Have you ever heard phrases like, “eat everything in moderation,” or “eat a balanced diet?” I’ve always found them interesting because when you start to think about what these statements mean, you begin to realize that there is no set definition on what “moderation” is or what “balance” truly means. It could mean five chocolate chip cookies a day instead of 10, and to someone else, it could imply a few chocolate chip cookies every month. If I were to ask every reader what either word means to them, I can imagine that we would have a variety of responses, like “don’t each too much sugar or fat,” which would lead us down another path of questioning of what is too much of each of those dietary components, and what type of sugar and what type of fat. It would seem that these are simply relative terms that don’t seem to mean a whole lot when we try to distill the meaning to the individual. Yet, we hear these terms sprinkled throughout books and websites on food and nutrition.
Deanna Minich, PhD, CN, RYT, is a mind-body-spirit nutritionist and author.
There are a variety of ways to capture the element of balance in our eating, and it may involve not just the what, but also the how. Personally, I like how traditional Chinese medicine has brought pivotal concepts like yin and yang to the forefront in healing.
What would it look like if we were yang in our eating? How would yin show up in our meals?
The beauty is that we embody yin and yang; we just need to be able to recognize when we’ve veered to one side or another and to harness them in ways that make us vital and healthy. The yang (masculine force) represents being absolute, direct, linear, objective, scientific, outward-directed, methodical, and practical. It is the voice of logic and reason. Think of a sun shining brightly, radiating outward; this image might be viewed as the epitome of yang energy, fueling growth and action with its undying life-giving warmth and brilliance. The yin (feminine force) of our being symbolizes the opposite side of these qualities: being passive, circular, creative, chaotic, subjective, spiritual, ethereal, contemplative, and emotional. It is the whisper of mystery and the mystical. If yang is the sun, the yin in us is like the moon; cool, nourishing, soothing, soft, and gentle, navigating the emotional tides within.
Of course, both yin and yang need to show up in our daily meals if we truly want to master the teeter-totter of balance. By examining how and what you are eating, you can get a sense as to whether your yin-yang aspects are in harmony. Within the context of food, a healthy yang aspect reflects a connection with strong digestion, robust metabolism, a hearty sense of hunger and satiety, and eating according to the body’s need. The yang principle thrives off of instinct, or listening to the direction and signals of the body. However, in an imbalanced state, the yang aspect could manifest as directing instead of being directed by over-intellectualizing food, dissecting it to calories, grams, and endless deciphering of ingredients; eating too fast; indigestion; overeating; taking in too much information; and eating large amounts of protein, especially animal protein.
Similarly, the yin aspect of eating shows up through honoring the beauty and poetry of foods; relishing the creativity in food preparation; connecting to the cool, moist soil through gardening; and feeling the nourishing qualities of food by tapping into sensual properties relating to eating such as taste, touch, smell, and sight. The yin inclination is to follow intuition, or being guided through one’s sense of experience and knowingness. The converse of an imbalanced yin state could unfold as over-emotionalizing food, connecting it to fear, anger, worry, sadness; eating copious amounts of fat (or fearing eating fat); avoidance of issues through food; neglecting what one knows deep within; and using food to show love to self and others.
Where are you on your yin-yang continuum when it comes to food and eating? In my eating past, I could certainly be at both extremes at different times; sometimes I found myself in a state of “analysis-paralysis,” obsessively reading food labels and watching everything going into my body (especially during graduate school when I was actively studying nutrition!), while other times, I could easily cave in to eating for emotional reasons. By becoming aware of the yin-yang energies within and getting a read of where I was, I noticed that I could regulate my appetite and be more satisfied with what I was eating. When I felt driven and stressed, I tried to allow the flower of my feminine nature to blossom and soothe me with silence and relaxed eating. When I was riding an emotional rollercoaster, I focused on tuning into my body rather than being lost in the “noise” of my feelings, like trying to get away from static on the radio to a station where you like the music.
Ideas to try to strike the yin-yang balance with eating:
• If you are too yang, allow your yin to come to the rescue and surrender to the beauty of a well-prepared, savory meal. Keep a windowsill herb garden if you have no time to garden outside. Cultivate nourishment in every aspect of your life: the people you eat with, the time you give to self-care practices and meditative eating.
• If you are too yin, spring into action. Start to let those emotions flow through physical movement: dancing, walking, riding a bike in nature. Get to know your body through your intuitive sense. Learn some new facts about foods you are intrigued with, and try out a new food every week.
Finding your yin-yang balance through your eating can help bring you into a place of peace in your relationship with food. And, if you believe like I do that how you eat is how you live, and vice versa, peaceful eating may translate into more peaceful living, too!
