas. You are capable of living in the present moment, in the here and the now. It is simple, but you need some training to just enjoy the piece of carrot. This is a miracle.

I often teach "orange meditation" to my students. We spend time sitting together, each enjoying an orange. Placing the orange on the palm of our hand, we look at it while breathing in and out, so that the orange becomes a reality. If we are not here, totally present, the orange isn't here either.

There are some people who eat an orange but don't really eat it. They eat their sorrow, fear, anger, past, and future. They are not really present, with body and mind united.

When you practice mindful breathing, you become truly present. If you are here, life is also here. The orange is the ambassador of life. When you look at the orange, you discover that it is nothing less than fruit growing, turning yellow, becoming orange, the acid becoming sugar. The orange tree took time to create this masterpiece.

When you are truly here, contemplating the orange, breathing and smiling, the orange becomes a miracle. It is enough to bring you a lot of happiness. You peel the orange, smell it, take a section, and put it in your mouth mindfully, fully aware of the juice on your tongue. This is eating an orange in mindfulness. It makes the miracle of life possible. It makes joy possible.

The other miracle is the Sangha, the community in which everyone is practicing in the same way. The woman sitting next to me is also practicing mindfulness while eating her breakfast. How wonderful! She is touching the food with mindfulness. She is enjoying every morsel of her breakfast, like me. We are brother and sister on the path of practice. From time to time we look at each other and smile. It is the smile of awareness. It proves that we are happy, that we are alive. It is not a diplomatic smile. It is a smile born from the ground of enlightenment, of happiness.

That smile has the power to heal. It can heal you and your friend. When you smile like that, the woman next to you will smile back. Before that, maybe her smile was not completely ripe. It was ninety percent ripe. If you offer her your mindful smile, you will give her the energy to smile one hundred percent.

When she is smiling, healing begins to take place in her. You are very important for her transformation and healing. That is why the presence of brothers and sisters in the practice is so important. This is also why we don't talk during breakfast. If we talk about the weather or the political situation in the Middle East, we can never say enough.

We need the silence to enjoy our own presence and the presence of our Dharma brothers and sisters. This kind of silence is very alive, powerful, nourishing, and transforming. It is not oppressive or sad. Together we can create this kind of noble silence.

Sometimes it is described as "thundering silence" because it is so powerful.

The Mind Can Change the Brain

The Quest For Happiness
Martin E. P. Seligman, author of the book, Authentic Happiness, has said that we all have a "set point" for happiness, just as we do for weight. He felt that although people can improve or hinder their well-being, they aren't likely to take long leaps in either direction from their set points.

On the contrary, scientists who continue to probe the limits of neuroplasticity, are finding that mind sculpting can occur even without input from the outside world. The brain can change as a result of the thoughts we think!

It was a fairly modest experiment, as these things go, with volunteers trooping into the lab at Harvard Medical School to learn and practice a little five-finger piano exercise. Neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone instructed the members of one group to play as fluidly as they could, trying to keep to the metronome's 60 beats per minute. Every day for five days, the volunteers practiced for two hours. Then they took a test.

At the end of each day's practice session, they sat beneath a coil of wire that sent a brief magnetic pulse into the motor cortex of their brain, located in a strip running from the crown of the head toward each ear. The so-called transcranial- magnetic-stimulation (TMS) test allows scientists to infer the function of neurons just beneath the coil. In the piano players, the TMS mapped how much of the motor cortex controlled the finger movements needed for the piano exercise. What the scientists found was that after a week of practice, the stretch of motor cortex devoted to these finger movements took over surrounding areas like dandelions on a suburban lawn. The finding was in line with a growing number of discoveries at the time showing that greater use of a particular muscle causes the brain to devote more cortical real estate to it.

But Pascual-Leone did not stop there.
He extended the experiment by having another group of volunteers merely think about practicing the piano exercise. They played the simple piece of music in their head, holding their hands still while imagining how they would move their fingers. Then they too sat beneath the TMS coil. When the scientists compared the TMS data on the two groups--those who actually tickled the ivories (piano keys) and those who only imagined doing so--they glimpsed a revolutionary idea about the brain: the ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter.

For what the TMS revealed was that the region of motor cortex that controls the piano-playing fingers also expanded in the brains of volunteers who imagined playing the music--just as it had in those who actually played it. Rewiring article.

Wow. Now this has important implications for health: something as seemingly insubstantial as a thought can affect the very stuff of the brain, altering neuronal connections in a way that can treat mental
illness or, perhaps, lead to a greater capacity for empathy and compassion. It may even dial up the supposedly immovable Happiness Set Point.

In other words, we all write and can rewrite the narratives of our lives. We have the ability to rewire our beautiful machines called the brain. We are in charge. To think of all thoughts as sacred is our goal; to give our brain the right formula, the code, to unlock the gate of our eternal gold; happiness.

David Lykken, a behavioral geneticist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Minnesota, wants people to know that happiness is genetically influenced but it is not fixed. He sees the set point of subjective well-being-a term he uses interchangeably with happiness---as a lake upon which each of us sails our own personal boat. While the standard water level may be determined by genetics, it will rise and fall depending on what's going on in a person's life, always returning to baseline in a fairly short while whether he or she wins the lottery or loses the house to a hurricane.

It just doesn't occur to people to change internally in order to be happy, he says. Instead, they spend their lives searching for an external solution: the constant pursuit of more money, a bigger house, a more luxurious car, a new antidepressant, a new nose, a flatter stomach, and soon, according to recent news headlines, a whole new made-to-order face. And still, happiness seems to lie just out of reach.

If people really want to overcome their "genes" (which they likely blame) and build a happy life, Lykken says, the best thing to do is find something useful and enjoyable to do with their time. "I'd suggest people just sit down now and take an honest, careful inventory of ways they do things that interfere with their happiness," says Lykken. "Then make up their mind that they're going to stop making troughs in their happiness lake and start making waves."

Training the brain to adopt different thinking circuits takes time, dedication, persistence, patience, love, and faith in yourSelf (at the very least). And we already know to:

* Think of our family/friends as mutual missions (respect, LOVE, forgiveness; accept life's lessons)

* Think of our job as our calling (be who we are, do what we love)

* Engage in tasks that are consistent with our values (if it doesn't feel right, it's probably not)

* Take our skills and abilities to the next level (don't settle)

* Make time for some style of Meditation (sitting, walking, painting, reading, yoga)

* And of course, take proper care of the carriage for our souls; our body

So let us not live our lives naively, in denial, disillusioned, and easily manipulated. Let us be clear headed and strong in our quest for joy without blaming others for our circumstances. May we choose not to dwell on our past mistakes and missed opportunities or to resent those who may have transgressed against us. Our aim is not to live in the past at all, but to accept it for what it was and to be free. NOW.

Howard Cutler, author of The Art of Happiness suggests that when negative thoughts or emotions do arise one can directly examine, analyze, and challenge these thoughts, actively neutralizing and replacing them with rational, alternative ways of thinking. For example, when depressed, one might spontaneously have a thought such as, "I'm worthless," but when this thought arises one can actively challenge that thought by objectively listing one's strengths and accomplishments. And to shift an everyday bad mood, we must make a deliberate effort to "count our blessings", to remind ourselves of all the things we have and all the people we love; who love us.

Know that the more challenges and thoughts we master while utilizing our personal strengths, the more the lucid we will become and the feeling of Joy will permeate our lives. Let us remember that the happiest people in the world are not those who have perfect lives, but the people who have learned to enjoy things that are less than perfect. Burnt toast, an unexpected cat, thunderstorms on wedding days, striking out again, flat tires, love handles, withering roses, idle/spastic/backward thoughts, All Other People, LIFE. Accept your experience. Go with it. Just BE...happily!

Any more tips? Feel free to comment:)

Technorati Tags: happiness, well being, psychology, brain matters, thoughts, meditation, neuroplasticity, life, challenges, happy

Introduction to LN

Hello! My name is Briana Franco, the author of Lucid Nutrition.

I have taken such a long time to begin this blog for good reason. I have been trying to understand what 'Lucid Nutrition' really means and how the content here will be useful not only for myself, family, and friends, but for any person who happens to come across this page. I have been in a research process for quite some time now, online and in books. I was searching for some sort of definition or explanation for LN when it finally hit me; Lucid Nutrition is just what it is. Simple.

Lets take a look at the definition for the word Lucid:

lucid. an adjective. 1 expressed clearly; easy to understand : a lucid account, written in a clear and lucid style. ˚showing ability to think clearly, esp. in the intervals between periods of confusion or insanity: he has a few lucid moments every now and then. ˚Psychology (of a dream) experienced with the dreamer feeling awake, aware of dreaming, and able to control events consciously. 2 poetic/literary bright or luminous : birds dipped their wings in the lucid flow of air.

and now the definition for the word Nutrition:

nutrition. a noun. the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth : a guide to good nutrition. ˚food; nourishment : the substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition.

I plan on explaining more about what it means to become Lucid in our lives throughout the lifeline of this blog. Most importantly, is the notion that nutrition, the substances necessary for growth, are not limited to the physical ingredients which we put down our throats and into the digestive system. It also consist of the thoughts we think, the air we breathe, our daily environment, people surroundings, and how we handle the experiences we meet.

The research done for Lucid Nutrition will strive to help consumers like you and me feel less confused about what to buy, what to eat, and how to find strength and peace for a sound body and mind. Choices we make every day significantly influence our chances of feeling healthy, happy, energetic, and clear-minded.

Sound health is much more than the absence of sickness. It is the conscious pursuit of the highest qualities of the physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of the human experience.

We will delve deep into the past learning about ancient healing techniques like Ayurveda, Yoga, Dance, Reiki, Chakras and venture into the future where bodies will be healed quicker and easier by the rapid advances in technology.

We will test and try various recipes, opening our minds to new vegetables, fruits, spices, herbs and vitamins. We will sip on various teas, nibble on blueberries, and learn stretching routines and exercises great upon rising in the morning. Together we will discover more and more about complementary and alternative healing techniques; holistic and integrative, art therapy, foods we should avoid and eat, plus so much more.

The ultimate mission of Lucid Nutrition is to share what I am learning with you in the hopes that my findings may enliven your life as they do mine. To produce health, prevent and fight dis-ease and to have a greater awareness of our body/mind/heart/soul is what Lucid Nutrition is all about.

See disclaimer.

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