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Orthorexia Nervosa: Can we be TOO mindful about what we eat?

“Your seasoning is mostly self-satisfaction and your drink is mostly fear of all the other food lurking everywhere that is trying to kill you.” – The Terrible Tragedy of a Healthy Eater

Most of what I do is education.  Besides my actual courses in Ayurveda, even my 1-on-1 work is all about learning how body mind and spirit come together and rapping about this with my clients.  My goal is to encourage trust in our innate ability to heal, and though sometimes that’s a slow and subtle change,  it’s so much about learning how to get out of our own way.  Sometimes this means we need to surrender old attachments to what is ‘right’ or even what is ‘healthy’ from outdated or jaded teachings.

We are all individuals.  And this statement is not a cop out.  From my Ayurvedic lens, I can see that we are born with certain physiological tendencies, and then our life experiences exert their own effect on things.  Check out this sweet podcast from my teacher, Cate Stillman, on Ayurveda and Epigenetics – aka changing your genetic expression is possible through changes in diet and lifestyle – like, WHOA.)

These life experiences are going to influence the power of our digestion and our mental state, habits and patterns of reaction, too. So many of us have compromised digestion, and the signs are not always an obviously upset tummy or gas pain.  First disclaimer: *This is not another blog post telling you what’s good or bad to eat. You’re probably perfectly healthy, right now, so don’t worry.*  I want to comment on two things that are interesting to me as a person who is mindful about what I eat:

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