How to cook intuitively using healing ingredients that harmonize your body and mind. “Cooking & Eating Wisdom for Better Health” (Balboa press) empowers people with the tools of how to cook intuitively using healing ingredients that harmonise your body and mind.
In turn cooking and eating will become a time to celebrate, a joyful experience, a time to deeply connect with yourself, a time to awaken to new experiences and to heal.
I encourage people to explore and rediscover how to use nature for personal health instead of solely relying on medicine and pharmacies.
Some Of The Wisdom From Ancient Greece On Cooking & Eating Include:
-The Most Important Ingredient is Agapi
“Only food cooked with good energy and agapi can truly nourish and heal our bodies and souls. The presence of the heart over the presence of the mind is necessary when cooking from a place of joy.
If you put love in your cooking you will give love to yourselves and others. Love conquers all”. — Maria Benardis
The Greek word for love is agapi, which is a deep sense of true love, with no expectations.
Agapi is a joyous, harmonious state of mind, free of chaos. Whenever I ask my friends whose cooking they like the most, their mum’s cooking comes up most of the time.
Mum’s cooking will always be the best because a mother loves her children unconditionally and therefore everything they cook and touch is made with bountiful pots of love and good energy. Always cook with love and good energy and have fun.
– Spiritually Connect With Your Senses When Cooking
Cooking is not about measurements and precision, it’s about connecting to the ingredients and yourself. Your senses become your measuring tool and your soul becomes your guidance system. — Maria Benardis
In Greek culture cooks are guided by their senses when measuring and determining what to cook.
The five senses of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste may be our primary receptors, but there is a sixth sense — the soul’s inner voice, which allows us to ‘know thyself’.
When cooking do not merely allow the recipes and its measurements to dictate the ingredients and quantities you want to include. These measurements are just a suggestion and serve as a guide only.
They are true measurements for the writer but not necessarily the truth for you. Adapt them to your preferences and to what suits your harmonious balance. This is one of the reasons why you will not find precise measurements in any ancient Greek recipes.
However, when you are measuring ingredients according to your taste, follow the ancient Greeks and use circular utensils, as they contain infinite possibilities and infinite energy.
– Adopt the Use of Wholesome Ingredients & Make Conscious Choices
“Realize that your body is the garment of your soul and then you will preserve it pure. As he who wishes the best fruit must pay attention to the land, so must the greatest attention be paid to the soul if it is to produce fruits worthy of its nature”.— Pythagoras
When cooking use ingredients that come from a place of “agapi” that source local, certified organic and sustainable produce that is in season. Eating these types of ingredients is not only kind to you but also the environment and the animal.
Opt to use good oils for your dishes. Some good sources of oils include extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, walnut oil, and coconut oil.
Avoid eating establishments that use vegetable oils, canola oil/corn oil/cotton seed oil (these usually genetically modified oils), peanut oil, hydrogenated oil and palm oil.
Opt to not use ingredients riddled with chemicals and pesticides or that are genetically modified. These ingredients are contributing to the creation of many illnesses.
The kind of energy emitted by chemicals and pesticides lowers or diminishes our spiritual energy and our ability to connect with ourselves.
Our bodies can only remove so many chemicals out of our system; the rest accumulate in the body’s tissues and organs and affect they way they function.
Chemicals, GMO and pesticides interfere with the energy flow and DNA of the living organism. They alter the harmonious balance of the food and when consumed alter our inner balance and make us ill, both physically and emotionally.
– Listen To Your Inner Voice
“When looking for answers, tune into your own inner voice and tune out all other external chatter. You must quiet the mind and be still”. — Maria Benardis
When you know yourself better and you have a relationship with a harmonious and peaceful relationship with yourself then you can better connect with nature, food and the spiritual ritual of cooking.
When you cook with your spiritual self you are divinely guided by the universe: your energy moves with a constant flow and you will heal your body by finding the ideas and answers to your own health and wellbeing.
When you know yourself you gain your own voice and authenticity. The universe itself will act to move you towards what you want. All you have to do is let go while acting on your aspirations.
Let go of fear, doubt, worry, disappointment or any other negative emotion that might make you feel low.
– Everything in Moderation & In Harmony. Simplicity Is The Key
“When combining ingredients or when seasoning a dish always exercise moderation and balance. Let each ingredient speak for itself. To do otherwise confuses the flavours and interrupts harmony.
Too much of one ingredient can overpower the others so that you are not able to differentiate the flavours in the recipe. The dish will lose its relevance”. — Maria Benardis
When adopting a healthy approach to your cooking, always season and add ingredients in moderation. Allow each ingredient to speak for itself, to tell its story and to shine. Let each ingredient be its own bright shining star.
Observing this wisdom will ensure balance and harmony in the dish and balance and harmony in our bodies and soul when we eat. The dish will always taste better.
Good quality cuisine should be simply cooked with balance and harmony. When following this philosophy the ingredients are respected and are allowed to sing in a dish.
There should be no complicated cooking techniques, no heavy sauces, and no fancy decorations. The main focus is on the food and its flavour. Plato believed that food should have simple flavours and wrote that ‘even sweets should sing with their simplicity’.
As the ancient Greeks would say heavy sauces are usually used as a way to disguise a bad ingredient or a bad chef/cook. Although the food is simply cooked to respect the ingredient, it does not in any way mean that the flavour or texture is compromised.
– Have Faith & Gratitude
“You can achieve anything if you have belief, faith and gratitude”. — Maria Benardis
Any experience and time spent in the kitchen will not be a fruitful unless we have faith in what we cook. We need to trust, let go and allow the process of life to take over.
When all our dishes turn out the way we want them to and our meals are a huge success, it is important to give thanks and show gratitude.
Faith is having confidence and trusting and believing that you can do anything you set your mind to. You can cook anything your heart desires if you have faith that you can.
You have to trust your inner voice enough to let it guide you. By letting go of your fears and worries and any controlling habits, cooking will become a joyful, relaxed and peaceful experience.
Positive affirmations were also importnat in ancient Greece. They were used by the ancient Greeks to look at the world and life from a positive frame of mind and to promote healing within and these help one cook from a spiritual and connected state.
I hope that everyone takes away some of the awakening words and wisdoms in the book that will empower them to cook with “agapi” and eat for health and longevity.
The ancient Greeks had an emphasis on cooking spiritually rather than stressfully. When you cook this way you will better connect with yourself and awaken to your new inner potential and self healing.
Healthy eating and a healthy mind were the two key components practiced by the ancient Greeks to ensure healthy living and longevity – “Let medicine be thy food and food thy medicine”.
“The natural force within each of us is the greatest healer of disease” Hippocrates. Many people during these times lived up to the age of 200 years old a rare occurrence now days.
We all have the potential to live long and healthy lives and “Cooking & Eating Wisdom for Better Health” will provide you with all the know-how you need.
You can find much more information on living a holistic lifestyle in these free magazines and on our YouTube channel.
Maria Benardis – Author, Health Coach and Founder, Greekalicious Cooking School. ©2013 Maria Benardis. All Rights Reserved.
