Feed Your Tummy, Nourish Your Spirit during the holidays

Greetings Angel Way fans!

I'm still swimming in a see of manuscript pages in preparation for submission to the publisher; I just wanted those of you who are new to ETAW to know that I, Karen, am not a figment of Annie's imagination and I do exist in the flesh.

Speaking of flesh... how did Thanksgiving go for everyone?

I began my celebration by honoring my inner snowflake: I asked myself what does my bodymind most want to enjoy this day? Surprisingly, I filled my plate with the amazing array of veggies, wonderfully prepared turkey and roasted chestnuts that my in-laws prepared. We also had many vegan dishes and asian dishes since part of the in-law side is from China. So, a multicultural celebration and experience for my taste buds. Having followed ETAW for quite a while, it's more or less second nature and I find my body doesn't really desire the buttery high carb foods. I was more interested in the taro root (purple potato like veggie) than the mashed potatos; loved the roasted chestnuts and the veggie-cranberry based stuffing. When desserts came round, I tried an apple-pear crumb pie. One bite was too sweet for me so I set it aside; but the homemade cranberry tart was just right. I wrapped up my day sipping green tea.

I didn't feel deprived or over-stuffed. I felt satisfied and nourished; energized not lethargic.

We all should feel this way after any and every meal.

the Angel Way can help you feed your tummy and your Spirit.

Now, isn't that a great way to celebrate the holidays!

Karen

Where in the world...

is Karen, you all might be wondering? 

Karen and I met on Sunday to discuss our progress on the manuscript.  It is coming along a bit more slowly than we had anticipated, but we are both very happy with the way it reads.  We are blending two voices and a lot of information, and we are feeling very blessed and grateful for the Angelic inspiration.  Hopefully, Karen will begin posting some of her experiences and some of the research and information she's found that supports the Angel Guidelines as soon as we get the manuscript tweaked!  She appreciates your participation and is delighted to read about your experiences here and through our Facebook Group. 

"Tell everyone I'm thinking of them!" she said, as we said good-bye. 

And so, I did. 

Here's the rainbow part of my chart....remember, these are just my favorites!


red: strawberries, cherries, red plums, red potatoes, red onions, beets, cranberries, red wine vinegar

orange: peaches, squash, sweet potatoes and yams carrots, pink grapefruit, cinnamon

yellow: yellow grapefruit, bananas, lemons, yellow onions, yellow squash, parsnips, fresh corn on the cob in season, ginger

green: limes, grapes, baby spinach, spring greens, asparagus, peas, green beans, sweet basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, sage

blue/purple: elderberries, blueberries, blackberries, black currants, purple cabbage, purple onions, lavendar

How about you all? What's in YOUR rainbow? :)

what's in YOUR rainbow?

Now that you've been paying attention to what and when you are eating - let's talk a little bit about what you might want to be eating, as well. 

Notice I didn't say "what you SHOULD be eating."

With the Angels, there are no "shoulds." 

However, if your goal is to feel healthier and more energetic, for example, the Angels suggest you begin by creating a chart that includes these categories*:
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue/Purple
White-Light
Brown
Fats
Sweets

The next step is to list all YOUR favorite foods under these categories. I found it easiest to work with just a couple categories at a time.  Under Red, for example,  my list included strawberries, red potatoes, watermelon, cherries, beets and cranberries.  You can also include spices or herbs that fit the colors - paprika is one I included on my "red" list. 

White-light foods are complete protein foods.  My list included eggs, yogurt - I could live on yogurt - and prime rib.  However, if you are a vegan or vegetarian, rice-and-beans is an example of plant-based complete-proteins. 

Brown foods are cereals and grains.  Remember as you create your list, that these are YOUR favorite foods.  If you have a bowl of oatmeal every morning because that's what the kids eat, but you're not really a fan, don't list it.

In the "Fats" category, I put down foods like french fries and potato chips, because they ARE and I really love them.  My list also included things like whipped cream, half n' half, olive oil and butter.  Cheese is an example of a food that could be considered a white-light food, but could also be considered a Fat.  So put the foods where YOU feel they belong. 

Under "Sweets,"  I listed any treat that was sweet - ice cream (even though you could put that under Fats if you wanted  or even white-light food ...it's a stretch, perhaps, but the Angels encourage us to give ourselves a lot of leeway.)  My list included chocolate chip cookies, anything caramel and hot chocolate.  I also listed foods like maple syrup and honey. 

Once you have your chart, take a look to see how many of your favorite foods you are already consuming.  See if you ARE "eating a rainbow" every day.  You may surprise yourself.  Or, you may realize that whole colors could be woefully under-represented.  You may see a seasonal pattern in your eating - at this time of year, right before Thanksgiving, I tend to eat more red and orange vegetables and fruits.  However, by making sure that I  include a serving of at least one yellow, green and blue/purple food, I'm ensuring that all my chakras are nourished every day. 

The Angels, Karen and I invite you to try this next step.  We would be thrilled to know your reactions.

*In our book, Eating...the Angel Way, both sample and blank charts will be included. 

Fourth guideline - Eat a rainbow every day and a white-light* food at every meal

The fourth guideline – so deceptively simple - is the foundation of the Angel Guidelines and if there is one guideline only you incorporate into your daily routine, I recommend you choose this one.


According to the Angels, the bright colors of fruits and vegetables don’t just captivate our senses and offer promise of delightful tastes. Just as the vitamins, minerals, etc contained in the fruits or vegetables nourish our bodies, the colors recharge, balance and cleanse our energy bodies. The colors of food – red, orange, yellow, green, and blue/purples – all correspond to the centers of our energy bodies - also called chakras.  Color has an energetic rate at which it “vibrates.” Thus, eating a rainbow colored salad doesn’t just fill you with good stuff; the energy vibration rates of the food colors themselves also recharges the energy centers – or chakras – of your body.

In the West, we are finally beginning to accept the understanding that “dis”ease occurs in our energy bodies before it manifests in our physical bodies. Recognizing that the energy body needs to be nourished as well as the physical body, and choosing to eat that which will only not fill your body but feed your soul is an act of healthy self love.

The reason the Angels urge us to “eat a rainbow every day” is that this way the first five (or six) energy centers that are most intimately connected to the physical body are also replenished every day. The more rainbows you eat, the better you feel.

In my case, I also experienced greater clarity in my intuitive senses as well. My accuracy when doing professional intuitive readings for clients soared exponentially. My ability to comprehend the “bigger picture” and withstand the vicissitudes of life with equanimity increased. I became more and more sure of my ability to make healthy food choices because I finally knew what “healthy” felt like. I could feel my body cringing in the grocery store when we passed the overly-processed, additive-laden foods. As I became more and more used to making healthy food choices, I was also able to make healthier life choices in general. I was able to see areas where situations or relationships were unhealthy. I was thus able to make adjustments in those areas of my life. I was able to trust that the decisions I was making were ultimately going to be just as the healthy as the food with which I was feeding my body.

If all you do is make sure you include one serving of a red, orange, yellow, green and blue/purple fruit or vegetable across the day, you will be well on your way to nourishing your body – your whole body - in a loving way.

Guideline #3 and why it might be okay if you're a "picky" eater

One of the great puzzles confronting every woman I have ever discussed food or dieting with is the fact that every diet, every food plan, every philosophy or style or even cuisine, seems to affect every woman differently. It seems natural and logical to turn to those closest to you of the same sex – in age, blood relationship, or socio-economic status – in order to discern what will keep you feeling energized and well-nourished while maintaining a healthy weight.

But it’s not.

I can’t tell you the number of diets, food plans and lifestyle approaches I’ve tried, let alone the advice and recommendations of friends and family. Some approaches and some of the advice have “worked” – sort of. On some diets, I’ve definitely lost weight. But what if you don’t necessarily want or need to lose weight? What if you just want to make peace with the skin you’re in?

That’s the place I reached when I turned to Divine Guidance for help in figuring it out. And when I asked the Angels why it seemed especially difficult for women to figure out what to eat, They responded with one of my favorite answers: “Men are like raindrops; women are like snowflakes.”

In other words, men and women don’t just vary from each other metabolically – the range of what is normal varies across a much broader of spectrum for women than it does for men. Thus, it can be harder for women to discern what helps them feel best.

In conducting research on the scientific reasons why this could be so, Karen found that there is no standard recipe for each of us to follow when it comes to the relationship between food and your body—its many physiological processes and mental-emotional states (moods). In her book, Energy Medicine for Women, Donna Eden explains that the same food combinations that cause one woman lose weight, or otherwise feel her best can easily cause another woman to feel sluggish, moody or to gain weight.

For many of women, the media, and even testimony from trusted friends and family members, creates an expectation about how their bodies should respond to a particular way of eating or exercise. Wellness expert Kathy Freston, in her book Quantum Wellness, points out that many women blindly accept that certain foods are supposed to affect them in a certain way: “Eating consciously means not blindly accepting that certain foods are good for you simply because they are marketed that way.”

The Angels wish all of us to appreciate ourselves as the unique manifestations of the Divine and to our individual bodies – whatever its quirks - as expressions of that Divine Source in the world. The place to begin showing this Divine Spirit that you love or venerate it is by showing love to yourself. One of the most primal – and obvious – expression of that love is in how we choose to feed ourselves.

If you are a woman, accept that your body may be far more different even from your closest blood relatives. Your body may react to certain types or groups of foods in different and possibly unexpected ways. Or, you may find certain prescriptive eating plans only effective to a limited degree. Generally, however, the harder you make it for yourself to eat in a healthy way, the less likely it is you will find it easy to succeed.

The Angels urge us to accept ourselves for who we are – and that begins with our physical bodies. Within certain broad parameters, everyone is different. Women will find that it can require more time and care and attention to figure out what is best for them. The next few Guidelines lay out in broadest terms what to include.

Feeling Full... the Silver Spoon Meditation

The following is a meditation that took me a while to feel ready to try.  The reason for this was that I intuitively understood that this meditation would bring me face to face with old and very personal food issues.  It took me a while and many false starts to complete the meditation all the way through.  However, after completing it just once, I found it so powerfully beneficial and insightful, I have come to enjoy this mediation very much. 

The power of the meditation lies in its ability to help you make connections between feelings and food.  When, in the course of the meditation, I see myself reaching for the bowl of buttery mashed potatoes covered in turkey gravy - served by my mother wearing a ruffled apron - I know it's not time to grab the peeler and the turkey roaster; it's time to offer myself some heavy-duty mothering.  As an adult, I know there are many ways to meet my need to be mothered - and actually eating all those potatoes isn't one of them.  This mediation has become a vehicle for me to understand how to feel truly "fed."

Do not attempt this meditation until YOU feel ready to embrace the full spectrum of thoughts, emotions and images that your subconscious mind can conjure when it comes to eating and body.  The purpose of the meditation is to create a link of understanding between you, your feelings and the foods you love.

Be patient and gentle with yourself.

For people who have food-related physical or emotional issues , I recommend you show this meditation to your health practitioner to help you assess if it is appropriate for you.

- Choose a time and place where you will have a few minutes to yourself.  Make sure you are not hungry.  Have a journal or notepad handy.

Bring your attention to your breathing, and focus on each body part in turn, from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, relaxing, then tensing, then relaxing, until you are completely aware of any tension you may have been carrying in your body. Take a few minutes to pay some extra attention to these places…some of them may surprise you.

- When you are ready,imagine if you will, a large table on which are placed all of your favorite foods, no matter what they are or how “bad” they are for you. Allow yourself to envision everything you really like spread out before you, perfectly prepared just the way YOU like it, at the perfect temperature. Give yourself permission to imagine how wonderful each food smells, how good each food looks as it steams or glistens in its serving dish. Wallow in the images of all of these foods, and then, if you so desire, choose one, or allow one to choose you.  

As you look around the table, you notice a single dish and a single silver spoon.  The silver spoon is bright and shining.  When you pick it up, it feels good in your hand.  Take a moment or two and see if there's something special about this spoon that makes it uniquely yours.  Then, when you are ready, take as much of your chosen food as you would like. Allow whatever memories, associations or images your mind may show you to flow freely in and out as you envision yourself enjoying and savoring this food. Feel free to imagine yourself eating your fill. Understand there is something about this food that meets a deeply rooted need.

When you are full, put down the spoon. Notice that the serving dish is as full as it ever was. Notice that you are comfortably full.  Notice the spoon is bright and shiny and clean.  Realize that you may return here whenever you wish to feast as often and as completely on any of your favorite foods.  The ability to come to this place is yours. 

When you are ready, allow yourself to come back to the present moment. Note any impressions you received during the meditation, such as the food you chose to eat (or which chose you), who served the food to you, how much of it you ate, how you felt as you ate it, or any memories or other sensations that came to you. If possible, indulge in a serving of your chosen food at some point in the next several days. Again, note your response to any images or associations that come if and when you actually eat the food.  Pay attention to your dreams or journaling. 

WHY what you eat is up to you

A few days ago, I happened to read an Internet article authored by a well-known expert on nutrition in his well-circulated newsletter that made the assertion that fructose – or the kind of sugar contained in fruit - is “bad” for you. Unfortunately, just a few paragraphs later, the very same article by the very same "expert" recommended the consumption of high quantities of berries for their antioxidant qualities.

Just this afternoon, I was sipping tea in Passiflora when I happened to overhear a lady asking the owner, an ayurvedic consultant, for advice about what she should be eating. Unfortunately, this customer had an excuse why every suggestion Karen - the owner - made was wrong for her. “I have to do everything the opposite of what I’m told to do,” she announced. Clearly, this was an individual suffering from, among other things, authority-overload.

One of the most important aspects of the Angel Way Guidelines is the Angels’ insistence that for adults without serious physical, emotional or financial challenges, the power to decide where, what, when and how to eat is theirs alone. However, as simple and as self-evident as this may sound, our choices about food are often a complex mix of our body’s needs, our minds’ beliefs, our emotions and our spiritual cravings…not to mention environmental and cultural influences!

Sorting through all this is not easy.

We are not generally encouraged to turn inward to seek information about ourselves. From a very early age, we are taught that the authority to make decisions about what's best for us lies outside of us somewhere: in our parents, in a Diety that stands apart from His creation, in documents written hundreds or thousands of years ago, or in the pronouncements, conclusions, hypotheses, and theories only a small number of very highly educated scientists can understand. For most of us, this sets us on a life-long course of relying on someone else to tell us what we "should" or "should not" do - or, in this case, eat.

This is not to say there's anything "wrong" with seeking knowledge outside of one's self. When it comes to you as a unique manifestation of the Divine, it is not a complete approach. Nor does it always reinforce or nurture the understanding that the ultimate authority on you - is YOU.

The Angels assure us that the Answers are as much within as without, that we are all manifestations of the Divine and we are all connected, almost like a great internet. As more and more human beings awaken and embrace their sixth senses, as well as experience their connectedness to Source and to each other, it feel more and more natural to seek the answers within. However, it took me some major readjustments in my thinking to be able to do that.  The Angel Way Guidelines are meant to help all of us develop more confidence in trusting this innate wisdom.  

Physical and emotional conditions can affect the choices we need to make in order to truly show ourselves how much we love ourselves. This is why it is important to understand that the Angel Way Guidelines are meant to serve as a framework upon which to build your unique and ideal food plan.

As you proceed with Eating… the Angel Way, keep the following in mind: Your body provides you with a great deal of information about what nourishment it needs. According to Donna Eden and Michael Feinstein, in their book Energy Medicine, “Your body will cause you to crave the nutrients it needs, when it needs them.” The key for so many of us is learning how to trust and correctly interpret the body’s signals so that we can respond appropriately.

The Angels understand that none of us set out to become unhealthy. None of us intend to make less than optimal food choices. Most of us, however, become confused when the outside authorities contradict not only themselves but sometimes their own information, AND when the source to the ultimate authority on you – YOU – is cut off. No wonder we don’t know what to eat.

The Angels never told me what I was “supposed” to eat. The Angels encouraged me to discover what it was I WANTED to eat. No one was more surprised than I to discover that what I really WANT to eat is very fresh, very organic, very local and mostly very good for me.

When I tell people that eight or nine times out of ten, I make the choice to eat the healthiest food possible, because I want to, not because anyone has ever told me I have to, many look at me in disbelief. “I could never trust myself like that,” they say.

I didn't think I could, either.

It has taken me years of patient practise to come to the point where I know I can "trust" myself like this. It is not a place of denial, and it is not a place of self-doubt. It is a place of power and a place where I meet any expert on equal ground. I, as my five year old daughter once declared - when it comes to food, at least - am the expert on ME.

This second Angel Guideline,therefore, isn't meant to be understood that we are all unique. This one says that the intuitive understanding of what’s good for us and what tastes good to us is something we all come into this body to experience. Food – from farm to table – forms a central part of our humanity. It is not intended to be the experience of deprivation, guilt and anxiety it has become for so many of us.

Thus "what you eat is up to you" is an invitation to reclaim the power inherent in accepting full and total responsibility for what you feed yourself.

Over the next two or three days, continue to keep track of what you eat. If you choose, consider adopting one of the other guidelines into your diet. You might choose to “eat like a baby,” – ie every two - three hours. You might choose to “eat a complete protein at every meal.” Try whichever one feels most natural and easiest to you, and don’t worry about doing anything “right.”

Now that you've got your lists...

Now that you’ve got your lists, you can begin to make some observations about your eating patterns. Chose a time when you can really focus. Have a notebook or journal ready to jot down any ideas or images that occur to you, no matter how random they may appear. Consider not just what you ate, but when and where you ate and how you felt about it.
You may notice, as I did, how infrequently you eat. You may notice just how sweet your sweet tooth really is. You may find you have a real aversion to certain types of foods or just don’t eat whole food groups. You may realize that much of what you eat is determined by the needs or tastes of other people, your social surroundings or environmental cues like the clock.
In my case, from my lists, I discovered that I tended to not eat healthy foods I love – like asparagus – because other people in my house – like my kids – objected to it. I discovered I could run on coffee (with a lot of cream) between five AM and noon, when the reality of being hungry would start to dawn on me. Then I would make up for all the day’s “lost” calories by over-eating after dinner. I spent quite a few hours meditating on what it said about me that I denied myself nourishment while I spent the major part of my day taking care of others’ needs. Believe it or not, it’s still hard for me to remember to eat before noon. Lately, though, I’ve started to get hungry around 8 AM. My personal trainer and I consider that a huge step forward, because in her universe it means my metabolism is burning a little more quickly.
However, according to the Angels, this represents spiritual growth as well. By embracing and acknowledging my own needs, I am thus better fortified to meet the needs of those around me. When I take the time to enjoy – even for five minutes – the wonderful blessing that good food really is, I do far more than nourish my body. When I choose to eat the healthiest choices possible with total self-love and self-acceptance of my body’s own legitimate needs, every meal becomes an opportunity to connect with the divine.
Healthy foods don’t just fill your belly – they balance your chakras – your energy centers – and they sustain your soul.
Take your time. Don’t rush and most importantly, don’t judge. If you’ve enjoyed a few extra pieces of candy because it’s Halloween, don’t be hard on yourself. Forgive yourself for missing meals, fast-food stops, and too many cookies. Forget about how you think you “should” eat, and allow yourself to focus on what you did eat.
Once you’ve done this step, feel free to take a day off from the process if you like. On the other hand, for you folks who like it all NOW – or for those of you familiar with the concepts – to begin to categorize your lists into complete protein foods, brown foods (which are grains) and the rainbow foods – which are fruits, vegetables , herbs and spices.
If you’re not sure what “color” the food is, don’t worry about it. If it’s a plant and grows, you can always call it green. If it had fur feather or scales, it’s a complete protein. You might want to create a checklist and see how many “rainbows” you managed to eat in one day.
As always, Karen and I invite your comments.

Why Begin Slowly

If you are anything like me, you probably look forward to starting something new that you hope will be good for you with a lot of enthusiasm. When I decide I'm going to do something or learn something or change a habit, I always begin with a lot of energy and determination. I know I throw my whole self into the process, focusing with everything I've got in order to succeed. Even as I tell myself that Rome wasn't built in a day, I'm still determined to get a lot of it built as quickly as possible.

How long that enthusiasm, energy and determination lasts is another story.

And the Angels know this.

When I first asked for Divine Guidance around food, the initial Answer was just a very small piece of what has become the Ten Guidelines. Eventually, when I had received most of the information, I asked these loving Guides and Guardians why it had taken Them so long to give me the information when it was really so very simple.

The answer was that They "fed" me the information in the same way a baby is ideally fed: slowly and with small bites. The seeming randomness of the information was not indicative of disordered thinking - to the Angels, it was a result of my explorations into my own relationship with food. as a baby might decide to try mashed potatoes on an orange, for example, or peas in ice cream, the Angels had given me answers in the way I could most easily receive them and at the time I was ready for them. Just as you don't offer an infant a steak dinner, no matter how delicious you know it is, the Angels didn't feed me information until I was ready to ingest it.

This process is not meant to be a quick fix. It is not meant to tell you what or how or when to eat. The purpose of this process is to bring you into closer alignment with a sense of your own needs, and how to fulfill those needs in the healthiest and most loving ways available to you. When we feel loved and fulfilled and nurtured and nourished, it is much easier to turn that love and kindness on to the world around us.

We are not all just loved, we ARE love. the energy of the universe is Love. All of us - no matter the color of our skins or the conditions of our bodies - are emanations and manifestations of the Divine Source that is the ultimate basis for everything there is.

The Angels see how cut off from joy the experience of eating has become for so many of us. This sense of hunger that pervades so many of our souls is a symptom and a manifestation of our need to reconnect and rekindle that relationship with what was intended to be every being's birthright - that sense of connectedness to the Divine Source of all, that constant awareness that the Divine is not just around us or with us, but within us, and within every being we meet.

Or, as the Angels put it, it is easier to recognize God in another when you can see Her in yourself.

opening meditation

When we were very small, our caregivers made food choices for us; most of us were fed breast milk or infant formula. You got hungry, the food you were fed satisfied your appetite, you ate what you wanted and stopped when you were full. For most people early infancy is the stage where our desire for food and our intake of it is as perfectly balanced as it ever gets.

The first thing the Angels encourage us to do, as we begin the more practical steps, is to spend time (maybe just a couple minutes a few times a day) imagining what it was like as an infant, when our appetite was perfectly in harmony with our physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Most of us are so out of touch with the mechanism that signals when we've had enough to eat, we’ve forgotten this deep body wisdom is our birthright as human beings. We’ve become so separated from this primal sense of who we really are, it’s like we've fallen out of love with some essential part of our human nature. This exercise helps you to remember and reconnect with this primal body wisdom—and to know it not just in conscious memory but deep, in your cells.

Mindful breathing is an excellent way to help you visualize that long-forgotten harmony between body, mind and appetite.

· Find a quiet place to sit. (examples: in the bath, a comfy chair, a quiet corner in a park, if you are a busy parent your only quiet time might be when you are on the toilet!)


· Close your eyes. Breathe in and out. Don’t try change your breathing in any way. Simply, become aware of the flow of the air over your tongue, down the back of your throat, into your lungs. Become aware of the press of your diaphragm, how your ribs so effortlessly expand and contract. Appreciate the miracle of your own breathing.

· In your mind’s eye, picture yourself as a baby. Imagine what it may have felt like when you were a baby and you knew exactly how much you needed to eat and exactly how it felt to feel full nourished—a peaceful fullness in your baby belly. Don't force anything, just relax and allow.

· Spend a few minutes (or more if you like) with this imagery and the sensations that arise.

· If you feel uncomfortable, stop. Try again another time.

· You might want to jot down your responses in your journal.

The Angels want us to take joy in our physical bodies, to appreciate the goodness of the food with which we nourish ourselves, and to understand that we really do have the ability to recognize the best ways to nourish our bodymind and spirit.

Your comments about your experiences are welcomed and appreciated! Please feel free to share. Thank you....Annie & Karen

Welcome!

1. Begin slowly.

2. What you eat is up to you.

3. Men are like raindrops, women are like snowflakes.

4. Eat a Rainbow every day and White-light food at every meal.

5. Eat Brown foods with awareness and respect.

6. Every body needs a little sweetness in their lives and every body needs a little cushion.

7. Eat like a baby.

8. Eat as organically and locally as possible.

9. Keep a diary and a plan

10.Be gentle with yourself