by JJ, Teacher, Australia
Back in my late 20’s, and after some very serious dieting, I experienced quite a few episodes of excruciating abdominal pain and raging fevers, so my doctor sent me off for medical investigations. These confirmed I had been having attacks of diverticulitis, but I was really taken aback when my doctor said he had also been checking to see if I had cancer.
Under the supervision of a dietitian and by feeling what agreed with my body, I stopped eating dairy and gluten. I also stopped using artificial sweeteners, which proved to be part of what had been aggravating my digestive system. The subsequent improvement in my health was a joy to feel… however, as the years rolled around and life happened, including marriage and the parenting of two sons, I continued to gain weight. It became glaringly obvious that there was more for me to notice about how I was choosing to live my life.
Around six years ago a friend introduced me to Serge Benhayon and I started attending Universal Medicine presentations. The missing pieces of the puzzle started to be revealed to me.
One of my greatest moments was when I realised I only needed to eat things that provide true nutrition for my body, and not have the gluten-free goodies and dairy-free chocolate etc., that I was still reaching for/eating. I realised I was using them to ‘sweeten the deal’ my life felt to me back then, to give me false energy to carry my weight around during the day, and to keep me from feeling emotions I had buried deep inside.
I have made many changes around food since then. Since I have connected more deeply with my own inner knowingness, I am better able to feel what certain foods are doing to me – whether they support my vitality, or drag me down into feeling bloated and lethargic.
Nowadays I am enjoying living with more vitality and energy, and my body has gradually dropped size and continues to drop the excess load it carried – all without my being on a diet.
How cool is that!
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Food has played a big role in my life. It’s been heavily ladened with cultural tastes, cuisines, expectations etc. And I noted I needed to eat the staples, in order to feel satisfied. Isn’t it interesting that certain food smells remind me of “home”, you know that comfortable feeling. And yet there is a home grander than any of our cuisines.
It is far from perfect but that sweetness is yet to be mastered. Often reaching out for it, when there is something more magnificent than a temporary taste fix. There is more to unveil about life that many haven’t even touched the sides, yet. One day far, far in the distance, we will All uncover the true meaning of living our lives from a different place than what is here now.
When we can let ourselves feel what certain foods or beverages really feel like in the body, we can then begin to make choices to support the body. This is actually a very magical moment, for the body and the being responds so well to loving changes.
Henrietta when we let go of the substances that affect us, it’s not always about foods. We come to that realisation that TV, social media, music, the list is endless, we have a choice to live life differently. Scientists are far from this realisation but humanity isn’t.
Any health concern can be a little bit of a reality check for us – we get to be face to face with the fact that our body has been communicating something to us and now it is really time to listen! But how amazing that we have the body communicating to us all of the time – it is simply for us to learn to listen to this communication and then heed it, not always that easy to do even if it is quiet simple!
There is this idea that a diet is something that we must do for a few weeks or a few months in order to lose weight but what if there is a different way of looking at ‘diets’ – what if we are being asked to have a lifestyle diet in other words eat those things that truly support us, and that this diet is not a fad, not a short term thing but actually a diet that is there to nourish us and to nurture us and that it happens to suit our body and our needs and that it changes as our body’s needs change? To me that is the Nicole diet, the JJ diet, the Caroline diet, the Henrietta diet – we all have a diet specific to us that supports us the best.
“I am better able to feel what certain foods are doing to me – whether they support my vitality, or drag me down into feeling bloated and lethargic.” And it’s not just food that can make us feel either vital or lethargic, I’m noticing certain behaviours like sympathising with people and taking on their stuff really makes me feel heavy, but when I’m able to just be me with people and love them I feel very light and vital.
“I realised I was using them to ‘sweeten the deal’ my life felt to me back then, to give me false energy to carry my weight around during the day, and to keep me from feeling emotions I had buried deep inside.” I know we all need to come to our own understanding of why we overeat or eat things that disagree with us but this is a great summary of the reason for most!
I’ve heard people say they drink alcohol to “take the edge of life”, which is what we do with food too, soothe away how we feel, stuff down emotions, comfort eat, and dull how amazing we are – there’s a lot we do with food that has nothing to do with nutrition and fueling the body!
Yes that is so apparent when you start to observe the moments you say “I don’t care I want to eat it regardless of the impact on my body”. We ‘take the edge off’, we ‘sweeten the deal’ all to bury our disappointment and our perceived lack of skills to deal with it.
Spot on Melinda and Lucy, there is so much more to food and eating than just simple nutrition and we often get sold this from a very young age too with food being given as a form of reward or comfort.
‘I realised I was using them to ‘sweeten the deal’ my life felt to me’. I love your honesty here and while reading this got to ask myself what am I trying to sweeten in my life or what is it I do not want to feel or see. One for me to be with and let unfold.
Keeping our focus on nourishing the whole body, not feeding needs and insecurities is the path to true health. We nourish ourselves in the way we walk, talk, sleep and hold our bodies. it is not just about the food we eat.
It just goes to show when we make even just a few changes in our diet and life to support us the body immediately responds.
Spot on Vicky – the body is this amazing vehicle, like a car we could say – so when you then put the correct and good quality fuel in it, performance will improve drastically as will longevity etc.
Listening to your body .. that is very cool.
What I am coming to understand is that food is required to support my body and not abuse it and the way I am carrying this out is to either confirm and appreciate myself in the steadiness of my livingness or address that which is causing me to eat foods that do not support me and my body.