The Healing Power of Food

Mind, Body and food. Oh my, what is your recipe for healing? Welcome back listeners, we are going to talk about the healing power behind some more things today, specifically food. And when you think about the foods we consume, they can have such a profound impact on us physically. And mentally, they can promote our healing or not. And so the things that we ask ourselves and that we're going to ask you as listeners, are we being mindful about what we put in our bodies without obsessing over it? Are we listening to how our bodies are responding to the food we're putting in it? And Are we recognizing that we are very unique, each one of us individually, and our healing is unique? How we process the food is unique. And so it's just a matter of just being very aware of that. There's no one answer, there's no one diet, there's no one right food for everybody. So it's such a unique thing, we're going to explore what we each think about that. So do you know I'm gonna throw it out to you and think, you know, in in the context of food and using it as something to nourish your body and heal with? What does that make you think about? It's,

I'm a foodie. I just love food, I love going to new restaurants. I love all different types of cuisines. I love trying different cultures of food, the whole essence of it all, how is prepared and learning about the culture behind it, and how they started making certain things, and then just interacting with the people that create these meals? You know, and, you know, sometimes I kind of look at, wow, they eat a, b and c, and they have longevity in their culture, you know, and then I start to wonder, what are they doing? What are we doing? You know, so then I play that game of, oh, maybe if I should eat that more often. And maybe I should eat less of this. And then I play that psychological game, which normally gets me in trouble. You know, because sometimes we can just get so obsessed with the food, and the drinks that we we consume that might be harmful for the body. But you hit it right on the head when we said, you said, Maggie that we're all unique. So if I want to eat something that most people say you shouldn't be eating that. And it doesn't harm me, and it doesn't affect me, and I'm not eating tons and tons of it. Why can I enjoy it? Why can I have it? You know, a lot of the times, you know, being a retired nurse and going through some of the nutrition classes, not that I'm a nutritionist or a dietitian. I'm also a health coach. So we did learn about nutrition. And I learned to be well rounded. When it comes to food, eat the rainbow. You know, I'm sure a lot of people have heard that, you know, all the different colors, all the different textures, you know, you know, although I love the fact of guiding people along with myself, because I always put myself in there is eating things that are a whole foods, less processed food, less things that come out of a box or a package. Let's face it, they do taste good. Without a doubt, you know, and I've heard through my experience of like I said, my professional experience. I have heard a lot of stories of people who've had illnesses and diseases heal themselves through their food. I knew a gentleman I went to a huge event. And I met this gentleman that had liver cancer. And he healed himself through food. He did not do traditional medical treatments. I'm not saying that that's the total way to go. Of course not. We all need to look at what our bodies are going through what our mindset is going through. And I know Mala I know you wanted to talk a little bit about mindset with this as well. And I'm Di D For our audience to hear that part of it, because it is a great point to make.

Well, I think I think for me, I think it's true for anything that is, especially for what you're consuming. If you put anything in and you feel guilty or shamed or terrible, that's the result you're going to get. Or if you eat something, and you feel really good about it, like it is really a healthy thing that I am consuming, and it is healing my body, or it feels good. I think it plays a role. I'm not saying it's the whole role, but it definitely is. In parallel in partnership with what you're actually putting into, and, and part of that comes from just my own experience with a lot of, you know, different different levels of stress and anxiety over the years over things and knowing what my body is depleted with and what I have to kind of find for myself, and again, not a nutritionist or a dietitian or a medical person here not giving any advice. But again, back to what you both said, we're unique, we have to find what works with us, we have talked to our doctors about it, we have to to be flexible in that sense, but mind your mind to not just your mouth.

And that that's so true. And I think too, just based on what do you know, you were saying about the example of someone healing through the food, that's what we're talking about here, right? And there is so much advice out there, what works for one person may not work for another. In fact, it probably won't work that it won't work the same for him. No, no, it does not. And the thing that overwhelmed me as I was, is that when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, I was like, Holy shit, I gotta get my diet. Right. Well, what is right me?

I was just going to ask you What does

right what is right? And then here, here's the first misstep I made, I went out and looked for the experts out here. We tend to do that, yeah, I'm already outside my body, trying to find the answers to what I need to put in my body, which makes zero sense. So when you think about that, it can be so overwhelming, because we look for someone to give us that solution, that right recipe of what to put in our body and not know, nobody can tell us that. And that's the hard part of this. And so I too, like you Dina love food. And I love to cook, which is great. So when I got over my my initial obsession of finding someone to give me the answer, I just started to experiment and I started to listen to my body and what worked in my favor is the fact that I've never been a big fast food person. I try to avoid eating out of the box. I try to eat more natural foods and things. And so that served me what what I felt like didn't serve me as back to my earlier point of I love potatoes. I love any kind of pasta any fill in the blank and it kind of right. But then I would feel I feel shameful about it. Because it's like, I'm eating too many carbs and our carbs good and oh no sugar feeds cancer and ah, and then you know, you start to examine it around that axle so it can be so overwhelming. I think the biggest thing that I have learned as far as figuring out my own leverage of food to help me heal is really to be mindful of is what I'm putting into my body giving me the nutrients I need and if not, how can I get those whether it's different food next meal or supplements that I decide to add to my diet and go from there that's that's just how I try to move through my days and week so of eating because you're going to eat stuff you shouldn't shouldn't eat and or you feel you shouldn't eat and then you can eat things that you know are good for you to balance right.

Well and you didn't Maggie you did a lot with like food trackers to sort some of that out with your cancer healing initially right and working with your doctor to kind of show him this is what isn't working well for me and what is and making those decisions from there. Yeah,

and I think that's a great point. Because, you know, sometimes we feel like, okay, I'm just going to try this for a while but then we can't remember how our bodies felt. So in order to try We listen to our bodies, we really need to write things down. And so I did, I loved and relied on the trackers for myself because it was like, okay, if I'm going to I'm going to try to go easy on the dairy this week, for example, or maybe the gluten or something. And then I write down how I feel, and what changes because that's the only way we're going to be able to have an intelligent conversation with our doctor or make intelligent decisions informed on what changes we're seeing in our body from set foods. Right? Right.

You bring up a good point about NERT, the food can nourish our body, our cells, everything within us. But tracking how the food gives us energy. Does it? Do I want to take a nap right after 20 minutes after I ate something? Or do I have this burst of energy? Let's go walking, let's go bike riding kind of thing. So those trackers are amazing to work with. You know, I did it the old fashioned way. I had a notebook and a pen. Doesn't matter how you track?

Right? Exactly, exactly.

You could write all the notes in your phone, if you wanted to. It doesn't matter. It's just a matter of learning what your body and how it's reacting.

Well, yeah, I was just gonna say it. There's an app for that, right. There's an of course, there's an app for everything. But But I think the key for the listeners here and for to remind ourselves to I'm talking to us is that when you write down the changes you're making are the things that you're eating or not eating. It's just as important to write down how you feel after so that you make that connection.

Right. It's a brain. It's a kind of like a brain gut connection. Yeah. Yeah. Think about it. You know, that's what just came to my mind just now. And

also, both of you, I think are making great points for food should be enjoyable, right? If you're, if you think it's the most healthiest piece of cardboard you've ever put in your body, but it's taste like cardboard late not so enjoyable. So you digit. Yeah, exactly.

And I will say that I, a friend of mine, who I love dearly. had told me don't have any dairy, don't have any meat. Don't have any alcohol. And by the way, no sugar.

No, I was told the same thing. And I'm like,

I want to live. It needs to be enjoyable. Like you said, My life just it's got to be enjoyable. Everything

in moderation, right? Like, I think, I think your question back was if I remember, but like you just for how long and it was sort of like, forever. So to you know, just remind yourselves that if you do have that occasional treat or beverage like it's, it's not every day, so you shouldn't again, back to not beating ourselves up for feeling shame, or guilt or,

right, there's also some things and I'm going to bring back, you know, the cancer realm or the, you know, that avenue because there's times when we're going through treatments, or surgeries, or whatever it is, radiation doesn't matter what it is. And there's certain things that we can eat, you know, that the smells the, you know, the tastes the textures. Okay, so if you eat a bowl of mashed potatoes, because that's what satisfies you, and you're getting some type of nourishment, then that's what we go with, you know, I knew women that had very big mouth sores, because of their treatment, there was certain things they could not eat, you know, and when making smoothies, you know, you gotta let a nutrition and smoothies, you know, so once again, for the listeners, if you happen to be listening, and you are going through the process, and you're saying I can eat I don't I feel nauseous with certain foods you got to do because once again, it's paying attention to your body, advocating for yourself and finding out what works. Yeah, you know,

yes, exactly. And that you know, when you think about the big things that we definitely want our listeners to think about is that we are all unique so it's it's experimenting with what works with your body and our bodies continue to change as we navigate or healing and as we just navigate based day to day, right and aging right, which is good to say

Oh also the aging process wasn't gonna save a You're worried right? Oh, come on, we have to it's part of life here.

What we couldn't, what we could eat in our 20s We can't eat as as, how do I want to say it? Well, we just can't it's not the same

one or 50 as we hit certain decades. Yes, thank

you. Well, I would I was swimming when I was actively swimming I would. I'd plow through a box of mac and cheese like nobody's business. Now I get I feel guilt when I'm looking at a bottle. But anyway, so yeah, we're all unique. That's super important. We have to listen to our bodies so that we can truly come to know our bodies and when we come to know them, that helps us to truly advocate and you spoke to this, Dina about just making sure that we're advocating for ourselves. And then all also just very important to note here that we are not professionals, medical teams here, recommending anything specific. It's always important to check with your professional medical team or your nutritionist before making any changes to your diet. So we just wanted to make sure that food is not a replacement, we wouldn't recommend that. It is definitely something that has healing power and to be mindful of SO and remember even with food, healing truly is inside and out.