We live our reality based on what we believe. Everything ends up being reduced to our beliefs. So where do our beliefs come from ?: From what science, history, religion, culture, the media, our family and ancestors say, of our emotions, conditioning and associations
Beliefs are developed from our personal experience, as we solve our emotional needs, and this is influenced by the family in which we were born, the society in which we live and their media n. The culture to which we belong, our world, tells us how our life is to be. The influence begins before the children are born, in conception and pregnancy.
From birth to two years the activity of the brain generates delta waves, and from 2 to 6 theta waves. Both waves produce suggestible states that store information and record everything without filters.
Our brains up to 7 years are in a hypnogenic or dreamlike state where the behaviors, beliefs and attitudes that we observe and perceive in our parents and caregivers are recorded as the routes unconscious synaptic. Then these routes control our biology for the rest of our lives until we observe them and make them aware. As adults we have beliefs that were formed as children.
Many of our attitudes towards food and our body are based on recordings of these first years.
When we are little we can hear from our caretakers “You have to leave the plate clean”, “eat spinach so you have a lot of iron and be very strong”, “without meat you have no iron”, “ there are children in Africa who are starving and you don't you eat everything ”, “ if you behave well I give you a goody ”, “ since you've been bad you don't have dessert ”
In adolescence we are more receptive and influential to the messages about our body and our body image. The beliefs of family members, friends and publicity can be recorded in us: "Thinness is synonymous with health and beauty", "If I eat a light yogurt slimming", "eating light is taking care of your health", "women only they are attractive if they are thin, "" if you eat fattened bread, "" chocolate makes you get grains, "" In our family we all have high cholesterol and we cannot eat fat. " Without a critical attitude that observes what are the interests behind each of the media's messages about beauty, thinness and the food we should consume, our relationship with the body and food can suffer. Advertising dates back to ancient times, advertisements from the time of ancient Rome are known. Its objective is to engrave beliefs in our unconscious that lead us to consume their products that are associated with success, recognition, beauty, being special, different ...
The good, the bad, the judgments, what we like and what we don't like, the behavior patterns of our caregivers ... everything is stored. The beliefs of others become the foundation of what we consider true with respect to ourselves and the world.
We can have limiting beliefs about ourselves, about what feels good or bad about food, about how our metabolism is and our willpower to get the things we want. "You have the same metabolism as your aunt, your fatness is genetic"
All beliefs are lived as certainties, they are a mental film of how we are, how we will be. And they are the foundations to build our identity. Beliefs are neither true nor false: they are beliefs, and we all have what we need at all times.
It is not enough for a thing to be edible to be consumed: cultural conditions are necessary. What we like, what we prefer in food, is determined by environmental, political and economic contingencies, but above all by social rites, by ethical, religious, spiritual values ...
If we believe that vegetarians are special, more spiritual and kind people, and we want to be like that, we will eat that way, and we may not take into account the messages of our body. Why do I choose a feeding style?
Some foods are associated with moments of affection with loved ones and when we eat that food we feel like then. If our grandmother gave us warm milk with honey to sleep, and with that milk we received her tenderness and presence, that glass with honey will be for us a balm of peace and love.
For other people, milk will be related to the mother, and depending on the link with her, it will be beneficial or not. There are no absolute truths in the ways of feeding ourselves. There are documented studies that consider milk to be beneficial for health throughout life, and studies that document the opposite. Do you think it is necessary and beneficial to eliminate cow's milk from your diet? Is it a healthy or harmful food? How do you feel it? You can hear “Without milk your bones are decalcified”, “It is the dairy industry that promotes the consumption of milk”, “Milk is the main cause of allergies in children and adults”, “Soy milk is healthier than milk cow's milk ”… Look, listen to your body: What is it for you? Why do you eat what you eat?
Food generally has values added by the beliefs of our culture or our religion. Hindus do not eat beef and Jews do not eat pork. Eating can be sinning in Christian fasting times like Easter, or Muslim like in Ramadan.
Since the end of the third century, fasting was established as a Christian religious practice to purify our hearts before God. From the year 2000, the culture of thinness added new sacrifices, this time the idol is the perfect silhouette, which will bring you inner peace and social approval.
To change, to move forward, to be free, we must open our minds and be willing to question our beliefs, no matter how useful they have been so far. It is in our hands to decide if we continue to respond based on these schedules or decide to bring the light of consciousness to those dark areas. Being aware is an act of bravery, which sometimes involves abandoning family loyalty and creating new models and philosophies of life.
How do your beliefs influence your diet? By Tatiana
