As a throwback to Monty Python’s “And Now For Something Completely Different”, here is something that I’ve never done before on my blog: post a picture taken with just a phone, post a picture of my lunch no less, and have a silent prayer with it, or mantra, if you will…

Over time I’ve noticed that saying a mantra (or a prayer) before eating, or when hungry or thirsty, and programming my subconscious mind for healing and rejuvenation, simply shuts off the cravings for unhealthy food. When I do this, and do this daily, it works miraculously. Craving for unhealthy food recedes and I much more enjoy what I eat. Preparing a very simple meal becomes almost a celebration, instead of a mindless task of daily discourse. When you compare this kind of meal prepared with love and mindfulness to a quick lunch break at work, which you rush off to, get served in a bag, rush back to the office to eat at your desk, … it’s a different Universe altogether. There is simply no comparison.

In med school I also learned that the “you are what you eat” wisdom is 100% correct. Everything we have in our body as a natural living tissue or organism (unless it is a pathogen or foreign object), came from food, processed by our liver (the most amazing chemical factory the Universe has ever seen) and delivered as a building block to our tissues. But that is only one part of the story. The power of a human mind (the subconscious part, or as some call it the superconsciousness) is so incredible that mere thoughts can change the healing process.

If you do not believe in this, just look at work of Masaru Emoto and what a human mind, meditation and intention can do to microscopic structure of ice crystals. Pundits who need to dissect every bit of detail and will be ever-doubtful and ever-skeptical, will thoroughly reject his work. This is well documented. I am not a pundit, I know better now. So, however true it may be that you are what you eat, it is also equally true that: “It is not only what you eat, but how you feel about it”, what truly matters. Combination of the two is what allows our bodies to truly heal. And ancient civilizations knew what we’ve long forgotten: All healing includes self-healing…
At my pediatric oncology internship, I remember the professor repeating over and over to all his medical staff: “you are not treating an illness or diagnosis, you are treating the entire patient”.
That statement, deeply rooted in holistic approach to medicine, gives me chills to this day.

So, if you are reading this, and are hungry, or have cravings for something what you know is not good for your body, why don’t you try the below mantra, which was written with love. Try it every day, multiple times a day, for a week or two. Say it silently, or out loud if you are bold, and say it like you really mean it. Then be amazed…
This is the very crux of why so many various diets simply fail: going on a diet is sending your subconscious mind a signal that you are relinquishing your power and giving it to something extraneous, outside of your body (the diet program itself). It doesn’t work and it fails. Some of them are helpful, but you must remember that sovereignty belongs to you. That is the missing ingredient. Because if you relinquished your own power at a subconscious and conscious level and just handed it over to the archetype of a diet, a failure becomes a real possibility.
However, when you consciously decide to reclaim your own power, such as saying a mantra or a prayer, saying it with a clear intention and a goal in the forefront of your mind, visualize it, and you do this repeatedly? There are no limits to how amazing and perfect the healing process can become. You will literally rewire the synapses in your brain by doing this mindfulness exercise. Neuroplasticity is a real and very well documented and accepted phenomenon. But, not only is it this phenomenon, which helps us have and reinforce a conscious memory, it also works subconsciously, rewiring your mammalian brain with a memory you are unable to recall or read, yet it is there, working tirelessly for you. You may think of it like an instruction set of code on your phone’s CPU – it’s there, it makes the CPU run computations, it makes it run efficiently without overheating or draining your battery too fast, yet you cannot see it or read what it says or does. All you know is the fact that your phone works and your apps run. And to make it even better, you can install firmware updates to change this CPU instruction code set. Same with our brains – you may never know what your subconscious mind thinks or knows, but just like that CPU firmware, you have the innate ability, and have had this ability since your birth, to completely rewrite it. It is a recording device in a nutshell, so your mere thoughts, when done repeatedly, can overwrite it. Your own strength and determination will utterly shock you.
Fewer limits than we assume – honor the ones that keep us safe and wise…

I eat to heal.
I choose what brings harmony.
I honor my body’s every cell with care,
And every bite with reverence.

When the ego yearns for comfort,
I answer with tenderness and clarity:
“Not today.
Today, I choose better.
Today, I choose me.“

And let it be so…