Wise Women Eat Well

The Energetics of Food

“Let food be thy medicine.” -Hippocrates

Food can be measured in many ways–not only for its nutrition, but for the experience it gives to you and the energy it creates in your body. You’ve heard it said, “you are what you eat.” It is true that food makes up the cells in your body, but have you ever thought it may also impact your relationship to life?

Here are some examples of how food might impact your quality of life. If you are feeling unfocused and want to feel more grounded in your life, try eating root vegetables, which grow in the ground and provide heartier, more sustainable energy than would eating a salad. If you are feeling tense and want to lighten up, try adding in more leafy greens, which grow up and outward toward the sun. These foods are cleansing and provide lighter energy for the body. It’s good to choose a balance of hearty and light foods, to maintain a delicate balance of focused, yet flexible energy.

Eating from your own garden or buying your produce from the local farmers’ market, will leave you feeling more connected to your home or local community. When you eat seasonal, locally grown produce, the body is more able to maintain balance from the inside out. It is beneficial to take advantage of cooling fruits and lighter greens in the summertime, when they are at their peak in harvest. At the same time, heartier vegetables, such as deeply rooted carrots and squashes, grow more abundantly in the wintertime, and are going to add to the warmth of the body. It’s good to maintain a balance of eating seasonally as well as locally, as much as possible, to stay in harmony with the natural order of things. In addition, cooking food on a gas stove is a lot more relaxing and health-supporting to the body than is microwaving your food, which destroys much of the nutrients, the molecular structure, and, therefore, much of the energy of the food.

Reprinted: Institute for Integrative Nutrition