Food Rituals

What is a food ritual? Well, its something that you commit to; each and every day of your life! A ritual is something just for you, your mind, your body, your soul; to cleanse, to lift, to revitalise; to live! Food is absolutely so simple and so many of us abuse food or shall I say abuse our bodies by our toxic intake of inappropriate foods or foods which are marketed to those of us with a fast pace life to be labelled 'healthy living'! If I see that one more time as a label to entice to buy... honestly 'Healthy Living' as a fast food sold in the supermarket does not exist in a whole 100% honesty! Even the bloody vegetables are full of pesticides and who knows what else to keep them as fresh as possible for us; when fresh is the farthest sense of the word in which they exist to us as we place them into our grocery store carts!!! I'm just not a big fan of grocery stores these days as they just do not provide me what I want out of life to eat better and take care of my body. So, what is it I do? Well, a number of things but most importantly know what is necessary to buy 'organic', understand your fresh seasonal foods and buy local wherever possible. If you have local butchers, bakers and produce stands in your area or close buy; get those boots on and buy buy buy! I have a great selection of local market stands in Chiswick, but also know that I can choose local fresh produce or organic if I feel this is necessary. Of course the ultimate step is to 'grow your own' and of course this is a step for the future so watch this space!!

So, back to rituals. A great ritual is to wake each morning to either a cold or warm glass of water with fresh squeezed lemon. Its a fabulous way to wake up and cleanse your body. I usually do this followed by my Vitamin C and Vitamin B 'Solgar brand' only of course as I believe they are one of the best, but everyone has their own preferred brand. I then continue to take a few drops of 'Biosil' which is diluted in lemon water or fresh juice as an extra added boost for strong bones and healthy hair. It doesn't taste too great, but believe me it works!

As of 2010 I love my new juicer and my roomie and I enjoy a fresh glass of juice every morning made by us, each day we try something different, try to understand what is good for us and enjoy getting our 5 a Day without even trying because we are definitely Juicers for Life! Breakfast usually involved some good old fashion Porridge, an Egg Scramble or the occasional Buckwheat Pancakes which we love love love, but as I said its a treat!!!

So, breakfast is very important and besides getting your vits, vegs, fruits, etc.. its important to enjoy your food, entertain with food, grow with food and teach with food. Its a part of our lives and if only more of us would open our eyes to the great selection of food and ease the consumption levels or simply understand that we need to food to live and should enjoy that food, but we definitely do not live to eat.... that's crazy!!! I have so many great friends who love food, cook continually and entertain often which I absolutely love because they are truly Food Friendly Lovers.... yup that's who we are the Society of FFL.. not to be confused with the NFL of course but it truly is a tough game to fight. I love learning about food and understanding the things that are truly healthy for you. Fresh ingredients are the way forward and processed foods are a thing of the past! Everything in proportion I say and you can enjoy so many things in life, control, mind over matter and all of that stuff we should pay more attention too.

So, the only other ritual you all should have is water, water, water.... dear, dear we don't drink enough of it and its essential to keep our bodies, our organs working properly. You may not notice it at the age of 30 or 40, but believe me you will notice it when you die 20 years earlier than your life should be. See these are the things we don't think about, our insides are working to whatever we give them, but that doesn't mean we are not damaging them in the process. This means that you may not feel it now, but at some point in your life you will and you owe it to yourself to live as long as you possible can and honestly this is the Eat to Live way of life!!!

Besides food rituals there are many health and beauty rituals which you should enjoy. Exercise is surely one of them getting your heart rate going a bit every day whether it be a walk, a bike ride or Zumba!!! Why didn't someone tell me about Zumba - its crazy fun! I tried it for the first time the other week and I was absolutely shocked at how my body could not keep up or for that matter do about ten things at once so time to perfect the Zumba. Its a new challenge and I'm going to do it once a week to inject that kick into my cardio, bit of fun, lots of movement, serious co-ordination and using every single part of your body, mind and soul to keep it together... plus whilst doing all of this you are expected to shout out loud, smile and enjoy the party! Who would have thought?!

Everyone should also take some time out for relaxation and meditation. My new fix is yoga and of course lots of people do it and its been around for centuries. There are so many different types of yoga but its more about finding the right instructor, DVD or ritual for you. I love my instructor at Virgin Active as she ensures you are doing the best you can for your body at that very moment and not pushing yourself to extremes like some instructors do. Little by little you will learn to get into that pose, push yourself more and the best thing is that your mind gets a break from everything. Honestly, it is the best thing you can do in life... take a break, think of nothing, live in that exact moment and enjoy!!!

So, relax your mind before you go to bed, clear it of unwanted thoughts, let go of any anger, brief or pain and remind yourself of the joy, happiness, peace in life along with all that is beautiful! Oh and get to bed before the Midnight hour.... your wrinkles will be less, your skin dewey and bright as well as a more a very rested sleep. The hours before midnight are those which are most important to sleep so try for 10.45pm and enjoy the slumber :)

I think that's enough for today, little lessons come as they are in little form to take them on slowly so I'll write when I can; followed by some recipes as they are in pure creation form. Become part of the Food Friendly Lovers!