Ep.129 Evolution of What We Eat for Self-Healing with Christine Ruch

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Hello, hello, hello, everyone.

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Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom.

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It’s me, Tigrilla Gardenia.

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Before we start, please hit that like, that subscribe, that follow button.

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It is thanks to your support that this podcast exists and that it keeps on growing, and there is just so much goodness in here.

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And as my guest just said, there aren’t many podcasts that are having these conversations, so we want to be able to reach as many people as possible.

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And speaking of my guest, I just cannot wait to introduce you to Christine Rook.

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She is

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Oh my god, there’s just so much, such a beautiful, amazing, uh, intriguing conversation around how we turn ingredients back into plants and animals who want to share an experience with us, and she just has this way of connecting in to the plant world for expression and for self-expression that I- I am just so excited for you to hear.

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So, I’m not even gonna- I’m not even gonna fill you with words, I just want you to hear it directly from her mouth.

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So, this is episode 129, Evolution of What We Eat for Self-Healing.

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Welcome to Reconnect with Plant Wisdom.

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I’m your host, Tigrilla Gardenia, nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and the founder of the Naturally Conscious Community.

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For over a decade, I’ve been known as a world ambassador for plant advocacy, working closely with plants to share their practical wisdom to help you consciously embody the elements of life that nourish your evolution.

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In this podcast, I delve into ancient and modern knowledge, from biology to spirituality, about the wondrous ways of plants.

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Together, we’ll explore how ecosystem thinking helps you overcome limiting beliefs, understand the true nature of relationships, and live an authentic, impactful life.

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Hello, Christine.

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How are you today?

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I’m wonderful.

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How are you?

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I am doing great, and I am really excited.

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We just had a conversation just a few days ago, and I was like, “Oh my god, I can’t wait to do this interview.

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I can’t wait to have her on the show.”

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So, before we get started, can you tell everybody, who is Christine?

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Is it Rook?

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It’s RookLikeBook.

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RookLikeBook.

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Oh, I like that.

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Rook.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, so

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Christine Rook.

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Yeah.

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Tell everybody who’s Christine Rook.

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Um, my name is Christine, and I am, um, a holistic transformation guide for women with multiple sclerosis, but a lot of my work in my past and my whole entire life has been, uh, a devotion to the healing path as- as, like, learned by nature and learned by- by- by- by Mother Nature and by plants, and also my own healing path as well.

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But, um, but yeah, really taking cues from- from how we are authentically designed to heal, and, um, and kind of moving away from the mainstream paradigm around what the healing process looks like, and also challenging assumptions about, um

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Yeah, challenging our assumptions, our assumptions and our- how- deeply held beliefs and wiring around what the healing process should look like in order to get to, um, one person’s authentic healing, um, to allow that to come forth.

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So, yeah, that’s what I do.

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One of the things that I- I took away from our conversation last time, it was like a little note that I put to myself, is, there are people

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Oftentimes, when I’m having conversations, you know how it is, it’s easier to see things from the outside than it is from the inside.

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And I felt like, I put myself a little note that, about how I felt like you had tapped into, probably without even realizing it as you were getting into it, and then only later were able to kind of like put, formulate things around it, into kind of the- the extended amount of healing that we have as pl- that plants have, like the ability for plants to really self-heal things that we as humans have lost that contact with- Absolutely.

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and that- that original blueprint, and so I- I wanna dive definitely into that.

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Before I dive into it, because I f- I feel like you came into this from a food perspective in some per- in some ways, and- and I’m gonna preface this, that the reason I’m so excited about this is because, unfortunately, my experience only, everyone, this is my experience, I experienced that a lot of people that come through it through food have a deep love of food, I have a deep love of food, but food as resource, as substin- as sustenance, and as plants as resource.

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But as I was, as we were talking, it really goes beyond that with you, and so I’d love for you to share a little bit more about that journey.

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Like, how did you get into food?

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And then I definitely am gonna ask you more about this whole, like, tapping into the blueprint that we as, like, beings of nature have to self-heal, but I wanna kind of get there from- from the food perspective.

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Yeah, wow.

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Thank you so much for asking me that.

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Um, it’s like a pretty, I mean, not to sound like super cheesy or anything like that, but I mean, I’m being honest, it’s a pretty sacred, um, mystical, and- and, like, mind-blowing path it’s taken me on, uh, that started as something really simple a long, long, long time ago in just, like, my youth wanting to

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I don’t know.

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In my youth, I was really attracted to, like, health food and all of that kind of stuff, and in my college years and exploring, like, diet and- and all of those type of things as we do, and, umAnd then when I was diag-

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And then I always had a, uh, love of culinary and always been in the kitchen.

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And from the earliest of ages, like, driving my parents crazy cooking, and, oh my gosh, throwing out food that I didn’t think had integrity.

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I will never forget, like, being

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Like in college and I threw away all my parents tuna fish.

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they were so- they were so mad at me.

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Um, I have so many memories of, like, all the crazy things I did in my youth and in my college years, like, as I was getting closer and closer to, like, food.

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And, um, and then in 2006, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and, uh, that was a deep time of- of like learning to trust myself, because, you know, uh, 20 years ago, it- there was, like, definitely not nearly as much of a recognition around, um, the ability for us to heal with diet.

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I mean, there was definitely things like Weight Watchers, or low fat, or like Atkins, or like low sodium, and those kind of things.

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Um, but to really harness that was super esoteric and, uh, so woo-woo that nobody could even, like

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I was just

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And then- and then even to think, like, maybe you could address that food- using food with like diabetes, or- or like heart disease, or something like that, um, but certainly not with, like, multiple sclerosis, or an autoimmune disease.

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Like that seemed, like, absolutely impossible.

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And so, but thankfully, as like the universe would have it, I already had a relationship with a naturopath, and so she’s the one who started me on my journey to, uh, healing, or- or addressing my health issues, uh, addressing m- MS through food first.

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And that felt really radical to me at the time, even though I like ate organic, and I grew my own food, and I composted, and I had a c- a membership to a CSA, and all of those kind of like culturally acceptable natural food, like ways in.

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Um, this was sort of like, my family thought I was absolutely nuts, you know?

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And, but I just knew so deeply that there was more there, and- and actually to be fair, I didn’t ever intend to treat MS with food.

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Like that was never even truly available to me, but what was, was that I was so sick at the time that I- I was diagnosed, I- my health was so poor and I was so sick, that I just really felt like I had a long intolerance of pharmaceutical medicine, and, um, a- a lot- a lot of intolerance.

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So I just thought, “Well gosh, you know, maybe I’ll just start this like elimination diet as a way to strengthen my body so that then I can withstand pharmaceutical intervention for this.”

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And so that’s kind of how it began, and then it ended up being just that alone, like a six week elimination diet, fully supported, uh, by my naturopath, and- and fully informed by- by lab testing, and all of that stuff.

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Um, it was really the thing that opened my whole- uh, a whole doorway to an entire way of being, an entirely new like profound appreciation, and like humbleness around the intelligence of plants to support my healing.

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And I was so, like literally, like on my knees with like gratitude, and awe, and shock, because th- in 6 weeks I went from barely able to walk, um, and very debilitated, ’cause my MS symptoms were primarily in my legs, and, um, yeah, I was so debilitated, and I’m 6 weeks of this intensive elimination diet.

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I went from that to, like, running and sprinting and having so much vitality that I was just, I was just speechless at, like

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How, I was in so much reverence for what plants provided us.

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And then from there, I went and got my degree in holistic nutrition and, ’cause I wanted to deepen my understanding.

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I was like, “What happened to me?”

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And like- Mm-hmm.

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“What’s going on?”

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Like, this is way more profound than I ever could have imagined, and even though I was eating healthy, I wasn’t eating healthy for me, and that was a journey to discover that, that not all food was the same in terms of nourishment for each person, it’s so individual.

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And then, from there, I, then I began teaching, and I was a col- I was a culinary instructor for the school that I went to, and I taught students the power of food and, uh, culinary nutrition and, um, culinary instructor.

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And then, from then, I then transitioned when I opened my own restaurant, and I had multiple food brands in the restaurant in Boulder, Colorado for a decade.

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Teaching people, ultimately, what I wanted to do is I wanted to normalize, uh, eating vegetables, and I wanted to normalize, um, like, there was, like, this disconnect at least 2013 when I opened that, you know, healthy food was for, like, the hippie, tree-hugger kind of thing, and otherwise, I don’t know, it just wasn’t, like, fully mainstream in terms of being highly accessible, to just

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get something to eat that was super nourishing and, um, and filling.

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And so, that was kind of my mission was to just bring, to normalize healthy food and make it the most delicious way and teach people that, like, it doesn’t need to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to

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And that actually, the simplicity, and through that process then, I was able to begin chan- uh, kind of what I would say channeling, uh, what the f- food wanted to be, like what its fullest expression wanted to be, to I believe that plants want to have the fullest expression in your mouth, to invite you to eat it more, to invite you to appreciate its,

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uh, intelligence.

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And like, that’s what it strives for.

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It strives to, um, bring beauty to you, not just in how it grows, but in how it’s prepared and how it’s processed and how it’s eaten and how it tastes, and then by extension, once it’s ingested, then all of its, like, healing starts to, like, come through.

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Hmm.

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And just, like, going on that journey alone just completely changed my life.

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So, that’s a long answer to your question.

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No, it’s a great answer, because you, you touched on so many different elements that I, I kind of wanna, I wanna tap back on.

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I was, I was feverishly taking certain notes-

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like, I’m like, “I need to touch on that, and teach on that, and teach on that.”

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And I wanna touch, um, first of all, because I think, I think I, I wanna

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This is kind of not related to plants and not related to plants for a second, but I do think it’s such an important part.

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It’s been such an important part of my journey, because as I shared with you, I have body dysmorphia, and so the relationship between food, and I’m, I’m a Taurus, so I’m a foodie.

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Everybody who’s, you know, listens to the podcast knows I love food.

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I love food.

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And, um, that relationship of food and your body, so in other words, the relationship between plants and animals, let’s be honest, like the whole thing, and what comes in and connects to your body.

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I really feel that it’s such a big part, uh, a big part that’s missing in our current cultural norms.

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The idea of children learning to experiment and to form relationships with their food in order to find what is right for your body and to feel extremely comfortable in rotating through or in, um, eating what is not so much finicky.

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I think we mistake finicky, which does exist, in the sense of, like, children that are not exposed to food, not having the palate, um, but also, uh, you know, you mentioned elimination diets, and you mentioned other pieces, which I think we tend to think of only in the reference to disease or to weight or to these other pieces, when in reality, I mean, I think about the 40, almost 50-year journey I took to get to a place of

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listening to my body, relating to the food I eat, and not being worried about what anybody else was thinking, and especially when I came to live in that was a big problem, because Italians are very conservative in the way that they look at food.

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Like, you know, they have certain tastes, they have certain meals, they have things that are combined in certain ways, they have things that are cut in certain ways and used in certain ways, and I didn’t fit any of that norm, because it’s not my cultural background, and I felt very insecure in expressing myself and actually gained a lot of weight, felt very bad for a certain number of years, and I realized only later that it was, it was me trying to culturally adapt to their food when I come from a Cuban background,

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I am just come a different type all together, and that’s not so

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I went back now to eating.

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for me, and I think that it is

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I would love to kind of hear, uh, as you journeyed through all these different parts from medicine to also, you know, teaching, to also restaurateur, where do you

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How do you think we can introduce this into the cultural norm that says, ultimately what you just said, like, get to the place where the combination of plants expressing themselves as beautifully as possible, but also you giving yourself the opportunity to receive that food with your body, and therefore also say, “This isn’t good for me”?

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Even if the world says that white rice is healthy-

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when I eat white rice, and I love white rice from a mental perspective, but when I eat white rice- I don’t think so.

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hell no.

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My body is like-

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“What are you putting in me?

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Let me turn it into a block of jelly in your stomach that’s gonna sit there for 4 days.”

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Like, and, and that’s something that’s happened only recently in the last few years of, like, “Oh, my goodness.

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My body does not want this, and I don’t care what anybody else says relating to health.

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That’s not how I eat.”

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So, how do you think we can help people, especially who have young children, explore and experiment this, like the combination of what’s g- what’s good for your body and how does the plant want to express themselves, um, on your plate so that you can see if those 2 are actually compa- It’s kind of like dating.

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Like you-

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want the plants, you want the plants and animals in your stomach to date, and like, you know, feel good together.

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“Are we a match?”

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah, totally.

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Wow, that’s such a thoughtful question, and I have so many answers.

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There are so many parts to it.

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Good.

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Um, first, I wanna touch on children, and gosh, I hope I can

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I don’t

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I’m not taking notes.

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Now I wish I was.

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I hope I can remember, um, all of the parts and the way I would like to answer your question.

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But the first as it relates to children, in my previous life, uh, when my children were very young, I was, uh, one of the key founders of the garden-to-table movement in Boulder, Colorado.

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And so, what I did is I was the chef, and so the kids would plant gardens, and then there was a curriculum that was developed around what was growing, and, um, and then we were able to take all kinds of things, like sunf- like the children, kindergartners would take the sunflower seeds, and take the sunflowers out

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sunflower seeds out of the sunflowers, and then take them into the classroom, and then use that as a counting exper- you know, to use it as, as c- for counting.

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And on, and on, and on, all the way up to the 5th graders learning about economics by making their own farmer’s market after the harvest.

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And then, m- I had a food cart that I would literally, like my kitchen cart, and so I would come, and people knew when I was there, and they would be

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kids would get so excited, because then I would go into the garden and whatever was growing and whatever inspired me when that was ripe and ready, then I would harvest it, and I would put it on my cart.

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And I walked down the halls of the school, and peek my head into various classrooms hoping to in- interject food into whatever lesson was being taught very spontaneously as a way to develop, like, these connections, these neural pathways for children.

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And then, what was super profound and fascinating, well, that was super fun.

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Like, as an example, like, I was in a

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jumped into a class, and they were talking about Italy, which is super fun that you’re there, and they were talking about Italian history or whatever, and I just so happened to have a whole bunch of basil.

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And so I made pesto right there for the kids, and, um, and they were just eating ’em, like, with their fingers, and just, like, loving it- Yeah.

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and loving being a part of it and being very tactile.

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And I think that, um, that was super enriching for the children, because, like, one of the things at the end of the school year, we had a big harvest, uh, like in May, which is

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In Colorado and Maine, harvest don’t always go together, because it’s still pretty chilly.

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But we would harvest greens, and then the children would grow greens, and then we would make salad dressing and have, like, this salad bar.

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And it was super cool, because what was ending up happening is the children were developing a, a love of having their hands in the dirt and watching something grow.

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And then suddenly, that barrier was crossed of, like, uncertainty or fear around like, “Oh, I’m not gonna like that.

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I don’t like salad.

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I don’t like lettuce in my mouth,” and, like, all those, like, finicky, finicky children things, which are real.

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Um, and I think because they didn’t have parents and they didn’t have all these other structures that, like, would keep those sort of, like, um, norms in place around what children are supposed to eat, and what peop- what people believe children actually like, uh, I think the kids planting the seeds themselves, watching something grow, harvesting it, making salad dressing, and then eating it, ended up, they ended up taking that back to their family.

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And they ended up taking it back to their family.

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Like, I would work in some underprivileged schools too, with underprivileged children, and, um, that was really amazing too, because these are families that live on a fixed income and don’t have as many resources for fruits and vegetables, let’s say.

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And so it’s one thing then when the child is, like, in third grade or whatever and coming home and asking for a salad and asking for vegetables.

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Like, that’s super empowering, in terms of changing culturally, changing the conversation around what, what children want to eat, and, but, uh, challenging our assumptions that, that, that children want to be as involved in nature as, as, as we, as we let them, right?

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And as we invite in and create opportunities for them to create these neural pathways and these connections between what grows and what tastes good in their mouth and what ends up feeling good in their body.

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And likewise then, building on that, like, in my restaurant, I never had a children’s menu.

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And everyone- Good.

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would be like, “What do you have for kids?”

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And I’m like, “Uh, you don’t need a children’s menu.”

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Like, they’re supposed to eat what adults eat.

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I never had a children’s menu when I was raising my children.

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Now, of course maybe they wouldn’t have, like, they’d have something more simple, like just noodles with, like, olive oil or something, but that’s fine.

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I, just as long as we don’t have, like, to have to have a, a chi- a special children’s menu.

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We want to teach our children that they can eat everything that an adult eats, you know?

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Um, and so, and now I lost my train of thought.

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What was the other part of your question?

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It was- Well, I n- I, you’ve, you tapped, you’ve tapped a lot of the pieces of my question, which was, you know, relating to how we can help children.

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I think you just brought up some really great perspectives.

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The other part that I would add to that is that, uh, you know, that’s also contact with the soil, and there are so many microbes in the soil that help our bodies adapt to things.

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Yeah.

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And so I love the idea, I’ve always said I’ve never understood a children’s menu in reference to a different meal.

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I understand children’s size- Yeah.

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because sometimes, you know, children don’t eat the same amount that we do.

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So that part has always made sense to me.

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But the idea of, like, a children’s menu as a separate meal plan, I’m always like, “Why?

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Why is all of a sudden chicken nuggets, like, okay to eat, but you know”

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Uh, it just, it never made sense to me.

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Actually, I do remember.

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Thank you for saying that and jumping in, ’cause I do remember what the second part of it is that is equally profound and important.

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And you were talking about how food feels in your body, and like, the whole rice thing.

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And by the way, I’m on the same rice program that you are.

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Like, rice and me, like, do not get along.

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I cannot eat rice.

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Um, even though I want to so badly, I like the idea of it.

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It just doesn’t like me.

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Um, but what I think is really important about that, kind of building on the idea of teaching children from this very young age that it’s, like, getting away from, like, packaged food, processed food, commercials, and, like, some of the societal cultural ways that we have dictated what we should eat.

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And then you can follow that line to parents, and like, or adults let’s say, where you feel like you hear all these things around, like, paleo diet or vegan diet, or like, a diet to support, like, uh, global warming, or like, uh, something that’s more ethical for the animals, or like, all of these societal structures.

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And these are all, m- in my mind, these are all mental structures.

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And then we make this mental decision to, “Oh gosh, maybe I should be a vegan.

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Like, I care about the environment.

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I care about animals.

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Um, I, I don’t want, I don’t, I’m not gonna eat animals.”

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I- and like, there’s nothing wrong with that inherently, except you’re not making a decision based upon your inner truth and what your body wants.

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You’re making a decision around what society has created this construct that you wanna buy into as a belief structure of your own that you would like to adopt.

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And that’s all a mental thinking, and it’s not, it’s not driven by your body’s intelligence.

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And I think that we’ve become disconnected from the intelligence of our body, which is one of the reasons why working with women with MS is so important, because it transcends.

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Like, learning to listen to your body is a whole, a whole journey in and of itself.And that is different.

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Just like you said, you and I both touched on our own journey to find the thing that resonates with our health the most.

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And I think it’s about, it’s about having this moment of truth that you recognize that what your body wants and needs is different, potentially, from what society says, what mental constructs are created, what diet books, what wellness influencers, all of those things that try to make you be like, “Oh, I should do that,” or, “I should do that,” when actually none of that is necessarily true if it’s not informed by

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what your body is authentically asking for.

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And then you go seek that, and then find the- the doctor and the influencer and the da

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da-da-da-da.

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But it comes from within first and not from without first.

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Does that make sense?

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It makes perfect sense.

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And I actually think that, you know, a lot of these influencers or stuff, what I like about it is giving you more ideas- Mm-hmm.

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because, again, depending on where you grew up, your relationship to the natural world and to especially food, because there is a very close collection there, is

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you know, could be very limited.

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And things like

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uh, like I said, elimination diets are seen as something negative or

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and, you know, the idea of experimentation to figure out what it is that your body reacts well to is not something that we’re taught, it’s not something that we’re even encouraged to do.

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It’s like, “Eat what’s on your plate, what I made you as mom.”

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And I get the stress of it to a certain extent when you build your life on running, running, running, running, so dinner is just this fast thing that I have to do for nutrition purposes and I put it on there.

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That’s one thing, but that’s a different problem that you’re trying to solve by just telling people

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you know, telling your child, “Eat everything on your plate.”

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When

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I mean, I’ve always been a big one also on time.

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I spent, uh, a- a good, I think, like a year and something of trying to understand my cycles.

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And for example, I’ve always been a one big meal person.

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I- when I eat

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and, like, when I came to Italy, I tried to eat multiple meals in a day.

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Oh, my goodness.

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It just doesn’t work for me.

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I need to have one nice-sized meal-

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and then I maybe have, like, a snack for dinner, like my lunch.

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And it’s been like that now since, my god, for the last almost 20 years, because I did this experiment in Spain and then I, you know, check it out every

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tried different things.

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But I was living according to my cycles, trying very much to

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’cause I didn’t have anybody to answer to, didn’t have a relationship, didn’t have, like, a job that I needed to worry about timing, so I allowed myself to sleep when I wanted to sleep, work and stuff.

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And I found when is my creativity levels, when is my strategic levels, but I would eat at around 2:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon.

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That was my food time and I needed a good meal.

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And if I had that good meal then, the rest of my day and my morning was golden type of thing.

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And that’s changed.

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Now, it’s closer to, like, 11:00 in the morning ’cause I burn a lot more in the morning.

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I’m, you know, in a different sort of cycle of my life.

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But the point being is that I feel

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and I feel like the plants really helped.

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And I think for you, it kind of happened naturally because you were already involved in all of these pieces of growing food and stuff like that, w- which is when you start to see how plants grow, you start to realize, “Oh, wait.

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Everybody has their own time.”

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Everybody has their own timeline and everybody releases different things based on that timeline.

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So, you can’t harvest in February just because you really want to.

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It doesn’t work.

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It doesn’t happen.

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It’s not the way the plants grow.

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You could do it artificially, but then there’s stress and there’s all these other pieces that are involved in that.

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And that’s kind of what we are experiencing so much in our physical bodies where

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that reaction to it.

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And so, I really love this idea of, how do we introduce more experimentation, not reduction, but experimentation of what are cycles, what are times?

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I know that it breaks social norms.

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I obviously know that there are times

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Like tonight, I’m gonna have a

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I had my lunch, which was a nice size.

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I’m gonna have an- a big dinner tonight because I’m going out with some friends, but that happens once in a while.

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And so I’m just curious as to

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as you were working through all these prog- programs, how do you feel like the plants helped you, for you, like you said, to form that relationship so you could hear, “Oh, yes.

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You, basil, are actually good for me.

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Oh, you, rice, hmm, sorry, no.”

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And how does it also help you going forward when you’re, like, maybe working with clients or stuff like that, to help them find their optimal nutrition, like, that relationship?

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How do you bring that plant and, and it is true, animal also, because, for example, I am carnivorous and there is a relationship there that I’ve built.

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How do you bring that living being to, “I am your predator.”

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You know, “I am gonna prey on you to a certain extent,” and that’s okay.

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That’s part of an ecosystem.

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And how do you bring that closer together so that there is that listening?

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Wow.

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This is like

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I’m loving this conversation.

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This is so

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This is great.

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Um, what I love about what you hit on that really resonated with me right away, is like, you and I, uh, through trial and error and everything like that, and I think now in hindsight, we can look back on things and recognize that it’s this full allowance for the evolution of what we eat, because we are not like, “I’m a vegan.

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I’m a carnivore.”

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Like, we are not that.

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We are a being that ingests food for our nourishment and our health and our wellbeing, and it does change.

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Like, you eat differently for your cycle.

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You eat differently in different parts of the world.

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You had to go back and find the way that your ancestors ate and recognize that, like, that intelligence lives in you, in your cellular matrix.

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So this has nothing to do with a diet book or a diet da, da, da, or any of that kinda stuff.

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And I feel like, like for me, the way I eat now, 20 years into my journey, is very different than the way I ate when I was first diagnosed and I had my first elimination diet.

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And so

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But I think it’s, like, the allowance for the understanding that your body is as intelligent as nature.

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And when you’re able to really tap in and listen to your body, you’re able to just respond to the subtle cues of like, “Yeah, you know what?

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There was a time in my life when rice worked for me, and now rice does not work for me.”

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Mm-hmm.

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And even as it relates to, let’s say, an elimination diet, like, I think that, you know, a lot of things are coming around, around that and understanding that it is a kind of a slippery slope in some ways.

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But I think as it relates to, like, chronic illness and it also, as it relates to, let’s say, somebody who has, like, a traditional standard American diet, and then they are diagnosed with something or not, they just decide to change and shift, there is a period in which you are reinforming your taste buds.

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Mm-hmm.

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Because your taste buds are the things that allow you to welcome in the nourishment and begin to, um, create that relationship with the food that’s in your mouth and as it gets into your body and, and then the healing pro-

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The healing is, like, expressed, right?

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And so sometimes your taste buds need to be retrained.

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They need to be, uh, allowed space to, to fully receive a new food that, that previously would have been u- unavailable to you.

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And so I think insofar as that’s concerned, an elimination diet is nice because it allows you to take a break from all of the things that are no

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really don’t serve you and actually do alter your taste buds, like artificial colors and flavors and sweeteners and all of these packaged foods and na, na, na, na, na, and processed stuff.

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Um, and then once you start eating proper food, then all of a sudden your, uh, relationship changes just automatically because it’s informed by your body and you can’t deny it- Right.

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because it’s just truth in your body.

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You just

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I- it’s just like, it’s undeniable.

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Like, I remember when my

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had my first elimination diet.

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It was pretty strict because my body was so inflamed.

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It was mad at everything I ate.

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And even though I had a healthy organic diet, uh, I was fermenting

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You know, I was making sourdough bread.

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Well, I’m celiac, so of course that wasn’t gonna work for me, but I didn’t know that then, you know?

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And I love dairy.

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Like, I could eat dairy.

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Like, dairy was, like, my favorite food of all.

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But dairy, like, made me so sick, ear infections and sneezing and chronic congestion and asthma and, and, and eczema, and all of the gnarly things, right?

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But when I removed all that and then let my nervous system fully rest and then sent signals to my nervous system to trust me and that I created this different relationship, and then my nervous system could just rest, my digestive system could rest.

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And then once I started to take back in food again, then it was a whole new way of like, “Oh, actually, mm-mm, girl, you can’t eat the bread.”

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And, “Oh, no, no, no, no.

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This isn’t the thing for you.”

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And so you have a new way

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Like, your body will tell you, like, right away.

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I mean, it just does.

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Right.

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And so insofar as that’s concerned, moving on to, like, that whole idea of seasonality, right, the seasons within us-

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and the seasons without us, and recognizing that we evolve and we change just like nature does.

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And if we start paying attention to what grows and the intelligence of what grows when, you know, like, I think that that’s so beautiful.

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Like in the spring, you have all these bitter greens that grow.

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Well, bitter greens are good for your liver, and bitter greens are cleansing.

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Well, how beautiful is it that this grows in the spring to cleanse you from the stagnation of winter, where you’re eating super grounding food?

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And so, like, wow, what is

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How intelligence i- How intelligent is the planet to provide me with the thing and give me the signal like, “You eat this now.”

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Likewise, conversely, in the fall, like, how amazing is it all through summer, like, grounding earth foods grow, like root vegetables and squashes and big dense vegetables that are keeper vegetables that you’re supposed to

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Like, beets and all.

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And even cabbage and things like that that you’re supposed to keep through the fall and the winter.

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Like, how amazing is it that nature already- already does that for us?

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Like, we don’t even need to do anything.

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It grows at the pace of nature.

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You can’t harvest a pumpkin in July and like May.

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And so it’s just like, wow, like, sitting back and watching what happens in nature.

334
00:37:37,020 –> 00:37:44,140
And even like, I’m here in Costa Rica and it feels like there’s no seasonality, because it’s like always 75 degrees and 80 degrees, right?

335
00:37:44,140 –> 00:37:44,299
Mm-hmm.

336
00:37:44,299 –> 00:37:45,438
But actually there is.

337
00:37:46,400 –> 00:37:49,008
It’s like there’s the rainy season and there’s the dry season.

338
00:37:49,620 –> 00:38:06,740
And there are things that are grow- growing here and things that are available in the rainy season that you won’t ever find in the dry season, even if to the average like tourist it feels like, uh, you know, like it’s always the same, whether it’s raining or it’s not, it’s still the same weather and everything is always green.

339
00:38:06,740 –> 00:38:13,968
But actually, there’s, uh, its own divine intelligence unfolding here too, even if it looks different than Colorado or maybe even Italy, you know?

340
00:38:14,718 –> 00:38:19,909
And so I think like taking the time to really appreciate

341
00:38:19,909 –> 00:38:22,160
Um, like in my restaurant, people would ask me, like

342
00:38:23,599 –> 00:38:27,538.9999999995343
They would ask me in, like, April, like, “When are we gonna get that Brussels sprout salad?

343
00:38:27,538.9999999995343 –> 00:38:28,939
We love the Brussels sprout salad.”

344
00:38:28,939 –> 00:38:32,752
And I’m like, “Uh, in October?”

345
00:38:34,500 –> 00:38:37,779.9999999995343
When Brussels sprouts are being harvested.”

346
00:38:37,779.9999999995343 –> 00:38:38,380
You know what I mean?

347
00:38:38,380 –> 00:38:38,819
Like- Right.

348
00:38:38,819 –> 00:38:41,150
no, you don’t get, you don’t- Yeah, we’re totally disconnected.

349
00:38:41,150 –> 00:38:41,439
an salad, you know?

350
00:38:41,439 –> 00:38:42,224
Like- Totally disconnected.

351
00:38:43,620 –> 00:38:44,020
Yeah.

352
00:38:44,020 –> 00:39:06,729.0000000004657
And so I just think it’s interesting, like, just really taking our cues from nature and, um, and respecting that, not forcing that, or not being upset with that, but, like, really, like, fully bowing down to the tomatoes of August and being like- And yet your body reacts to it- Yes.

353
00:39:06,729.0000000004657 –> 00:39:07,860
in that way.

354
00:39:07,860 –> 00:39:08,420
Yes.

355
00:39:08,420 –> 00:39:10,260
And you’re just like, “Oh my God, it’s finally August.

356
00:39:10,260 –> 00:39:10,740
Tomatoes.

357
00:39:10,740 –> 00:39:11,540
Yes.”

358
00:39:11,540 –> 00:39:15,360
And then, like, forget the store-bought tomatoes in January, you know?

359
00:39:15,360 –> 00:39:24,528
Just wait until tomatoes are truly ready for you to ingest in, like, July and August, you know, and September.

360
00:39:26,114 –> 00:39:26,140
like

361
00:39:26,140 –> 00:39:31,422
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362
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366
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367
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368
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373
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376
00:40:53,580 –> 00:40:54,560
And I- and it’s interesting.

377
00:40:54,560 –> 00:41:23,100
I was- I was listening too, and I was thinking about, for a second, how also this- how deep this connection is, that even the moments that your body is supposed to rest in the sense of like the winter, like the fall going into the winter, right, and the- the letting go, we have all of those ve- all of those vegetables, for example, that actually hold, that are the kinds you like have them, so you’re not supposed to be working outside, you’re not supposed to be doing heavy labor.

378
00:41:23,100 –> 00:41:37,840
Your body is literally, because we are beings of nature, we have that same cyclical cycle, and it’s trying to, you know, tell us, “Hey, sh- slow down, rest, relax, plan, contemplate, reflection,” all these different pieces.

379
00:41:38,680 –> 00:41:49,770
I want to go back to something that you said that’s actually really going forward, which is something that caught my attention even when we first had our conversation, which is this fullest expression of food- Mm-hmm.

380
00:41:49,770 –> 00:42:05,120
because this was kind of, to be honest, one of the hook pieces in all of the things that we talked about for me, because it really felt, the way that you were describing it, that it was coming from a place of co-creation, where it’s like- Yeah.

381
00:42:05,120 –> 00:42:24,440
you know, that, and y- and- and again, you hear it, some- there are those chefs, um, that- that you can see that same thing, that like they look at something, and they sit, and they contemplate, and they’re like in connection with whatever this being that’s sitting on the counter is.

382
00:42:24,440 –> 00:42:26,540
And it’s like who do you want to be?

383
00:42:26,540 –> 00:42:26,780
Mm-hmm.

384
00:42:26,780 –> 00:42:29,520
Like who do you want to become?

385
00:42:29,520 –> 00:42:29,720
Yeah.

386
00:42:29,720 –> 00:42:44,420
And I feel that when you were talking about that, that fullest expression, which is like looking at- at whatever it is that’s in front of you, doesn’t matter what kind of being, animal/plant, and really saying, “Talk to me.

387
00:42:44,420 –> 00:42:52,160
Tell me, at a- at a deep level, what is the expression that I can put?”

388
00:42:52,160 –> 00:43:10,800
Like who do you want to be with, and how do you want to be prepared, so that, as you said, when you enter into the human being, you have an opportunity to really go in and express, not just in a taste that’s like- that’s like the covering, that’s the like, you know- Yeah.

389
00:43:10,800 –> 00:43:13,750
the thing that- to- to suck you- That’s the seduction.

390
00:43:13,750 –> 00:43:14,340
That’s the seduction, exactly.

391
00:43:14,340 –> 00:43:16,640
That’s the seduction to get you in.

392
00:43:16,640 –> 00:43:16,850
That’s the seduction.

393
00:43:16,850 –> 00:43:37,680
But so that when that finally gets ingested, and you hit those stomach acids, and you start to decompose into whatever relevant parts, you still have the integrity of being able to go off and go off to those person- that person’s cellular level and say, “Hey, you know that you have these capabilities?

394
00:43:37,680 –> 00:43:38,576
I’m here to remind you.

395
00:43:39,980 –> 00:43:43,840
I’m here to remind you that you have a lot more power than you know.

396
00:43:43,840 –> 00:43:46,900
So hey, cell, that little piece in there that you’ve been ignoring?

397
00:43:46,900 –> 00:43:47,720
Activate it up.

398
00:43:47,720 –> 00:43:48,180
Get it up.

399
00:43:48,180 –> 00:43:49,820
Get it ready, ’cause they need it.”

400
00:43:49,820 –> 00:43:56,030
They need it to be healthy, to be well, to be happy, to be whatever it is, to be, dot-dot-dot.

401
00:43:56,030 –> 00:43:59,400
And so I’d love to hear a little bit more about that process for you.

402
00:43:59,400 –> 00:44:08,480
What is that relationship that you have from, you know, being that is sitting in front of you to the comfortableness of, “I’m gonna chop you.

403
00:44:08,480 –> 00:44:11,329
I’m gonna, to a certain extent, kill you,”- Yeah.

404
00:44:11,329 –> 00:44:16,784
like but not really, because when we talk about vegetables in particular, when you eat them, most of the time, they’re still alive.

405
00:44:17,698 –> 00:44:17,779
Mm-hmm.

406
00:44:17,779 –> 00:44:24,560
And how am I going to go from like, “I know that you’re here because you want to be expressed.

407
00:44:24,560 –> 00:44:43,020
How do I feel what you want to be expressed to, and how- and- and- and how do I do it in a way that is really in integrity with what’s gonna happen in the body and that rea- Like how do I prepare you so that you can then interact with the- the person that eats you in the way that I’m interacting with you and the way you’re being prepared?”

408
00:44:43,020 –> 00:44:44,180
Hopefully that made sense.

409
00:44:44,180 –> 00:44:45,440
Yeah, no, it made perfect sense.

410
00:44:45,440 –> 00:44:46,288
I love that question.

411
00:44:48,460 –> 00:44:50,320
That’s a, and it’s a big question too.

412
00:44:50,320 –> 00:45:20,440
It’s really important, because it almost feels like we’re talking about a new paradigm in so far as like inviting in the intelligence of the food to work in your body in the- in- in its own intelligent way, to, um, for your own nourishment, your own benefit, your own healing, and your own vitality, and your own energy, and all of the different ways that- that- that, uh, plants

413
00:45:20,440 –> 00:45:24,080
work in our body, and animals as well, by the way, because we’re both on the same page.

414
00:45:24,080 –> 00:45:25,779.9999999995343
I’m a carnivore as well.

415
00:45:25,779.9999999995343 –> 00:45:34,140
And I think animals have as- just as much nourishment to provide us if we are eating it with integrity as plants do, but that’s a different- that’s a different answer.

416
00:45:34,140 –> 00:45:43,504
But I think the most important thing though that you said, and this is something that I would teach in- when I was a culinary instructor.

417
00:45:45,020 –> 00:45:54,512
Just because you can add a 1000000 you can- you can- just because you can add a million different things and make food as complicated as you want to, like that’s all mental.

418
00:45:55,680 –> 00:45:58,448
That- it does- just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

419
00:45:59,640 –> 00:46:01,584
And learning restraint

420
00:46:02,630 –> 00:46:20,254
is, like, in, in so far as a culinary instructor perspective, for in my opinion, that’s the hardest thing, is to teach a culinary student to pull back and to have restraint, uh, because you don’t need to do a whole bunch of things to it, because it’s already wants to be what it wants to be.

421
00:46:21,538.9999999995343 –> 00:46:26,060
And so, but what I also love that you hit on is, like, transcending

422
00:46:26,060 –> 00:46:32,890
For me, it’s about transcending the mental and descending into the intuitive working with it.

423
00:46:32,890 –> 00:46:36,620
And for me, it’s almost like a meditation that comes through.

424
00:46:36,620 –> 00:46:38,000
I don’t have any

425
00:46:38,580 –> 00:46:46,620
Like, I might say, like, let’s say we’re at the farmer’s market in Italy, and it’s, like, tomato season, and we’re both like, “Ah, tomatoes.”

426
00:46:46,620 –> 00:46:48,799
Like, “Yes, and we’re gonna do and we’re gonna buy tomatoes.”

427
00:46:48,799 –> 00:46:56,000
And, and I could have a million things in my mind, like, “Well, we could do that, or we could do that, and this would be so delicious, and that would be amazing, and there’s that basil.”

428
00:46:56,000 –> 00:46:59,792
And like, I could get all excited about a variety of different ways it goes.

429
00:47:00,820 –> 00:47:16,779.9999999995343
But at the end of the day, when I’m in front of the cutting board with the knife and the tomatoes and all of the ingredients, I take myself out of my mind, and I don’t allow my mental agenda of what I want

430
00:47:16,779.9999999995343 –> 00:47:23,359
I don’t want- allow my mind to take control of what it wants to be.

431
00:47:23,359 –> 00:47:38,128
Now, that’s kind of different in a restaurant in a way, but, like, in, that’s in where, like, you have, like, let’s say, the recipe creation process, where you’re recognizing that, that this is what this vegetable wants to be, and then you create a recipe around that, and then that gets replicated over the season.

432
00:47:38,799 –> 00:47:47,700
But as it relates to you and I in our kitchen, it’s not about the recipe book, and it’s just about

433
00:47:47,700 –> 00:47:56,538.9999999995343
And it’s about shutting down your mind, and, uh, and just being, like, in this zen space with your tomato.

434
00:47:56,538.9999999995343 –> 00:47:56,859
Yep.

435
00:47:56,859 –> 00:48:03,280
And smelling the basil and looking at your pine nuts, and being like, “Okay, and then there’s this,” and then you just start

436
00:48:04,000 –> 00:48:07,960
I- for me, that’s what I do, is I just start, I just start moving.

437
00:48:07,960 –> 00:48:12,900
I just sudden- I just slowly start, like, with the smallest things.

438
00:48:12,900 –> 00:48:16,976
I know I need to cut the tomato, and I know I’m gonna chop my garlic.

439
00:48:17,679 –> 00:48:20,944
And then I just slowly start letting

440
00:48:22,538.9999999995343 –> 00:48:23,824
It’s not mental at all.

441
00:48:24,500 –> 00:48:38,779.9999999995343
It’s, there’s not very much mental stuff to it, because I can start with a mental idea of something I want to make, and then by the time it gets in your mouth and it’s the food on the plate, it’s taken on its own, it’s taken on its own thing.

442
00:48:38,779.9999999995343 –> 00:48:39,380
And it might

443
00:48:39,380 –> 00:48:44,449
And people would say to me, even my kids, you know, would be like, “Mom, you never make the same thing twice,” you know?

444
00:48:44,449 –> 00:48:47,220.00000000046566
And it’s like, “Well, no, I don’t.”

445
00:48:47,220.00000000046566 –> 00:48:48,229.00000000046566
That’s how I am.

446
00:48:48,229.00000000046566 –> 00:48:50,640
Or they’ll be like, “Make that thing again,” and I’m like, “I don’t even know what I made.”

447
00:48:50,640 –> 00:48:56,880
Like, I couldn’t, I couldn’t make that again if I tried, because it’s a different time, it’s a different animal, it’s a different vegetable, so I don’t know.

448
00:48:56,880 –> 00:48:57,160
You know?

449
00:48:57,160 –> 00:48:59,300
It just, it just will be its own thing.

450
00:48:59,300 –> 00:49:15,339
Even if I want to make the same tomato dish over and over again, the tomato dish will always be different, because the tomatoes are different, and the thyme is different, and the garlic’s different, and my space is different, and, and my energy is different.

451
00:49:15,339 –> 00:49:16,560
Like, all of it’s different.

452
00:49:16,560 –> 00:49:18,416
So, it’s just like

453
00:49:19,900 –> 00:49:42,680
I think it’s about that relationship with the food, and recognizing that you don’t always have to be in control, and allowing other, other elements to actually blossom within you, even if you’re like, “Well, I don’t know how to cook,” or, “My knife is dull,” or, “I need a recipe,” or all of those kind of things.

454
00:49:42,680 –> 00:49:45,78.99999999953434
Or like, “I don’t have confidence,” or what

455
00:49:45,78.99999999953434 –> 00:49:52,040
All those stories, those mental stories we tell ourselves about why we can’t do whatever, or we’re not sure how to begin.

456
00:49:52,040 –> 00:49:53,296
You just begin.

457
00:49:54,599 –> 00:49:54,630
Absolutely.

458
00:49:54,630 –> 00:50:02,900
And then slowly, that confidence builds, and slowly you’re like, “Oh, my God, I made something delicious and I didn’t even try, and I don’t even know what I did.”

459
00:50:02,900 –> 00:50:04,020
Like, “Wow.”

460
00:50:04,020 –> 00:50:06,78.99999999953434
And then you get a little nervous, like, “We could never make it again.”

461
00:50:06,78.99999999953434 –> 00:50:09,200
Well, no, you probably will never make it again, and that’s good, you know?

462
00:50:09,200 –> 00:50:10,544
And like, it’s okay.

463
00:50:11,260 –> 00:50:20,640
Um, I don’t know, I just think it goes little by little, it goes by little degrees, and then suddenly, the relationship happens, and then you’re like, “Oh, oh, I get it.

464
00:50:20,640 –> 00:50:21,339
I get it.

465
00:50:21,339 –> 00:50:23,312
I get out of my own mental way.”

466
00:50:23,819 –> 00:50:25,940
It’s not about a mental construct.

467
00:50:25,940 –> 00:50:35,080
It’s about a being, and being with it, and just slowly, slowly, slowly just working with it, and working with it.

468
00:50:35,080 –> 00:50:35,632
And then

469
00:50:36,880 –> 00:50:41,620
and then that intelligence will just blossom, and it’ll take you where it wants to go.

470
00:50:41,620 –> 00:50:42,096
You know?

471
00:50:43,040 –> 00:50:46,500
I love so much- And how it’s all really our expression, right?

472
00:50:46,500 –> 00:50:52,720
Like, I’m just the- I’m not- I mean, I’m a good cook, but actually I’m a good listener, and I’m good at respecting.

473
00:50:53,540 –> 00:51:05,712
And so I’m very simple, but I think I listen and channel more than I cook, and I think that that’s just been a- an evolution in my process, so.

474
00:51:07,020 –> 00:51:11,280
I absolutely love it, because you’re also bringing to light things about myself.

475
00:51:11,280 –> 00:51:16,860
As I’m listening to you, I’m- it’s clicking, things about myself that I hadn’t realized.

476
00:51:16,860 –> 00:51:19,880
For example, I consider myself to be a good cook.

477
00:51:19,880 –> 00:51:25,080
I love cooking, and yet I very rarely cook for others nowadays.

478
00:51:25,080 –> 00:51:29,400
And, um, when I do have to cook for others, I’m very nervous about it.

479
00:51:29,400 –> 00:51:33,280
I have certain staples, like I make a mean Thanksgiving.

480
00:51:33,280 –> 00:51:40,540
I am like- People love coming to my Thanksgiving, which it’s funny, because the turkey is standard and the way that I’ve always cooked.

481
00:51:40,540 –> 00:51:45,780
And here especially I love it because I can actually meet the turkey, have a relationship with the turkey before-

482
00:51:45,780 –> 00:51:46,800
the turkey gets slaughtered.

483
00:51:46,800 –> 00:51:48,440
It’s a whole different thing.

484
00:51:48,440 –> 00:51:54,360
Um, and yet the rest of the meal is very similar to the process you were bringing in.

485
00:51:54,360 –> 00:52:05,008
But I realize now as I was listening to you that one of the challenges I have, besides the fact of having very eclectic taste in general, and here that’s about, uh, you know.

486
00:52:05,540 –> 00:52:15,760
But for example, I’m much more comfortable cooking in my house, like in my mother’s house when I go to visit her, for my mother and my brother, because of course we have cultural norms in- in- in common.

487
00:52:15,760 –> 00:52:40,500
But also, I think, as I’m listening to you and I’m realizing that I very much cook with that relationship in mind, and I feel now that most of the time, there are moments when of course you go mental, so much of the way I cook is also connected to how that- that particular piece that I’m starting with, like what, like- Piece, that’s not even the right word.

488
00:52:40,500 –> 00:52:44,120
That being that I’m starting with, whether I’m starting, like today I started with a leek.

489
00:52:44,120 –> 00:52:46,320
That was like my centerpiece.

490
00:52:46,320 –> 00:52:52,280
I had gone to the store yesterday, I- this leek specifically called to me.

491
00:52:52,280 –> 00:52:52,290
Yeah.

492
00:52:52,290 –> 00:52:59,200
And I brought the leek home, and I was looking at the leek today, and I was like, “Huh, I wonder”

493
00:52:59,200 –> 00:53:01,260
And, you know, I started to do exactly what you were saying.

494
00:53:01,260 –> 00:53:08,900
But what I’m also realizing is that when I do it that way, the end result in my body is very different also.

495
00:53:08,900 –> 00:53:21,960
And so I’m wondering now, and this is something I’m gonna explore in my own meditation, if part of my challenge also with cooking for people is that I also cook very much in response to how is this particular

496
00:53:21,960 –> 00:53:27,664
Like, I was- as I was pulling out the leek, I looked down and I had kale, which is very rare to find here.

497
00:53:28,418 –> 00:53:30,140
Cavolo neri as they call it.

498
00:53:30,140 –> 00:53:38,280
Like, kale and, um, sweet potatoes, and I’m on a sweet potato kick right now, which is really interesting, especially- Well, that’s another story.

499
00:53:38,280 –> 00:53:39,140
Not gonna go there.

500
00:53:39,140 –> 00:53:46,560
Um, but I was, like, looking at these 2, and- and I had bought them at different, you know, moments from the same grocer.

501
00:53:46,560 –> 00:53:51,888
Um, and I was looking at them going, “Huh, you 2 wanna be to- together tomorrow.

502
00:53:52,578 –> 00:53:55,480
I don’t know what the hell that means, but you 2 wanna be together.”

503
00:53:55,480 –> 00:54:04,260
And I’m realizing that when I listen like that, I feel now, based on what you were saying, that I’m triggering parts of the inside of my body too.

504
00:54:04,260 –> 00:54:10,160
So it’s like the circle gets completed not just in the creation, but in the ingestion.

505
00:54:10,160 –> 00:54:20,760
And in the ingestion, it’s almost like you said, that fullest expression of that being, of that particular, you know, vegetable or animal gets

506
00:54:20,760 –> 00:54:24,460
It’s like, “Oh, I- I- I died for a good cause,” right?

507
00:54:24,460 –> 00:54:28,510
Which is this nutrition that then is like a composting in and of itself.

508
00:54:28,510 –> 00:54:35,820
It gets composted in my body, and then my body releases that in a different way that then gets- you know, goes to other systems.

509
00:54:35,820 –> 00:54:43,200
And whether it’s energetically, or it gets, you know, composted in the things that I accomplish, or gets ingested in other ways.

510
00:54:43,200 –> 00:55:00,208
And so I’m starting, as I’m listening to you, I’m hearing this entire cycle of how fantastic it is, and how I’ve realized that I can cook for people that are in my immediate circle, like people who I feel really very connected to.

511
00:55:01,020 –> 00:55:06,500
I feel like I can e- more easily cook for them, and I’m realizing it’s because I’m also including them in the equation.

512
00:55:06,500 –> 00:55:14,400
I’m not just listening to, like, leek, or for tomorrow, kale and- and, um, and sweet potato.

513
00:55:14,400 –> 00:55:38,288
I’m listening to kale, sweet potato, and if I was inviting another friend over who’s a really close friend, or my partner, or something like that, I’m int- I’m including them, and that’s the reason why the creation is always different, because the creation is different, we’re all in different places, and I’m listening for that level that brings us all in harmony, because this is the final destination of harmony for all of

514
00:55:39,266 –> 00:55:40,240
Hopefully that made sense.

515
00:55:41,040 –> 00:55:41,960
Y- Oh my gosh.

516
00:55:41,960 –> 00:55:47,700
Well, I just- I just love, like, how powerful the things that we’re talking about are.

517
00:55:47,700 –> 00:55:50,440
This is really like my kind of conversation.

518
00:55:50,440 –> 00:55:51,440
But, um- Exactly.

519
00:55:52,020 –> 00:55:59,760
But what I love about what you’re saying, though, that really resonated with me, was, like, there’s this level of cooking in community.

520
00:55:59,760 –> 00:56:04,460
Like, if you’re with your mother and your brother, I’m assuming there’s a lot of comfort- Mm-hmm.

521
00:56:04,460 –> 00:56:09,671
and you don’t feel like you have to perform.You don’t feel like, “What if they don’t like my food?”

522
00:56:09,671 –> 00:56:12,512
There’s a lot of, like, familial comfort.

523
00:56:12,512 –> 00:56:17,092
So you can put aside any sort of mental, like, “Will they like it?

524
00:56:17,092 –> 00:56:17,912
Do I have enough food?

525
00:56:17,912 –> 00:56:19,692
Did I make enough potatoes?”

526
00:56:19,692 –> 00:56:29,712
Whatever might go through your mind when you’re cooking for, uh, like a guest, like a group of family, or a group of friends are coming over and you’re like performative.

527
00:56:29,712 –> 00:56:30,532
And- Right.

528
00:56:30,532 –> 00:56:34,052
then that performative thing when you are

529
00:56:34,052 –> 00:56:35,072
and you’re like, “I don’t know.

530
00:56:35,072 –> 00:56:35,732
This is not

531
00:56:35,732 –> 00:56:36,552
I have enough ingredients.

532
00:56:36,552 –> 00:56:37,452
No, no, no, no.”

533
00:56:37,452 –> 00:56:38,712
Then you get all in your head.

534
00:56:38,712 –> 00:56:43,152
But if it’s just you and your mom in your kitchen and your brother then yeah, it’s like, “Yeah!”

535
00:56:43,152 –> 00:56:44,812
And then it’s community.

536
00:56:44,812 –> 00:56:44,832
Yeah.

537
00:56:44,832 –> 00:56:50,632
And you’re talking, and you’re chopping, and you’re stirring, and you’re laughing, and you’re telling stories.

538
00:56:50,632 –> 00:56:54,892
And basically, you’ve taken the mental construct away.

539
00:56:54,892 –> 00:56:56,912.0000000004657
You are all in your heart.

540
00:56:57,986 –> 00:56:58,042
Yeah.

541
00:56:58,042 –> 00:56:58,952
And you- While

542
00:56:58,952 –> 00:57:01,471.99999999953434
I’m sorry, I’m gonna say, what, all the while- Yeah, go ahead.

543
00:57:01,471.99999999953434 –> 00:57:06,392
still being aware that they might have intolerances or problems of themselves.

544
00:57:06,392 –> 00:57:09,212
It’s almost like that becomes part of

545
00:57:09,212 –> 00:57:11,792
it just becomes embodied because I love them so much.

546
00:57:11,792 –> 00:57:14,312
I want them to feel healthy and good after.

547
00:57:14,312 –> 00:57:14,352
Totally.

548
00:57:14,352 –> 00:57:20,052
So it doesn’t bother me that, you know, my mother needs high protein, my brother has this thing.

549
00:57:20,052 –> 00:57:28,512
Like it’s normal because we’ve all gotten there not from a, like you said, mental space, but from a body space.

550
00:57:28,512 –> 00:57:30,971.9999999995343
And so therefore, I can coo-

551
00:57:30,971.9999999995343 –> 00:57:37,936
like it comes out of me and comes out of the, the beings that I’m working with of like, “No, no, no, let’s do the maximum expression where we all wanna feel good.”

552
00:57:38,632 –> 00:57:39,412
Yeah.

553
00:57:39,412 –> 00:57:49,552
Because what, like, w- what you were suggesting in so far as accommodating, you know, let’s say your mother and your brother and their various needs is like that’s an expression of love, right?

554
00:57:49,552 –> 00:57:50,320
Like- Absolutely.

555
00:57:51,312 –> 00:58:05,332
i- i- so you’re in a space in that kitchen environment where you’re creating with your family of, like, in your body, in love, in community, in reverence, and that all takes the center stage.

556
00:58:05,332 –> 00:58:10,416
And the vegetables and the food that you’re using feels that energy and vibration.

557
00:58:11,252 –> 00:58:14,692
So it, of course, is dancing and super excited.

558
00:58:14,692 –> 00:58:15,512
Yeah, exactly.

559
00:58:15,512 –> 00:58:16,491
It wants to participate.

560
00:58:16,491 –> 00:58:17,991
It wants to co-create with you.

561
00:58:17,991 –> 00:58:20,752
It wants to honor your intentions.

562
00:58:21,412 –> 00:58:26,814
And so t- like they’re putting on their best clothes to show up to the party in their best way.

563
00:58:27,512 –> 00:58:43,592
And, um, and that’s different maybe than when we take those same 3 ingredients but we’re gonna invite friends over that have never eaten our food before and you’re like, “I don’t know if that person likes the kale, and I don’t know if that person’s gonna really like the way I’m cooking the sweet potatoes.

564
00:58:43,592 –> 00:58:44,652
And I don’t know”

565
00:58:44,652 –> 00:58:47,572
You know, and then you can start get all mental about it again.

566
00:58:47,572 –> 00:59:02,332
And, and so I just think that there’s something really beautiful that you were using that, that I think that we forget is like that community, cooking in community, and what that

567
00:59:02,332 –> 00:59:03,536
and cooking with love.

568
00:59:04,192 –> 00:59:19,152
How just those 2 things alone helps us get into our body, into the moment, and helps us get away from any sort of like fear-based cooking that we would be in al- alternatively.

569
00:59:19,152 –> 00:59:19,792
You know?

570
00:59:19,792 –> 00:59:26,392
And, um, where it’s very overthought, and like, “I have to get the recipe out and then I have to like scale it up.

571
00:59:26,392 –> 00:59:27,892
Like it says, t- I’m gonna cook

572
00:59:27,892 –> 00:59:29,971.9999999995343
this serves 4 but now I wanna serve 8.”

573
00:59:29,971.9999999995343 –> 00:59:30,792
And like, “Err, err.”

574
00:59:30,792 –> 00:59:31,052
You know?

575
00:59:31,052 –> 00:59:32,112
It’s like very- Right.

576
00:59:32,112 –> 00:59:33,392
mechanical.

577
00:59:33,392 –> 00:59:42,692
And, um, and when you set all of that aside and you just get into your heart and into your love, then the food recognizes that vibration, right?

578
00:59:42,692 –> 00:59:48,208
And, and so it, it shows up with its best self in wanting to-

579
00:59:48,712 –> 00:59:51,408
and I don’t know, it wants to please and be

580
00:59:52,270.99999999953434 –> 00:59:55,392
it W- it wants to make everything, everybody happy .

581
00:59:55,392 –> 00:59:55,770.9999999995343
That’s what I mean.

582
00:59:55,770.9999999995343 –> 01:00:00,072
And this is why I think, I think that, that, you know, the

583
01:00:00,072 –> 01:00:09,692
I, I have the benefit and when I’m, when I’m home in Damanhur, that the market that I go to, to buy all my groceries is owned by a Damahuran.

584
01:00:09,692 –> 01:00:18,362
Her son is the person who raises the cows and who also like, um, grows a lot of the vegetables that she offers.

585
01:00:18,362 –> 01:00:22,872
And if not, they’re from like she knows who’s doing it, where they’re coming from.

586
01:00:22,872 –> 01:00:23,592
The eggs.

587
01:00:23,592 –> 01:00:29,721.9999999995343
I just recently tried eggs that were raised on, um, on hemp and ones- Cool.

588
01:00:33,020 –> 01:00:38,940
Uh, I can’t remember the other one right now, but it was, like, such a difference r- relationship and all these different pieces.

589
01:00:38,940 –> 01:00:54,400
So, I have that benefit, but also which is I think much harder is don’t f- we- we need to remember that our spices like all the things that are dried are also part of, you know, that world of the, they were beings that were alive and such.

590
01:00:54,400 –> 01:00:59,800
And so also their, how they’re treated is just as important as well.

591
01:00:59,800 –> 01:01:14,940
And I think this is why many of us, you know, like, I collect the rosemary and the sage and as much as possible so many of the different, um, uh, herbs that I use are herbs that are coming from the garden that are coming from the relationships around this area.

592
01:01:14,940 –> 01:01:27,980
I collect, you know, wild garlic when it grows and all these different pieces because I do think it’s important for us to remember that it’s- it’s an entire chain and we want as much, like, I enter into that relationship just as much when I open my spice cabinet.

593
01:01:27,980 –> 01:01:41,040
Yes, there are some spices that are harder to get in touch with because of however they were raised, but, you know, it’s all, it’s all a big complete system and how much we allow ourselves to enter into that relationship with that whole system.

594
01:01:42,180 –> 01:01:48,280
As, ’cause I- I’m, we’re gonna wrap up because if not, we’re gonna be here for like 3 hours and- and it’s probably, we’re gonna be laughing the entire time.

595
01:01:48,280 –> 01:01:50,010
But I think other people are gonna be like-

596
01:01:50,010 –> 01:01:51,800
“Wow, they’ve got a lot to say.”

597
01:01:51,800 –> 01:01:53,080
And it’s like, yes, we do.

598
01:01:53,080 –> 01:01:55,060
This is an important topic.

599
01:01:55,060 –> 01:02:01,520
So as we’re wrapping everything up, is there any, like, last minute, like last pieces that you feel are super important to share with everyone?

600
01:02:02,520 –> 01:02:15,728
Well, I think what I want to do is bring in and- and put an exclamation point on what you just said when you were talking about sp- herbs and spices because I think that we look at those today as something that we use to flavor food.

601
01:02:16,280 –> 01:02:16,609
Mm-hmm.

602
01:02:16,609 –> 01:02:19,472
And we forget that that used to be our apothecary.

603
01:02:20,260 –> 01:02:20,620
Mm-hmm.

604
01:02:20,620 –> 01:02:22,992
That that is the original medicine.

605
01:02:24,320 –> 01:02:34,100
And, um, and that long before there was pharmaceuticals, that was how we healed with fr- with herbs and with spices.

606
01:02:34,100 –> 01:02:56,240
And so yeah, of course you get nourishment from tomatoes and you get nourishment from animal protein, but, and eggs, but, um, but we forget that that is nature’s original medicine and that everything that grows and all of the intelligence of everything that grows is the intelligence of Mother Nature supporting our health every moment.

607
01:02:57,140 –> 01:03:09,232
In every single thing that surrounds us, Mother Nature is supporting our wellbeing, our vibrancy, our alignment, our wellbeing, and it wants us to thrive.

608
01:03:10,340 –> 01:03:26,672
And so Mother Nature provides everything that we need to thrive and survive and it’s just a matter of us believing it and honoring it and- and- and deciding to connect more deeply with that intelligence and that wisdom.

609
01:03:27,940 –> 01:03:36,740
I am so glad you said that ’cause I feel like that is so important and- and something that we have so separated from.

610
01:03:36,740 –> 01:03:42,100
And I am just thrilled, thrilled about this entire conversation.

611
01:03:42,100 –> 01:03:42,329
I know, me too.

612
01:03:42,329 –> 01:03:46,100
But to end on that note, it’s- it’s beautiful.

613
01:03:46,100 –> 01:03:46,120
Ah.

614
01:03:46,120 –> 01:03:46,920
Beautiful.

615
01:03:46,920 –> 01:03:49,160
Thank you so much, Christine.

616
01:03:49,160 –> 01:03:50,820
I am just so grateful.

617
01:03:50,820 –> 01:03:50,910
Oh, it’s such an honor.

618
01:03:50,910 –> 01:03:56,020
Oh my god, I’m so honored to talk about my favorite things.

619
01:03:56,020 –> 01:03:56,560
Yeah.

620
01:03:56,560 –> 01:04:00,380
And for all of you that are listening, like, where- where do they find you?

621
01:04:00,380 –> 01:04:02,020
I forgot to ask that ’cause I want to make sure.

622
01:04:02,020 –> 01:04:04,560
We’re gonna put it into the show notes, but I want you to be able to express it.

623
01:04:04,560 –> 01:04:10,190
Where do people find you especially for the holistic transformation guide that you are and the work you do with women?

624
01:04:10,190 –> 01:04:10,220
Sure, thank you.

625
01:04:10,220 –> 01:04:11,680
Please, where?

626
01:04:11,680 –> 01:04:12,990
Thank you for asking me.

627
01:04:12,990 –> 01:04:14,320
Uh, so 2 ways.

628
01:04:14,320 –> 01:04:24,400
Um, you can explore my work and my views on healing and the natural world, I have a Substack and so that’s christinerook@substack.com, right?

629
01:04:24,400 –> 01:04:27,280
And then, and it’s called, that publication is called The Fresh Life.

630
01:04:27,960 –> 01:04:55,360
And then I have my website, christinerook.com, where I, um, that’s really about my work as a holistic transformation guide, but that’s really about teaching women to believe so deeply in themselves and their own ability to heal and that we were born to heal and we were born to be in our own vitality and live in the fullness of life and that nature wants us to.

631
01:04:55,360 –> 01:05:06,920
And so it’s a journey into believing that and to see that when you start to do that, then your body will naturally heal naturally on its own and- and it starts with believing it.

632
01:05:06,920 –> 01:05:14,928
So, uh, and so, and- and wanting more for yourself than what society believe, is telling you that you can have.

633
01:05:15,690 –> 01:05:18,680
And so anyway, that’s my work, it’s my passion.

634
01:05:18,680 –> 01:05:21,520
And so yeah, find me on my website or my Substack.

635
01:05:22,500 –> 01:05:26,020
And we will of course include all of that in the show notes.

636
01:05:26,020 –> 01:05:32,600
So go check out the description, click, go check out Christine’s work ’cause that’s, you know, this is exactly what we need in the world.

637
01:05:32,600 –> 01:05:40,390
We need more people that are helping us explore these avenues to really recognize who we are as complete beings of nature.

638
01:05:40,390 –> 01:05:40,420
Yeah.

639
01:05:40,420 –> 01:05:44,430
And I’m just, you know, so happy that we had a chance to talk about this.

640
01:05:44,430 –> 01:05:58,940
And for all of you that are listening, of course in addition to going and checking out Christine’s work, if you want more of this, like, subscribe, you know, hit the follow, all those important things no matter what platform that you on because we, that’s the way we spread the word.

641
01:05:58,940 –> 01:06:09,760
That’s the way that we get this out here to a wider audience so that more and more people can find their own health and their own wellness within the natural world and as beings of nature.

642
01:06:09,760 –> 01:06:19,680
And if you want to continue these conversations or you want to work, you know, more one-on-one on what’s going on in your life, you can enter into The Naturally Conscious community or just contact me directly.

643
01:06:19,680 –> 01:06:30,960
I am happy to talk more with you on how it is that you can create a life that is like a living ecosystem of health and wellness and of, you know, all this goodness that we’ve just talked about.

644
01:06:30,960 –> 01:06:36,048
So with that, remember to resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance.

645
01:06:37,260 –> 01:06:37,936
Bye.

646
01:06:38,680 –> 01:06:42,000
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Reconnect With Plant Wisdom.

647
01:06:42,500 –> 01:06:52,880
To continue these conversations, join us in The Naturally Conscious community, your premier online ecosystem for plant reawakening and accelerated evolution and co-creation with otherkin.

648
01:06:53,480 –> 01:07:02,896
Here you’ll find expansive discussions, interactive courses, live events, and supportive group programs like the Plant Wisdom Book Club and the Sprouts Writing and Creativity Group.

649
01:07:03,520 –> 01:07:08,800
Connect with like-minded individuals collaborating with plants to integrate these insights into life.

650
01:07:08,800 –> 01:07:13,920
Intro and outro music by Steve Sciulli and Poinsettia from The Singing Life of Plants.

651
01:07:13,920 –> 01:07:17,500
That’s it for me, Tigrilla Gardena and my plant collaborators.

652
01:07:17,500 –> 01:07:22,300
Until next time, remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance.

653
01:07:22,300 –> 01:07:22,980
I’m out.

654
01:07:22,980 –> 01:07:23,582
Bye.