The Person Who Connects to Earth

At age 25, I went through an illness after which my digestive system became extremely sensitive, and almost everything caused various problems. The diets I adopted were very restrictive.

It took me 3 years to emerge from the critical condition and return to eating fruits and flour (not wheat). The diets helped me avoid unpleasant symptoms but didn't heal me.

What definitively healed me was letting go of the idea that I had candida. First, I read, got tested, and consulted (I called a gastroenterology professor at home without permission), which confirmed my hypothesis that the problem wasn't candida but a bacterial imbalance.

But that wasn't the main thing—the key moment was when I visited a friend and talked about "because of the candida this… and because of the candida that…" and she finally said to me, "How do you know? All you know is how your body reacts, maybe just let go of the candida idea and simply listen to your body?"

It was mind-blowing—that same day I released the idea that I had candida, and within that week I felt my body behaving differently. Sensitivities and symptoms I'd had for years disappeared, just because I let go of the idea that I had a problem and decided to simply listen to my body.

Listening to Body Wisdom

The healing journey led me to conclude that the body knows. Today I'm 41, and for a decade I've been eating "what I want," meaning without going overboard, with awareness, but there's nothing I truly deny myself.

Another ability that developed as a result is receiving feedback from my body before I eat. Previously, I had to experiment to see how my body would react; today, it's enough for me to look at food or even think about it, and my body signals to me whether it's a yes or no. As long as I dedicate a few seconds of attention before eating something, I'm "covered."

This post was inspired by Tinka Naama Atzitz's latest post.nToday I ate curry with vegetables, tofu, and tempeh, which I didn't photograph, but I did take a picture of Naomi with her fruits.

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Read more about health and balance in our lives.

For more on intuitive eating approaches, see this resource.