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We all want to live healthier and become more fit, yet where do we really start? Exercise is one thing, but there’s something we don’t even need to add to our daily routine: eating. All we must do is shift from mindless to mindful eating of the right kind of food.

Som Tum Thai

Mindful eating is all about knowing your body and how it reacts to food, according to personal growth and integrative health consultant Lia Sevilla-Bernardo, who’s also a healer. I attended her talk about mindful eating and a healthy kitchen workshop at the Mango Tree restaurant in Bonifacio High Street Central, and I’ll share some of the things I learned in this post, so we can all benefit from it.

Unhealthy food currently makes up 50-70% of the average person’s diet, but with proper discipline and intake, we would never have to go on fad diets again—even during summer. You don’t have to stop eating—and deprive yourself—to be healthy; it’s all about finding a balance.

The insightful workshop tackled how to incorporate local super food into one’s diet so that eating healthy doesn’t have to be challenging and expensive—not to mention time-consuming. It also covered the advantages of using certain vegetables, fruits, and herbs for one’s healing and total wellness. Here are some mindful eating tips and trivia to keep in mind not just this summer, but everyday for the rest of your life:

Phad Pak Bung Fai Daeng

1. Stay away from salty food (like chips) and sugar—especially processed sugar—as they are the most toxic things you can put in your body (huhu). They are designed in labs to make you crave them!

2. You are what you eat, basically. Everything IS energy, and like all the choices you make, what you choose to eat reflects how you feel and react. Food has aura (energy): Organic food has different (stronger) energy from fertilized food, and most especially from cooked stuff (much less). Get your nutrition from REAL food. Even multivitamins are processed!

3. Nurture the body with food that heals and makes you happy, and makes the mind more active and productive. In choosing wisely what food to eat, here’s a color guide to the benefits of fruits and vegetables, depending on their natural color:

• Purple is for longevity.
• Red is for heart health, blood flow, and muscular benefits.
• Green nourishes the heart (i.e. cilantro is cooling and makes you feel happy).
• Yellow is for your liver, kidneys, the solar plexus.
• Orange is for cancer prevention.
• White is for immune support.

Tago

4. Do you stress eat? Remember that when you eat emotionally, it suggests a lack of self-love.

5. Put cucumber or lemon in your water to instantly turn it into alkaline water that you can drink all day.

6. Lemongrass soothes hot flushes.

7. Asian food, especially Thai food, are very healthy. They are made of ingredients that enhance the natural processes of the body, nourish cells, and make the body thrive. A known side effect? Radiant skin all over your body—but who wouldn’t want that?

Kai Jiew Hom

Some colorful and appetizing Thai dishes you might consider trying are Som Tum Thai, spicy fresh green papaya salad with cherry tomatoes, snake beans, peanuts, and dried shrimps; Yum Ma Khua Phao Song Goong, grilled eggplant salad with shrimp; Phad Pak Bung Fai Daeng or stir-fried morning glory with garlic, fresh chilies, and soy bean sauce; and Kai Jiew Hom or Thai omelette, among others. All of these you can order at Mango Tree restaurant.

Mango Tree is open from 11AM to 3PM and 5:30PM to 11:30PM daily. It is located at 7th Ave. Bonifacio High Street Central, Bonifacio Global City. For reservations, you may call 02-6213233.

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