Oct 14, 2021
Food is medicine and food is energy. The energy you bring to your food matters almost as much as the physical ingredients you combine in the recipe. Chef Serena Poon talks about how to bring love and positivity to your culinary creations and a simple technique to shift your energy state, practice gratitude, and show up as the most empowered version of yourself.
- [1:00] Serena’s journey started with her parents, who both contracted cancer when they were in their 40’s. Her father was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer and after he died, her mother was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer. The passion that drives Serena is rooted in that experience and what led to her learning about holistic nutrition.
- [3:30] The kitchen is the heart of the house. Serena went on to school to study food as medicine and to help people understand its power in their life.
- [4:45] Because her mother’s cancer was so aggressive and she had lost so much weight during the ordeal with her father, they discovered the tumor during an exam. It highlighted what stress can do to our bodies, but Serena’s mom was lucky that they were able to diagnose her early and operate on her.
- [6:40] Since Serena didn’t have the same level of awareness that she does now, she had to have damaged tissue of her own operated on, and from that operation, she developed a deadly staph infection. That became her journey for the next eight years. It was during that journey that she discovered the power of energy and healing work.
- [8:30] Serena started working with an energy healer who helped her understand and release the energy she was holding within her body. Serena began experimenting with eating certain foods to complement the work she was doing with her energy healing.
- [11:40] What she learned became part of Serena’s practice as a chef and is where the idea of food alchemy came from. She decided to study reiki as well and use that learning to understand energy flow and how to amplify what people can do when it’s combined with food as medicine.
- [13:50] Reiki is an energy assessment and healing practice. Dr. Anna had her own healing journey and during her period of exploration after losing her son, she connected with a Reiki master who managed her practice and helped open her eyes to what was possible.
- [17:45] Reiki can enhance and elevate what you are already doing. Nutrition and using food as medicine can function in much the same way.
- [19:20] If you’re making a recipe that was handed down to you by your grandmother but it doesn’t taste quite the same, it’s because it was being prepared by her unique love and energy that she brought to the effort.
- [20:35] Serena starts her gratitude practice at the beginning of the day. Pick one thing or person that you love, focus your love and attention on how it makes you feel until you have an almost physiological response to that thought. Now that you know how that feels, take that energy into the kitchen and with intention send that energy into the food that you’re making.
- [23:05] This shifts your body from a sympathetic state to a parasympathetic state. Whatever you put into your body will be received differently as well.
- [24:20] You have opportunities each day to practice this technique and sit for a moment to connect with the energy of gratitude. If you can do that it will change your life.
- [25:00] Serena tells the story of a client in the entertainment industry that worked themselves to the point of being quite ill. Serena made some changes to their diet, but the main progress came from introducing meditation and sitting with a feeling of love and gratitude in an intentional way.
- [28:30] Dr. Anna’s experience with her mother and her natural intuition is what made her realize that we are more than just what we see. We are energetic beings and we are in control of how we feel.
- [29:15] When you’re stressed, you’re in a negative energy spiral. All the little triggers of gratitude and thoughtfulness are how you can escape the spiral.
- [30:45] We are powerful beings, we just forget our power. We are obsessed with our devices and technology and forget that our bodies are some of the most powerful and complex machines on the planet.
- [32:15] Affirmations and mantras are another extremely easy way to practice gratitude. When you are brushing your teeth or taking your morning shower, instead of thinking about all the things you need to do that day, think empowering thoughts. That’s how you start your day from a place of power and love. You don’t need to go searching for that energy, you just need to reconnect with the source.
- [34:50] Bad things happen to us, we can’t dismiss that. But we can shift our energy towards love so we can be fully in our purpose and connected. Every step in our lives has contributed to who we are.
- [37:30] When you are in a painful situation, it can be easy to ask why and focus on the negative. Serena believes that every part of our journey is meant for us, and is an opportunity to learn and then to teach.
- [39:30] Not everything is good, but you can create a reason from your experience that can serve the good. Living is giving.
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