During my studies in Chinese Medicine, we would often talk about how one relates to something can affects one’s health, especially food! The favorite anecdote was two people come to a pastry shop storefront. They both admire the beautiful pastries in the window. One person says, no thank you ,I’m going to be good, and goes along their day. The other person goes in the shop, gets a pastry of their desires, eats it, and loves every bite of it. The other person who was going to be good can’t stop thinking about the pastry they denied themselves. The question often was who was healthier?
The one argument that abstaining from flour, cream and sugar is the healthiest move is the most obvious choice. However, the tension, yearning, and internal discourse for the delectable treat could also be a health complication. If we flip the coin, we can make the argument that by eating this sumptuous treat with great joy can be a wonderful nourishing delight, and, also worrying how it is wreaking havoc on one’s cholesterol and insulin levels.
So, what is the right answer? Here is the rub, in Chinese Medicine, there is no definitive “right” answer, more to the affect, what is the “MORE RIGHT ANSWER”! Meaning, it’s relative. How we relate to any and all things makes a huge difference how it affects us. However, a person with type 1 diabetes is not going to digest a creamy puff pastry very well, no matter how well they embrace it. This is what we mean by the more right answer, because how we relate to something is different for everyone. I embrace the delicious treat for it’s delicacy or I need it because I’m looking for fill an emotional void. Our resonance to what we consume is a deeper meaning to us than we realize, most of the time.
In the reality of “things”, a pastry is no different than a watch or sweater, if we are choosing these things to bring happiness, wholeness, a confirmation to our identity. Which, in the end, leaves us empty and hungry for the next thing to bring a sense of fulfillment. There is little nourishment or satiation from things that we crave to fulfill our emotional/spiritual voids. We must learn from our cravings. Everything has a medicinal value, and, if consumed inappropriately it can become poison. If we are striving to have a long vital life, it is of utmost importance to maintain a strong sense of self awareness of what and why we crave the foods, things, people and circumstances that we do. Without that perspective, we very well may be consumed by what we crave instead of consuming it.
