Bodies

For two weeks now I've been trying to stick to Ian Gawler's Healing Diet, and, I have got to say, more or less succeeding. It's a lot of bother. There are six glasses of juice to be made and swallowed daily, and apart from the one made of fruit, they aren't the sorts of things you'd swallow for the fun of it. There are three vegetarian - well vegan, really - meals to be made in a day, which has meant a radical revamp of the fridge freezer and pantry. Because the whole day's menu has a carefully planned balance, I've been sticking to the recipes, which is not the way I normally cook. I'm more of a lets get the vibe of this dish and amend it as we go sort of cook, but this way has taught me a lot of new ways of combining food which would be worth repeating even if you didn't have a bigger agenda for the meal.

It's been easy doing without meat - I haven't missed it for a second. It's been easy doing without the processed flour and sugar and all the fat as well. Last night, with a plate of cakes left over from a meeting held in the house, I ate one and immediately wished I hadn't. My body let me know in no uncertain terms that it was on Ian Gawler's side and what exactly did I think I was doing sending that muck down the chute. I won't be repeating the experiment in a hurry, and I'm not sorry about that either. Over the past fortnight and the one before that when I was not actually on the Gawler diet but was moving that way, I have reaped great benefit. About 4 kg of weight has evaporated. I have slept better and feel more energetic. Which brings me to my point for the day.

My body is not a thing, it is a process. It is a particular pattern of energy finding shape in an ever moving and changing stream of atoms; in much the same way that an ever moving stream of water finds shape in a seemingly permanent whirlpool. My body is a process, which means that diets can't be temporary. I will reap the benefits of a blanced healthy diet for just as long as that diet remains one of the processes which helps shape the pattern that is my body. Stop the diet and revert to the old patterns and my body will immediately revert to the way it was before. The healing diet is a temporary stage but it will be followed by a permanent diet based on the same principles, unless I want to continue as I was doing before - digging my own grave with my teeth.

My body is a process, an impermanent ever changing pattern of energy within which there is another impermanent, ever changing pattern of energy, my mind. These two are inseparably linked and each has effect on the way the other exists in a strange dance of mutual dependency. To effect my body I must make the requisite mental changes, but just as truly, to develop my mind I must be careful, repectful and gentle with my body. And lying within both, more subtle still, is that which gives rise to all patterns.

Comments

Kathryn said…

Kelvin, I applaud you for your strength of will and I'm sure your body is thanking you too, for taking so much pressure off all your digestive processes.
It is wonderful that you are feeling so good, too.
I'm thinking that perhaps there is a lesson to be learned for all of us reading your blog. That maybe we (meaning I, of course), should be just as caring and gentle with our own bodies, even though we think we are healthy and feeling well. Who knows what is going on inside after all these years of eating whatever we please!
Thank you Kelvin, and may God bless you.
Kathryn :-)

20 November 2008 at 19:24

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