Time to unpack some things regarding food. My biggest literal life source carries a lot of weight in so many of our lives. I find a constant chatter surrounding "I can't or I won't have these things in my diet because they're bad." There is truth to things not being ultimately healthy and I hardly touch processed food but queue that coca-cola over ice for me please for when I really want it! What I am talking about here and what we are are talking about a lot in this conversation is pleasure and experiencing it in all areas of your life. Having large quantities of almost anything is bad news but pleasure, what is life without pleasure? There will always be enough pain and heartache to go around so I say, allow the pleasure to come in so overwhelmingly your life flows with joy.
Sarah Pachelli has been practicing this philosophy for some years now and it's a way of thinking to get behind. Her overall health and life approach consists of balance, not deprivation....and as many possible trips to Sicily . From a health diagnosis that she ultimately healed through diet, which then prompted her to further her culinary education at The Natural Gourmet Institute. Through food, she has helped those suffering from health ailments and shed incredible light on a life of pleasure.
Sarah's interest in how diet (meaning what you consume not what you don't allow yourself to have) can hugely affect your overall health came out of a diagnosis. She started experiencing psoriasis that was becoming increasingly more and more intolerable. After meeting with a Western medicine doctor, she was prescribed steroids that only temporarily worked. She asked her physician if there was any way her diet could be contributing to her skin condition. This was met with a resounding no and an explanation that this was a symptom of the skin not the gut. She didn't want to take the prescribed upped dosage of steroids so she started looking elsewhere for answers. She found the book Healing Psoriasis and it changed her life. She started implementing a candida free diet for close to three months and started to see her psoriasis clear up almost completely. She says that she knows she will never not have one or two spots on her at any given time, but she hasn't experienced a full flare up since. That initial experience helped her to better understand how diet directly impacts ones overall health.
I find your understanding of cravings to be enlightening, how would you define/identify them?
"When I was first diagnosed with psoriasis I was craving night shades like crazy. I would open a can of tomatoes and eat straight from it, no joke. I started to recognize that my cravings were more informative. Your cravings indicate either what you could be allergic to or what your body truly needs. You have to become a detective to your own body and awareness. After I had a better understanding of what was going on internally with me, I noticed I was feeding the thing in my body that was causing my psoriasis to be so aggressive. By eliminating anything that my body naturally turned into sugar, I was able to get a handle on my psoriasis."
What is cooking to and for you?
"Cooking is something I have loved to do for a long time. When I was working as an actor or writer, I found myself going back to the kitchen in times of creative ruts for inspiration. Cooking is the ultimate creative outlet for me, from conception to consumption."
For someone looking to cleanup their diet in a little way but make a big impact, what would you recommend?
"I would say try and stay away from refined sugars. Replace it with maple or honey in your recipes. Not only does it still taste amazing, but you're giving your body a bit of a break."
Something you have reminded me to bring more of in my life is pleasure, you are truly "its" biggest advocate. Why do you find it to be so very important?
"Pleasure heals. Pleasure is about being embodied. Meaning anything that you do, that you're truly present in that moment. When you're present there is immense joy. I focus on it so much because it reduces the stress response. We must learn to eliminate stress to heal. Stress creates inflammation in the body and if inflammation is the known cause of disease, then stress is the esoteric cause."
Does this have a direct relationship to food and eating?
"Absolutely. When you start treating food as a reward, it can become negative very quickly. You don't want to turn it into a bad thing. If you associate negative thoughts with food, it triggers stress. This in turn slows your metabolism down."
Where do you gather your greatest pleasure?
"In my almost daily movement practice of being active and of course, Sicily. Sicily is a place that holds so much for me. The way of life there speaks to me. That sun and that water is medicine. You have to just lean into life there, let it just happen--it's all pleasure."
One more time...it's all pleasure. Let's all take a page from this way of thinking and go find our own little moments of delight.
A cleaned up version of fudge, sign me up! This recipe is a Sarah original and has been featured on her good friend's website, www.valleybrinkroad.com. Be warned; you won't be able to stop eating these!
