Athletes and Eating…The Angel Way

Just as there are myriad books about dieting, eating and health for the average person in good health, not to mention persons with specific medical concerns, there are an equal number of books on sport nutrition and nutrition for athletes.

If you are "in training" for a specific sport or athletic event, be it playing field hockey, competitive swimming, running a marathon, trying to make an Olympic team or simply wanting to be in top shape for backpacking in the Grand Canyon (like me!), then you may wonder if The Angel Way is right for you.

Yes! Eating…The Angel Way is wonderful for athletes and athletic individuals.

The foundation of The Angel Way begins with learning to listen to your body's unique needs for nourishment, as well as rest and repair. A person, such as myself, who trains in pursuit of a goal that is something more than wanting good health, is wise to listen to her body in such a way.

If you are an athlete / athletic individual and you follow the Angel Way Guidelines you will be able to nourish yourself with the rainbows, white light foods and brown foods that are ideally suited to the demands you place on your muscles and cardiovascular system. Now, you will also find experts suggesting you eat six meals a day, certain quantities of protein and carbs and fats. When you receive such advice and ultimately try such approaches to eating "for athletes", ask yourself:

• How do I really feel?
• What is the result I am seeing, mentally, emotionally, physically and yes, spiritually/energetically?

Personally, I have tried the advice of many other wellness professionals about what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, and how long to stick with the often limiting diets prescribed to get me into 'peak performance' - sometimes with less than beneficial results.  I have seen young athletes begin in earnest to "eat for the event" only to perform their personal worst in the competition. What went wrong? As I look back on my own experiences, I realize that many of these approaches are overly prescriptive.   They don't encourage the athlete - or want-to-be athlete  - to listen - really listen - to her or his own bodymind. 
According to the Angels, our understanding of the complicated dance of the body in breaking down the food we eat into nutrients and waste products is in its infancy.  Many experts fall into the trap of believing that what works for them and lots of others must therefore work for everyone.  The only real "expert" on any given individual is that individual herself.  If we don't pay attention to our unique needs then ultimately, we are unlikely to perform at our best, whether that be in competition, in practice, or in our everyday lives where we have just as much stress and nowhere near the fun.

Whether your goal is to play your best on the soccer field, to win a medal, or to keep up with your kids, your inner athlete can benefit by listening to the Angel Way.

KMR

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.”

Light on Brown Foods, Sweets, Comfort and Cushion

Having not had recent experience with brown foods as foods one turns to for comfort and for grounding, I understood Annie and The Angels words in theory more than practice. The past few weeks, however, there has not been much sweetness nor much grounding in my life. Emotionally, I've been all over the map. I paid attention, as The Angels encourage, to my moods, my cravings and my actual choices for what I would eat at any given moment of the day.

Where I lacked sweetness in my life--due to a few hardship events that left me feeling black and my outlook bleak-- I noticed cravings for chocolate or some kind of sweet treat. I put it off and put it off-- choosing hot chocolate, carob coated raisins and all natural pudding to quench that craving. Didn't do much go. So, when we ordered my daughter's birthday cake, we ordered the healthiest version of the Tinkerbell Cake. For three days (we had a lot of cake), I had a small piece of cake each day. Sometimes just a bite or two was all it took. After EnJOYing my cake, I observed feelings and thoughts. I looked at my recent troubles through a new lens by writing in my journal.

Also, through this time, I noticed I wanted more protein and more grains-- bread or crackers, in particular. The protein need was mostly physical, tied to changes I'm experiencing in the cycles of womanhood. The grains-- that was something different. I always seemed to want more rice, or more bread or an extra handful of crackers and peanuts than is usual for me. Again, I looked at what was missing in my life or where I was struggling with something.. The LIGHT went on... my energetic body needed grounding. Grains tend to have the physical effect of soothing frayed nerves and slowing us down.... exactly what my body needed.

Knowing all of this... I was able to choose the best foods for those energetic needs to be met AND to choose activities that would help me -- in healthier ways than I might have chosen had I stayed unconscious through this process-- to reign in my energy, focus it, and ground myself for actions that may be required.... Yoga, deep breathing, Reiki.... all were part of this process.  BodyMind communication...BodyMind healing.

What LIGHT has Eating... The Angel Way turned on for you?
KMR