Changing Roles in Our Lives and Our Food

Life in transition is very interesting. As I've progressed through my life, I've felt like I've changed roles. Changed the definition of myself.

I've never felt I needed to be something forever, so it's been nice to experience the changes, the changing roles.

When I was in my 20's I was a Warrior. Fighting for my voice, and my power. This was the decade when I learned to hold my voice strong, in confidence, and not back down. I learned to form and hold my own opinions, and not follow the crowd. I learned that as a woman, I would never be a doormat, or be taken lightly, or disrespected. I was loud, and strong, and wasn't going to back down from that for anything. I came into my own power, and held it, and controlled it. I would do with my life what I wanted, no apologies.

When I was in my 30's I took on the role of Caregiver. This never really was a role I felt comfortable with for very long.

This was also the decade where I became unwell. I started getting terrible migraines, and eventually they became permanent. Main stream medicine was of little help to me. The doctor did suggest getting a brain scan done, to rule out anything wrong in my skull; that was useful. And that was not the problem. After that, I figured, "I must be doing something wrong. I didn't used to have migraines. What am I doing wrong, and how can I stop doing whatever it is?" The doctor's really did not understand that point of view, and would show blatant frustration with me when I'd say that. If I had not had personal power to stand by my convictions, I could very easily have been sucked into the only solution they had to offer, which was very strong pain killers, that I'd need to take the rest of my life. There was NO WAY I was going to do that.

That's what started me on my path to alternative health. Note that I say alternative health, not alternative medicine. I wanted alternative "health" not "medicine" (or at least not ONLY medicine). In the 90's there was not nearly as much information out there on the topic, but I dug and dug, and felt my solution lie in cleaning up my diet.

I plotted out a one month food plan, and made a trip to the big city to buy all the needed base ingredients. Well, four days into it, my migraines went away.

Let me tell you! That was AMAZING!!!

Especially when they stayed away. Well, no one would ever be able to tell me the power of food was silly. I knew first hand.

POW ER FUL !!!

Within the first month I lost about 30 pounds. And keep in mind at this time I was not eating remotely what you could call healthy. But I was eating REAL. Everything was made from scratch. Even condiments.

This change allowed me to get my life back. To take stock of where I was, what I was doing, who was in my life. And take control back.

So, though that decade had its challenges, I came out of it stronger, ready for the next role.

When I was in my 40's I really felt fully Comfortable in my own skin. This was a decade of further transformation for me. Since my body no longer was any type of barrier, it was now in a position to serve me as I went about my daily life.

You might call my role during this time an Explorer, but an Explorer of the inner world, my own inner world, to find and nurture my own inner soul.

I was able to have moments to sit in peace, and not worry, or be reminded of pain or illness. I could just be still, and think, or not think. To just ... rest ... meditate ... and let out a soul sigh.

This was the decade where I knew I wanted to make more of a life change. I decided it was time to fly. I rid myself of most of my worldly possessions, packed up, and moved to South America. I've been travelling really slowly through South America, and now Mexico, since 2012. I've learned a lot, and particularly gained a new respectful perspective on consumerism, money, and freedom.

Now, I'm in my 50's and I've thought about my role. I knew it was time to change, I've felt it for a few months. But I didn't know what it would be. But an anonymous picture I found on the internet drew my attention. I put it on my site, and every time I saw it I was drawn to it. That's the picture you see right above.

Yesterday I thought, "I want to recreate something like that of myself." I just now realized it was not the picture only I wanted to recreate, but the feeling that the picture embodied. I felt it. That somehow is me, or similar to how I now feel. Not exactly, but ... there was something about it.

And my new role emerged. I don't have a name for it yet. I'll have to think about it for a little while.

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The roles we have change over time. Not everyone will have the same role, and some roles some people will never have.

The same applies to food. Just like not everyone has the same role, no single eating plan is right for everyone.

Some choices will be based on your needs. If you are super active, and work and play in the hot sun, then you need a lot more water. If you are a smoker, you need double the vitamin c and thus need way more food that has vitamin c. If you are only 5 feet tall, and work at a desk all day, you need way less food.

Some choices are moral. You may be a vegetarian so you won't eat meat or dairy. You may be of a religious persuasion that disallows certain types of foods. You may refuse to purchase foods from certain countries because all the labor force in that country are virtual slaves.

Some choices are based on your physical makeup. You may be celiac so you don't eat gluten. You may be lactose intolerant so you don't eat dairy. You may be allergic to peanuts, so you don't eat those.

Much of the advice in the media now a days is telling us things like there are "5 perfect foods" or some similar type of nonsense. These are attention grabbing. They make you click. They subtly make us think our life will be perfect if we just add these 5 miracle foods. They don't come right out and say that, but that is the implication - or manipulation. There is no perfect food that will cure our ills. Especially if it comes in a box or a powder or a package.

We need to practice stepping back from the stuff people are trying to sell us. It does sound like we "really need it," but we don't. 99.9% of what we need, we know already.

Instead, we should focus on what we need, what food do we need. This is an ongoing learning process, and what we know will change. We unfortunately do not speak "body." We hear people tell us to "listen to our body." You may have an ache, and someone tells us it means something. But they will usually have some bias for saying that, whether it's intentional or not. But their motive in telling us something does not change the fact they very likely are wrong; and if we follow their advice, we will not be better, and may even be worse.

Let me give you a real world example. When I had migraines, I did ask everyone what they'd suggest. I had no illusions that I'd find a miracle solution, but I wanted their ideas. I had people tell me I needed more water, less coffee, more fruit, less fruit, more herbs, less old cheese, etc. Many of those who suggested more water would say things like, "You're body is telling you that you are dehydrated." Some of the people who suggested less coffee would say things like, "Your body is telling you that you have too much caffeine." Lots of people make this particularly ridiculous statement, "Your body is telling you it's out of balance." What does that even mean? It's a platitude. It's meaningless.

Our bodies will tell us things, we just need to be aware that we likely will not have understood what it's saying. That's a very good realization to have, because it will allow us to entertain new ideas that we can try. It will allow us to do research and use our brains to come up with some completely new ways of looking at it.

We need to recognize that the role of food can and should change as our information changes, as our bodies change, and as our lives change. And we need to recognize that we don't have to beat ourselves up if we find out we were in error in something. It's okay. No one on the planet has all the answers, and never will. We just need to be open to new information. We need to be open to having the role of food in our life change. We can think of it as "progress" rather than fixing a mistake.

Think of one thing today where you can make "progress" in relation to food. What do you know this minute that would be "progress" if you made a little change? Think about it, and tell us below in the comments what "progress" you made today. Share your thoughts so others can learn from you.

Smile, laugh, and EAT REAL!!

Thora Toft