Have You Heard of Vitamin L?

Your body is unique. Based on your life experience, your gut bacteria, your physical activity, your stress levels, your age, where you are in your hormonal cycle, different foods will digest smoothly at different moments. 

And the quality of what we eat, no matter what, can make a huge impact on our body’s ability to function optimally. Quality food can be anything that you could pull from the earth, pick from a tree, is lovingly cared for and tended to, and is naturally occurring and created. This does not include ingredients you can’t understand, pre-packaged, pre-made, loaded with pesticides, preservatives, and artificial ingredients.

Can you remember a time when you ate a beautiful home-cooked meal? How did you feel? What sensations and emotions arose from eating that meal? How was your digestion during and after that meal? Now, remember a time when you ate fast food or a meal that was processed out of a can or a frozen meal or consumed in a loud restaurant. How did you feel after that meal? 

Food can encourage us to feel clear and grounded or pollute the body and make it difficult to hear its messages. Paying attention to our digestion and how we are assimilating our nourishment can facilitate awareness of the difference between eating preserved and processed foods vs. whole, natural, unprocessed foods. Eating whole, unprocessed foods will typically provide energy and clarity assisting us to function optimally to make the best decisions we can throughout our days as we feel mentally clear and physically grounded. The more connected we feel, the less likely we are to reach for food for emotional satiation.

Now, with everything going on in the world, we are all doing the best we can when it comes to quality nourishment. You might be consuming more canned and pre-packaged foods than ever before. So how do we strive to consume more quality whole foods during this time?

​1. Read Ingredient Labels: Depending upon where you live and where you're shopping for your food, you might potentially have more options available to you. Reading food labels you can ensure that there are no added sugars or preservatives that you can't even pronounce.

2. Contact Your Local Farmer: ​I'm still here in Montana waiting for things to calm down in Colorado. We are able to pick up local fresh produce twice a week where payment is through Venmo and physical distancing is occurring. You can explore if any local farms are engaging in similar practices so that you could potentially have more fresh local whole foods in your home.

3. Cook Your Own Food: No matter what food you're able to have in your home, getting creative in the kitchen and cooking your own meals can make a meal quality nourishment as you infuse Vitamin L-Love into your cooking. You can cook with the exact spices, herbs, oils, temperatures that satiate your body exactly how it desires to be nourished at that moment at that meal.

Remember that you’re doing the best you can to take care of your body during this time. If you’re looking for support around recipes you can create with what you have in your home, email me at support@stephaniemara.com and let’s get creative together!