Not long ago in the blog post about reaching our food threshold level, I had written about the necessity of a calm state of mind when eating your food. Today, allow me to stress a little more on that subject because I feel it is vital in context with fat loss. Let me say this again:
A calm state of mind when eating food prevents conversion of food to fat.
When your mind is calm, you secrete the right amount of digestive juices required to break down and assimilate the food you eat. The food reaches deep inside you to all tissues and cells. When your mind is stressed or agitated your body thinks it is under threat and the food is converted into fat as a defense mechanism. Stress causes the release of a hormone called Cortisol. The function of Cortisol is to lower the metabolic rate, prevent fat burning and help convert food to fat. While human technology may have undergone a sea change over the last few thousand years, our body has remained the same. It is not able to distinguish between stress due to financial instability or workload and stress due to impending famine or physical threat. In either case, Cortisol is released as a mechanism to help you combat stress and you end up putting on weight.
Ancient Indian texts on human medicine as well as Chinese texts on medicine both stress on the relationship between the mind and stomach.
Our forefathers too were knowledgeable on the subject and would always appeal for calm because they realized that an agitated mind made the body restless. The thousand year old Indian texts on human medicine speak of ‘Agni’ (fire) in the stomach and how it needs to be protected. The equally ancient Chinese medicine too speaks of digestive fire and the importance of keeping it alive and burning bright. How bright the digestive fire burns depends on the state of your mind. A very hot fire as in an incinerator will melt iron whereas a tiny fire created out of a sheet of paper is not hot enough to even warm your steak let alone cook it. A mind that is not calm results in poor secretion of digestive juices in turn resulting in our digestive fire becoming weak and tiny and just not good enough to burn down and convert the food into nutrition.
Rats achieve maximum breeding potential during spring time. Cats, snakes and birds in turn feed on the rats and also breed during spring time. Cats, snakes and birds are in turn food for the next animal up the chain and so on.
I mention this to emphasize that everything in nature is balanced. Nothing works independent of each other.
Further more, within each system there is inter-dependence. So next time you sit down to eat your meal, think about the food you are eating, think about the soil, the water that nourishes for food. Think about nature and its infinite glory in providing you the nourishment. Stay calm, stay relaxed and keep the focus on your food.
In my next blog I shall write on how you can enjoy food at a party. If you’ve decided to host one yourself before that, check out these portion control dinnerware settings – it will be easy on you since it’s all microwave and dishwasher safe… and you will help your guests start eating mindfully and healthy, too 😉