Excerpt From Healing From Within With Chi Nei Tsang continued
Appetite means good health. It means that our body lets us know
what we need, in what proportions and when. Appetite changes according
to seasons, weather, geographical location, mood, physical and mental
activity, food availability and even gender, blood type, body type,
ethnicity, and so on. It is the result of an extremely sensitive
and sophisticated inner network of communication that can be cultivated
to a high degree of refinement. Appetite tells us what kind of food
we need to nourish ourselves, and when we get it, we feel satisfied.
Yielding to our appetite is also our gateway to love. How we eat
is generally a reflection of our sexuality.
A craving is a sure sign of imbalance in our health and points
precisely to our poisons. When our health is out of balance, our
whole life has a tendency to lean in that imbalanced direction.
A craving points to what we shouldn't have, because if we have
it, we can't stop desiring more of it. We are never satisfied,
and we are able to stop only when we get sick. We never get satisfaction
from yielding to cravings, and that is one way of distinguishing
craving from appetite. Cravings can, and often do, lead to intoxication
and addiction. Addiction is an attempt of the body to prevent
oneself from going through the suffering of detoxifying.
This does not necessarily mean that the objects of our cravings
are all toxic for everyone and that everyone should stay clear
of them. What is poison for someone can be the right food for
someone else according to the situation and the person. In any
case, yielding to food cravings leads to metabolic imbalance due
to not getting the kind of energy we need. In addition, a huge
loss of energy will be experienced from the overload of work left
to the internal organs as a result of poor processing, overload,
detoxifying and the flooding of stress hormones resulting from
dissatisfaction. Paradoxically, when we indulge in our cravings
we might feel that we do it for compensation or reward, but yielding
to cravings and eating too much is in fact a form of self-abuse
that sends the inner message that we don't deserve to live. Yielding
to cravings also is a gateway to lust and the resulting ill health.
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