The Relationship Between Diet And Happiness

Diet is one of the pillars of your happiness.

“What you eat affects how you feel.”

When I eat chocolate, my mood lifts up, I feel content and nurtured.
When I drink alcohol, I feel exhilarated at first, but in the long run, my tolerance for life diminishes, and I become irritable.
Eating salads cools my system down, and I feel light.
Drinking plenty of water makes me feel relaxed, hydrated and abundant.
Heated oils strain my liver and make me angry.
Eating refined sugar makes me feel weak, and I get anxious. I get a sugar high, and then I crash and am tired.
Drinking coffee makes me jumpy.
Overeating makes me tired.
Etc…

Ever since meeting my wife, I have listened to her describe how eating different foods affected the way she felt in her body. She would even show me how my moods fluctuated after eating certain foods. I never really liked hearing any of it, because I wanted to believe that I was free and that my emotions were self-generated.

Three years ago, I experienced a health crisis that forced me to increase my food consciousness, and radically change my diet. I truly healed through what I ate. It was an amazing revelation. What no medication could do, proper diet did.
Now, that I had cleaned up my act, I started noticing the effects of food on my mood. My system was so clean and my energy was so completely stable, that I could track any “distortion” and link it to the specific food that caused the distortion to arise.

Ironically, a side effect of my healthy diet was the loss of 20 pounds in 5 weeks. (And I wasn’t even overweight!)

The BIG KEY for health is balancing the pH in the body. The American diet is often so acidic that our bodies are constantly reaching for alkalizing substances (such as calcium) in our muscles, organs, and bones to buffer the dangerous acids, and thus depleting our systems. Our bodies hold onto fats and create cholesterol to protect our tissues from the dangerous acids that would otherwise burn through these tissues. Once we begin eating plenty of alkaline foods, our bodies shed the excess weight and cholesterol levels balance out.


Here are a few tips:

What to eat:

• Eat non-genetically modified, organic food.
• Eat plenty of green stuff like salad, spinach, arugula, sprouts, cucumber, kale, chard, broccoli, and so on to alkalize and bring wholesome nutrients to your body.
• Quinoa is a complete protein and contains all the essential amino acids.
• Healthy fats: coconut oil, flax seed oil, olive oil….
• Eat “super foods” to get all the nutrients that can be difficult to get solely through “regular food” since our soils are typically so depleted. You can find information and order them on: www.noblelifeelements.com/green

Foods to avoid:

• Avoid animal proteins like meats and dairy. Those foods are highly acidic.
• Heated oils. Most oils turn into carcinogens when cooked.
• Refined sugar. One teaspoon reduces the power of the immune system by 50% for up to 48 hours.
• Eat very little sweet stuff. If it’s sweet, it’s probably acidic.
• Wheat and gluten. They feed Candida, thus throwing off the balance of microorganisms in the guts. They also feed tons of other undesired bacteria that can lead to symptoms such as bloating, gas, diarrhea, fatigue, depression….

How to eat:

• Choose about 80% fresh, live foods, which still contain their natural enzymes that will help with digestion. Otherwise, our bodies look to our organs for digestive enzymes, and thus deplete our organs.
• When cooking, use water rather than oils. However, some oils, such as coconut oil, are okay for cooking.
• Do not use Teflon coated cookware.
• Soak/wash your (organic) veggies in the sink (or a big bowl) in a bath of water containing 10-15 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract to rid the produce of harmful bacteria and chemicals.

A wonderful place to look for “enlightened” health information is:
www.articlesofhealth.blogspot.com
www.phmiracleliving.com

As my French homeopath grandfather always told me, “Un esprit sain dans un corps sain.” “A healthy mind/spirit in a healthy body.”
I see our human bodies as potential vehicles for the divine. Our bodies are temples.
When we treat our bodies well, our bodies flow better, we have less emotional agitation, and we have a foundation for spiritual growth and a happy life.
Our bodies become a clear space for Spirit to shine through!

Ask yourself:

“What needs to change in my diet?”
“Why is this important?”
“What will I do today?”

Blessings to you, my friend.

How to be happy now without having to change the world

This morning, my wife and I went on a walk along a path we LOVE! It’s called the Pixie Trail. At some point on our way back, we stopped to look at a beautiful yard and Christi said, “I wonder what happened here?” I looked and wondered what she meant, and then asked, ”Where?” She was pointing right in front of us. I looked really hard for another half a minute, and all I could see was the same beautiful yard. “Where?” “Right here — the fence.” Then, my eyes adjusted to the fence, which was only six feet in front of us, and I saw that it was broken.

The broken fence was right in front of me, and yet, I couldn’t see it.

I realized something:
- We create our life experience, by choosing where we focus our attention.


“We create our life experience, by choosing where we focus our attention.”

We can look at ourselves as a Physical Body. We all know people who are so attached to their body image that they are constantly experiencing ups and downs, and dramatic mood shifts as a result of the contrast between how they think they should look and how they perceive themselves as actually looking. Their evaluation is so subjective, that one moment they feel great about “themselves” (their body), and the next moment feel awful.

We can look at ourselves as a Soul. Whatever happens to this body or mind doesn’t ultimately hurt ME, as I am here in this form as an educational experiment — to learn about Love.

We can look at ourselves as Consciousness, and know that whatever happens in our lives is simply another experience of a “Now-moment” in the dance of time.

It is similar as we focus our attention on the outside world.

When we identify people with their actions, we judge them when they fail, our hearts close down, and we experience the world as a harsh place.

If we can celebrate failures, because we see them as part of a path of initiation into wisdom, we will feel more elated, and the world will seem like a much friendlier and lighter place!

When we look for how alike we all are, rather than focusing on our differences, we will feel more connected.

We all have the capability to adapt our perspective, and consciously choose the life experience we wish to have.

Ask yourself three questions:
1) Where do I focus most of my attention?
2) What do I really want?
3) Where do I need to focus my attention from now on to have the life experience that I am longing for?

Bottom line:
We live in a multidimensional World, and we have the capacity to choose our life experience by consciously focusing our attention wherever we want.

Am I looking for love and learning, or am I looking for drama?

World Peace made easy...

Aloha beautiful people,

I have a great topic for today: "How can I contribute to World Peace?"

All of us want to make a positive contribution to our community. Many of my clients ask me: “How can I make a positive impact on the world? What can I do?”
I will be teaching a workshop on how to move toward world peace through cultivating a conscious relationship with ourselves and our partner in March of 2009. (For more information, please go to: http://loveyourlifeandbusiness.com/events)

World Peace is not a concept. World Peace is not something out there, far away. It is not in big amphitheatres filled with politicians. World Peace is a personal spiritual practice, that lives in the HERE and NOW.

Yesterday, my wife saw a bumper sticker that said: “F… Bush!” And she told me: “This is war.”
War is not something that happens far, far away. War starts in our minds. And WE ALL contribute to any war going on right now on this planet, each time we entertain thoughts of anger, jealousy, greed, and so on.
I love the quote by French poet Voltaire.
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”
After realizing, that their negative thoughts contribute to the negativity they see in the world, I’ve seen some of my clients go on war with their anger, jealousy or greed. “I need to fight those negative patterns… get rid of them!”
Hee-hee! See how tricky…Now we’re warring again!
Here is a little awareness tool for you, when you get triggered by something in the world:
“How do I tend to become what I disapprove of?”
Mirror mirror...

Here is the process of negative manifestation:

Each of our negative thoughts is like a snowflake.
We give the snowflake momentum by entertaining that thought, which increases the slope of the mountain in our mind where it lies.
When we combine that thought with emotion, we are increasing the inclination of the slope.
The thought now starts joining with more and more thoughts that are similar.
Our emotions get stronger, the slope increases, and then the thoughts begin to tumble down the mountainside accumulating more negative thoughts on the way.
The more we indulge in negative thoughts and the emotions that they birth, the more destructive the energy of the accumulated thoughts become.
The thoughts gather more and more momentum.
Eventually, we can’t hold the energy anymore.
This is a breaking point:
Our thoughts turn into action.
The avalanche destroys whatever is in its way…

Here is a great remedy that truly works, and here it is:

Stop feeding the thoughts that create dis-harmony. And, can you find it in you to love All, Consciously, and Unconditionally.

This means to love our enemies in all forms.
Particularly thought forms. Recognize that negative thoughts, at their core, are rooted in fear. Give yourself compassion.

Tell the truth about your thoughts:
"They’re only thoughts, and thoughts can be changed" as says Louise Hay.
With awareness, by paying attention, we can choose the thoughts that we want to live with.

Harboring resentment is like ingesting poison, hoping that the other person will die.

Cherish and nurture the thoughts that make you feel good!

Practice and cultivate discernment through the lens of Love, rather than fear and judgment.

Watch out for negative bonding. (Talking negatively with the unconscious purpose of connecting with someone.)

Be creative and invent positive bonding.

All negative thoughts are rooted in fear.

All wars start with a thought rooted in fear.

All Peace starts with a thought rooted in love.

Here is an inquiry for you:
"What is burning in my heart? What am I truly longing for?"

As we become conscious, our relationships transform. As our relationships transform, the world is becoming a friendlier place, full of possibilities, and World Peace is right here, on your doorstep.
So here it is again: start by becoming a peace ambassador on the inside, and you will become a peace ambassador on the outside. You can’t change others, but you can inspire them with who you are. Be the change.
Meanwhile, practice random acts of kindness…

Love and Blessings,

Francois

My Intention For This Blog!

Hello beautiful people!

I created this blog with the hopes that it be a source of inspiration to many, including myself.

My mission is to inspire and to promote peace, by taking individuals and groups through a breakthrough oriented process.
The process strives to maximize one's ability to connect with one's heart and purpose, so as to contribute fully to our communities.
The result is a sense of purpose, deep fulfillment and joy.

May this blog take a life of its own, as the result of the pooling of genuine souls longing to make a difference in the world, by being the change we wish to see...

Love and Blessings,

Francois Levannier