Food and Energy - November 2011

... an Exploration

By Raina Dawn Lutz

 Most people know what it is to talk about real food. Real food means whole foods – food that is as close to nature as possible. Food is a physical manifestation of the earth’s providing abundance. Can we develop the ability to tune in to the energy that surrounds this wholesome abundance? How can we know that there is even such a thing, and become aware of it?

Most people at this point would need to turn to science to teach us. But there are some things in life that science just can’t prove. Some of the things us Holistic Nutritionists’ talk about, like energy in food and the chakra system aren’t seen to “mainstream” as real things. But if you can feel something, isn’t it real? That’s what being human is. Body, Mind and Spirit all have impact on our life, that’s why they all need to be addressed– if all we had was a Body, we’d never fall in love or have any imagination. You can let your food be real and make better choices, you can discover yourself through your food, and you can change your life by changing the energy around you. Just like carefully choosing your circle of friends who influence you greatly, carefully choose what substances you put in your body.

Science is important to understanding the basics of food and nutrition; however, we shouldn’t let it corner us in every situation. Some things are just intuitive and rightly so. We are supposed to be able to trust our instincts. If something feels wrong, we know to not do it. If eating something makes us feel bad, we could potentially learn not to eat it anymore. We do have this internal knowledge; it’s just a matter of turning on receptors in yourself to become keenly aware of your body and its signals.

How to turn on: There is a theory about how food makes us feel. Start to become aware of how you feel 1-3 hours after a meal. Start a diet diary if necessary, to keep track of your feelings and physical symptoms if any. The energy field of foods is real, everything has an energy field. Everything that is in a foods’ energy field is imparted on the consumer, imparted on our bodies’ once we take it in. This is why mom’s food always tastes like home, it is filled with love. Restaurant food can never really taste this way because it is not (usually) made with love, it is made because the chef has exchanged his time with the restaurant. I believe the reason that people usually feel terrible after eating fast food is not only because it is unhealthy food filled with trans fats, MSG and sugar; but also because I’ve never met a person who really enjoys their job cooking/frying and serving fast food. Someone who hates their job is never going to put joy or love in preparing any type of food, no matter how healthy. Buying food from farmers who love what they do and you’ll be able to feel the difference. Freedom in life and freedom in food is all about personal responsibility. The information you need is always there, it’s usually just a matter of sifting through it to learn and react. Broccoli, carrots, onions, homemade soup – none of these things have marketing campaigns screaming “I’m good for you!” and labelling their supposed health benefits created purely to make you feel trust in what “they” say is healthy. Real food is NOT more costly, and it should not hurt your wallet to start making the switch. It takes an investment of time, finding local farmers, spending more minutes in the kitchen. Your kitchen needs you!

There are a lot of simple things you can do in your own kitchen to transform ingredients into pieces of edible science-art. Each month I will talk about a different one. I’ve been on a recent lacto-fermentation kick (and write about most of it in my blog) and last week I started straining whole yogurt - through a clean tea towel into a glass jar - to make whey. Whey can be used in the water you soak your rice in (to remove phytic acid and make the rice more digestible) because it works as an inoculant. At the end of straining my whey overnight, the next morning, the top layer in my cloth was a smooth white substance with a similar texture to peanut butter.... almost exactly like cream cheese! Typically, this leftover from the strain is used in many other cultures for lots of dishes and isn’t technically cream cheese, but it has the same “spreadability,” and you can add a dash of salt and a bit of olive oil for flavour.  A simple spread you can make yourself, it can be stored in glass and in the fridge for about a month. Whey lasts 6 months in the fridge. Why make whey? According to Hanna Kroger in “Ageless Remedies from Mothers’ Kitchen” – “It has a lot of minerals. One tablespoon of whey in a little water will help digestion. It is a remedy that will keep your muscles young, joints moveable and ligaments elastic.” Whey can be used to lacto-ferment vegetables, chutneys, jams etc. This creation in my kitchen led to a light bulb going off in my mind. Slowly by discovering these old ways and reigniting the flame of preservation, fermentation, and other things our great grandmothers and ancestors used to do with food, we drop out. To become engulfed in the beauty of creating something from another thing simply by the use of nature and time, our eyes are opened and we grow, evolve and learn, encompassed solely by the passion to make change.

The way the universe is in motion, circular, cyclical and pulsates can be paralleled with the way our food moves around in our bodies, the way the chemicals move, the cells are created, the disease can move around. Everything we take in to our bodies formulates the cells that make up our bodies. My most recent revelation happened when I was creating my ‘cream cheese’ and thinking about the lactic acid that is created when brewing kombucha, and comparing this with whole yogurt, how when the whey is strained out, you drain the lactose with it, but its’ going to eventually form lactic acid in the whey - its an inoculant, thats why it can be so good for digestion - same as the lactic acid in kombucha, good for digestion, blood circulation – and getting things moving. Its gets things moving chemically in the container it is in, and then once inside us, it gets things moving again - when that energy is transferred into our bodies. Behold! The energy transfer from the energy field of foods into our own energy fields - put love into your food, love’s a real thing!

So how we can develop the ability to tune in to the energy that surrounds the earths’ wholesome abundance? Simply by becoming aware of it. How can we know that there is even such a thing, and become aware of it? Open your eyes, write, think, think, think, dream and explore.

Tune in – to the corporate food system around you. Rows and aisles of “food products” full of preservatives, stabilizers, flavour enhancers, chemicals and other detrimental compounds.

Turn on – to the real food movement; the whole foods movement that is happening.

Drop out – slowly out of the system and “Question everything conventional” – make changes one at a time from a typical North American diet to your natural foods diet. Eat natural, real, alive, good quality food. Make your kitchen a shrine. Have something sprouting, something brewing, something stewing, or something fermenting at all times.

Raina Dawn's Bio: Raina Dawn's Bio: Raina Dawn Lutz grew up in Osoyoos, B.C. and attended the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. She is currently living and practicing in Penticton, B.C. and is completing the CAHN-Pro Apprenticeship under the direction of her mentor, Lisa Kilgour. She graduated from CSNN (Canadian School of Natural Nutrition) in early 2011 with a diploma in Holistic Nutrition and has spent her time writing articles for various publishments as well as a blog, working in a yoga studio and living, breathing, talking (and eating!) food. For more information on nutritional consultations and her online long-distance consultations please contact Raina Lutz, RHN by visiting - Raina Dawn Lutz Website - Email