YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

The following post by DELIA QUIGLEY was posted on Care2.com (March 12, 2011) and explains the reasons why it is important for us to seriously reconsider the logic for a change in our eating habits...

Am I a Bad Person if I Eat Animals?

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/am-i-a-bad-person-if-i-eat-animals.html#ixzz1GRq1sYjO


If you want to progress on a spiritual path, you must challenge your actions—including what you eat—as to whether they are authentic expressions of the love and spirit within you.” John Robbins

I have a friend who loves to collect clichés. He believes that we repeat them so often because they have some truth to them. Take, for example, the old adage “You are what you eat.” Even more than that, you are what remains in your body after the rest has been eliminated. Restricting your food choices can be beneficial to your health, and can also serve as an investigation into your true nature. The manner in which animals are raised and slaughtered carries both energetic and karmic consequences that the human race must all share. Compare it to standing by while someone you love is being harshly abused. You wouldn’t. You would find a way to help them from being hurt or killed. We share the karma because we are aware of the pain that is being inflicted and do nothing to prevent it from happening. The ethical treatment of animals is the responsibility of all peoples and is one of the precepts of right and moral conduct to do no harm.

Empirical evidence shows that energy cannot be destroyed. The energy we put into the preparation of our food, as well as, the energy that remains in the fiber of the meat you eat, can affect how you think and feel on any given day. With meditation, you bring a calm and tranquil mind to the kitchen, and the results of that mental energy is transferred to your food and back again to the body. Does this mean that you must be a vegetarian in order to become liberated? People have been considering this question since ancient times. The different schools of thought range from strict vegetarians, who wear a face mask so as not to accidentally swallow an insect and cause harm, to those who transform the karmic energy of slaughtered animals to a higher level and use it for good. The range of beliefs and perceptions are wide and diverse including whether to confine animals for their butter and milk or chickens for their eggs. Each individual must decide for him or herself.

I have experienced how a balanced vegetarian diet can help to calm and center the body in tune to how meditation brings peace to the mind. Consuming meat that still holds the animal’s pain and fear does not contribute to a calm and centered body; instead, it causes feelings of heaviness and lethargy. A diet made up of mostly meat, fish, eggs, overcooked and packaged foods can make a person dull, lazy, lacking in high ideals, purpose, and motivation. This can eventually result in developing chronic ailments and suffering from depression.

As we look for answers to the healthy survival of our planet and the human species a significant change in diet must be seriously undertaken. If you are determined to reduce your carbon footprint then include 1-2 vegetarian meals on a daily basis as a place to begin. If you are not sure what a days worth of meals might look like, then here is a typical day without animal protein, refined flour, and refined sugar products.

Upon rising: Juice of half a lemon in 1 cup warm water with 1 teaspoon raw honey.
Breakfast: Cooked whole grain cereal (oatmeal, cream of rice, spelt flakes), with maple syrup, blueberries and walnuts.
Snack: 6 almonds and 1 apple.
Lunch: Bean burrito with brown rice, mixed green salad with sprouts and flax seed oil vinaigrette.
Snack: Fruit smoothie made with a non-dairy milk, ½ banana, strawberries and maple syrup or stevia.
Dinner: Lentil miso soup, whole grain bread with nut butter, dark green salad with steamed broccoli.

This is a very basic menu that you can enhance with a variety of organic food additions. It supports a clean, healthy body and a clear, focused mind. Of course, it always makes sense to check with your physician before changing your diet, especially if you are taking medications. As your diet improves your blood pressure and cholesterol will naturally lower, so have your doctor monitor your meds until you don’t need them any longer. For recipes to get you started (by going to) my cooking/recipe blog.

Delia Quigley is the Director of StillPoint Schoolhouse, where she teaches a holistic lifestyle based on her 28 years of study, experience and practice. She is the creator of the Body Rejuvenation Cleanse, Cooking the Basics, and Broken Bodies Yoga. Delia's credentials include author, holistic health counselor, natural foods chef, yoga instructor, energy therapist and public speaker.
Follow Delia's blogs: brcleanse.blogspot.com and brokenbodiesyoga.wordpress.com.
To view her website go to www.deliaquigley.com