~ By sneh Jaisingh

We Indians are fun loving people, be it Diwali or Christmas We just look for a reason to celebrate and I love that about our community. Like most of us, I am all geared up in Christmas spirit.
"What would you like this Christmas?", I asked myself

"A small vacation and some attention, is all I ask", said my Body.
"Huh! What? Can you be more specific?", I asked.

My body smiled and said, "I have been good to you all year. I tried to digest all the weird foods that you provided, some I recognized and some totally alien to me (processed foods, artificial  sweeteners, GMOs etc). Had a hard time every time you ate weird combinations of foods like milk and citrus fruits, hot and cold foods together, late night snacks, etc"

"At times you skipped a meal and other times you overate. I worked hard digesting the late night snack, while you were sleeping. I survived with minimal breaks and insufficient sleep without much complaints"

"At times when it got to my edge, I asked for some attention by showing signs like headache, heartburns, indigestion, aches and pains, BUT you were too busy and often chose to ignore those. You sometimes preferred to pop some pills or eat even more food to try and suppress the symptoms, which again overburdened my system."

"You exercised your brain more than any other part, stressing the brain. I started adding pounds in unwanted areas, making it even more uncomfortable for me. I am wearing out and its time you give me a break (by eating right and exercising) and pay some attention before its too late and I get sicker (heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, etc)."

"OMG! What am I doing?" I was all shaken and teary.

In this moment of realization I decided to go on a 3 week "No Processed Food" diet which is basically to cut down all processed foods including bread, canned and frozen foods, cheese, cookies, candies, cold cereal etc. While the journey wasn’t easy, especially with the holiday spirit in the air, the benefits were tremendous. I was able to sleep better, feel more energetic both mentally and physically, my mid-afternoon food craving almost disappeared and I also shed a few pounds. I feel more in harmony and at peace with my body.

Not everybody needs to take these extreme measures, but I would urge you to listen to your body and try to build a more symbiotic relationship with it, before it breaks down. Believe me, both you and your body deserve it..!

Thank you for reading.
Happy Holidays..!!

 

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Sneh Jaisingh, MS CNC,  is a Clinical and Holistic Nutritionist based in Shrewsbury. For questions or comments feel free to reach her  on Facebook  at http://www.facebook.com/nutriage#!/nutriage or by Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it