How Whole Foods Heal

Written by Courtney Coleman

A whole foods diet and lifestyle has been shown to prevent and even reverse disease and bring the mind, body and spirit back to balance. Different foods and lifestyles balance different types of people. These days, many of us are out of balance, and utterly confused as to what works best for our particular constitution.

The tenants of Macrobiotics, Ayurveda and Solar Nutrition state that foods eaten in the whole state, in which Mother Earth gave them to us, act as foundation medicine; that eating and living in harmony with nature (the changes of the seasons and our own body’s rhythms and particular constitution) maintains balance. For example, the fall and winter, when the weather is cold or your body feels cold, weak or deficient, is the time to eat more warming, building foods such as animal proteins (meat, dairy, eggs, etc.), soaked and simmered hearty winter grains like wheat or amaranth, heavier fats like butter and ghee, warming root veggies like yam, parsnip and burdock, sturdy greens like kale and collards, and the fall/winter fruits like apple and pear (but don’t eat fruits at the same time as other foods - it’s bad food combining, which feeds candida yeast and causes gas). By the same principal, spring and summer are the times for foods which have a cooling, cleansing, hydrating effect on the body, such as peas and lentils, sprouted and simmered light grains like quinoa, millet and corn, lettuces and other raw vegetables, and tropical fruits. These foods may be best even in winter for people who tend to carry excess weight and/or have internal heat signs (feels hot, has thick yellow tongue coating, dark yellow urine, red complexion, etc.).

The way in which we prepare food imparts a warming or cooling effect on the body as well. Cooking with cast iron, a pressure cooker, and baking imparts warmth; while quick sautéing or steaming in stainless stele imparts a cooling effect. And, as if attention to the thermal effect of various foods and cooking methods isn’t enough to help us maintain balance, there are further divisions on the spectrum of yin and yang in regard to foods and lifestyle such as expansive vs. contractive and ascending vs. descending.

Each of us has a different quality of digestive fire, or Agni, as it’s referred to in Ayurveda. Where one person may be able to eat some of everything offered at a buffet, another person may need to carefully apply the principals of proper food combining, eating only one type of protein and complex carbohydrate per meal, or eating proteins and complex carbs in separate meals combined only with non-starchy veggies. According to both macrobiotics and Ayurveda, a 100% raw diet year-round is particularly cooling, contractive and difficult for most people to digest. Soaked (and thusly sprouted) and simmered whole grains provide an easily digestible, long lasting energy source that’s gentle on the digestive system. Whole grains lie more toward the middle of the yin/yang (expansive/contractive) spectrum and help us maintain balanced blood sugar, hormones and body chemistry.

When we are in balance, we can more easily quiet our minds and open our hearts to know what the best action in any given moment is. From this place we can go forward in the world and further spread peace and consciousness.

Courtney Coleman is thoroughly self-studied in Macrobiotics, Solar Nutrition and Ayurvedic cooking. She’s developed a comprehensive way of teaching people to CookWell to balance their particular constitution.