HLL11 Nutritional Psychiatry (Online)

Food as Consciousness – Mindful Consumption

“Every single year, patients…are getting sicker, heavier, more depressed, and life expectancy is going down.”

Dr Casey Means

Consuming Wisely

Consumption is at an all time high in our world, our nation, our families, even in our bodies.

Often, many of us find ourselves emotionally eating or eating when emotional. With mindful attention and a mindful living plan we can learn to savour the moment and we can find a way out.

Mental and physical health are erroneously viewed as different statuses. Mental health is improved through managing thoughts and emotions through a continued mindfulness practice. Such a practice can be useful in cleaning our individual, mental and store consciousness. In sweeping our consciousness regularly through mindful living, we make sure we do not swallow our suffering, our fear, anger and despair.

Emotional materials stored in our individual consciousness can be recognised, transformed and removed as a regular source of emotional nutrition for us. With dedicated practice, we can choose to stop mentally consuming the suffering of the past and try to be in the here and now, in the beauty of the cosmos, unified with the rhythm of life. This can be achieved through meditation and even eating meditations, treating food as consciousness and medicine for all systems of our body and our spiritual heart.

When we are headstrong in the past, we are unable to live in the present, projecting our past onto our future. This recognition of this suffering is the moment in which we truly have the power to make changes in our lives and really start changing our behaviours, including our addictions to certain foods, substances or thoughts, the denial of our nutritional needs and our way.

Our present moment intention must be to transform and eliminate corners of dark spots or unhelpful patterns in our consciousness.

We often find ourselves in need of a practitioner or teacher or group of teachers and like minded people (sangha) to help us move beyond unconsciousness. Collective group consciousness on retreat is incredibly helpful to help you move past mental and physical blockades, the group factor proven to be ideal for igniting the awakened brain.

Currently, the narrative of physical health surrounds exercise, (often incorrectly calorie counting), sleep, and wholesome nutrition. Buddhist and Yogic teachings rely more on ancient wisdom and consider the way we digest life through the mind, the senses, and mindful daily consumption. The health status of the mind and body are incredibly linked, especially as it relates to how nutrition influences mental health. For example, some have begun to propose that the happenings of the mind are not solely to blame for the development of stress and anxiety, and that the gut plays a significant role in the development of such conditions (Malan-Muller et al., 2018). Nutritional Psychiatry studies how consciousness as food, nutrients, and the gut microbiome influence our mental health and well-being. In this unique special event, we combine Nutritional Psychiatry with a mindful consumption living plan to give you the best of both worlds. Mindfulness of eating and general consumption has measurable benefits to the brain, similar to that of a dedicated seated practice.