Healthy eating has long been a hot topic. For those of us who care about our own health, and that of our families, we are constantly in a state of chasing the right lifestyle diet or superfood. The problem is, the rules keep changing. Sometimes it feels like we are sheep being herded from one fad to another. Remember when kale and cauliflower crust were all the rage? These days, it’s all about dragon fruit, or is it celery juice? It’s just plain tricky navigating all the information floating out on the web. For instance, I read that watermelon is a great detoxifier, but I also know it causes digestive upset for some. So when that happens, does it mean it’s working, or that I shouldn’t eat it?
The truth is, just because a diet, food or supplement is touted as healthy, it doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Every body is different. So if your friend lost weight and felt great eating a certain way (for example, eating a Paleo diet) and you tried eating that same way and didn’t experience the same benefits, there is a reason for that. We are discovering that the secret to good health is very individual.
Traditionally, finding out if a food, supplement or vitamin was bad for you involved allergy testing. Now, new advances allow functional medicine practitioners to use your DNA to see which foods are incompatible with your system. The problem - allergy testing and DNA analysis can be expensive. But I have a secret that will help you know the right foods for your body, and it’s incredibly easy to do, and free!
I was listening to an audible book by Donna Eden, titled “Energy Medicine: Balancing Your Body's Energies for Optimal Health, Joy, and Vitality” that discusses energy testing – that peaked my curiosity about one the techniques in the book. According to Eden, if the energy of a food, vitamin, supplement or herb doesn’t match your body’s energy, then you will not absorb or metabolize it. In other words, a food is toxic to you if it vibrationally triggers your immune system to take a defensive reaction. On the flip side, you can also energy test to detect what your body needs and loves. The science of kinesiology, the study of muscle and movement, utilizes this same principle, which they call “muscle testing.”
While the book describes how to do this with a partner, she developed two methods to use on your own to test your food, supplements, even other items like herbs and skin care products.
Weight Method
Find a weight (you can use a jug filled with water) that you can lift if you hold it straight out in front of you. Now do a little test: hold it out in front of you while thinking a comforting thought - it should be easy to lift; then see if it’s much harder (or impossible) to lift when you hold a depressing thought. Next find something that is the height of your shoulder, such as a dresser or someone’s shoulder who is of similar height to you. Put your arm with the weight out in front you and rest it on that dresser or shoulder. To test an item, hold it in your empty hand and try to lift the dumbbell with the other hand. If you can lift the weight, the item is a positive vibrational match; if you are unable to lift the weight and your arm feels weak, your body is responding negatively to that item. The key to this method is to find a weight that isn’t too light or too heavy when do to the comforting and depressing thought test.
Pendulum Method
This method uses your body like a pendulum. While standing, hold an item to be tested evenly in both hands and place your hands at the level of your belly button. Bring your elbows in so the sides of your arms touch the sides of your body. Next, bring your feet together and face straight ahead. Now take a deep breath to get still and centered, releasing your breath and all thoughts. After a few moments, you will feel your body swaying forward or backward, just like a pendulum. Sometimes it is a subtle shift, while for others it can be more dramatic. If you find yourself falling forward, that indicates the item you are holding is in harmony with your body, because it is magnetically pulling you toward the item. If you find yourself falling backward, away from the item you are testing, then it is in disharmony (i.e. it is repelling you).
When I was listening to the book, I was on my way to my Dad’s house. I was excited to experiment on these methods, my dad got volunteered to be my guinea pig. We chose the weight method since he had some light weights around his house. I had him hold some almonds in one hand and a weight in the other hand with his arm straight out, resting on my shoulder. I had him take a breath and lift the weight. He could easily lift the weight into the air. Almonds were ok. Next, we tried an expensive supplement he was taking, and he could only lift the weight an inch, with difficulty. He described the experience as feeling like a blockage in his wrists that was preventing him from raising his arm. We were dumbfounded that it really worked. So we kept going, testing a variety of things, others of which tested negatively, too. We wondered if these items really could be toxic, so to double check, I asked my dad to retest the supplement, for example, under different conditions, like on an empty stomach or at different times of day.
Like a drug commercial, now is the time to include a disclaimer from the book. First, energy testing can be misleading if your adrenals are exhausted. Sugar and caffeine will often test positively, in this case, because the body needs that burst of energy they can supply. So if that chocolate cake keeps testing as a vibrational match, don’t be lulled into thinking it’s good for you. Sorry about that! Second, regardless of which testing method you choose, if an item tested shows it to be in disharmony, it could mean several things:
The item is not good for you right now
The item is never good for you
You are allergic to the item
It’s not the item itself, but some kind of filler ingredient that is not good for you
If you’ve ever wondered if a food, vitamin, supplement, herb or product was doing your body good, consider using your own energy to determine if it is a vibrational match. You can even do it in the store, before you buy it. As energy testing is unbelievably easy, and cheap, I would encourage you to experiment.