By Carol Harris-Fike, NCOC, PCC and author of "5 Life Energies: The Choice You Have in How Energy Shapes Your Life" ©2009.

What do you do when you get a diagnosis of food insensitivities and your diet has to be changed in a big way? The most important and difficult change was giving up wheat and many other grains. I look for challenges, so here it came.

Two hours in the health food store reading all the labels led me to understand that cooking fresh foods was the best way to stay clear of most of the "no" list of foods. When I read the list and other information I realized that part of my insensitivities had developed from some of the same foods every day. Thinking I was eating healthy foods, I had been adding blueberries to my morning protein shake, spinach was added to my scrambled eggs and the same nuts were in my handful snack every afternoon. Wrong... eating these same foods every day actually created my insensitivity. My nutritionist says I should be able to slowing add some of them back into my diet in about six months and then only on a four day rotation diet (eat each one only on every 4th day). But the biggest challenge is ensuring that I don't consume wheat, rye, bran, and so forth.

Since I coach my clients around shifting the flow of their life energy to better serve themselves and those around them, I thought it might serve me well to play with each flow of my life energy and see how each one would serve me in making this huge adjustment. So here goes...

Center Energy: Bringing my energy to a centered place leads me to a mood of acceptance of what is and that all that is, is just as it should be at this moment. Let me go there... oooohhhhhhmmmmm. Yes, I can accept that this change in my diet is what it needs to be. I trust my nutritionist and he assures me that this will support my body's ability to eliminate toxins that are allowing inflammation to build and cause long-lasting infections. Just being in acceptance around this supports my desire to be observant of what I eat.

Earth Energy: Grounding my energy by letting it connect me to a place deep in the earth where I can then draw more energy back into my body supports me in increasing the energy I desire for healing as well as for the extra time for meal preparation. Earth Energy also connects me a place of knowing... knowing my truth about how I wish to care for the body I have been given. It takes me to my wisdom around how to be in this world.

Fire Energy: Shifting my energy to a forward and up flow moves me into action. It supports me in focusing on the goal of optimizing my health. It allows me to make choices for my meals and to plan ahead to have the ingredients needed on hand.

Water Energy: Allowing my energy to "go with the flow" of these changes is supported by shifting the direction of my life energy to back and down. I can more easily accept what my nutritionist has told me and accept the information in the books and articles I'm reading as I learn more about what is happening because of the American diet. My body is served by my acceptance of what has happened and the advice I'm receiving.

Air Energy: When my life energy flows up and back I move into a mood of curiosity, even wonder. It allows me to say, "I wonder what changes will occur in my body if I follow these eating guidelines?" "I wonder if I can locate some new recipes that I will love?" "I wonder how I will feel after a few months of these changes?" When I move into curiosity, I'm allowing new thoughts to be considered and I'm allowing my emotions to shift to ones that better support my intentions.

As I wrote the five paragraphs about the life energies, I shifted my flow into the direction of each one. Each distinct flow supported a shift in my thoughts and my emotions as expressed in each paragraph. In my book: 5 Life Energies: The Choice You Have in How Energy Shapes Your Life, © 2009, I provide an explanation of the scientific research on how our life energy flow shapes our thoughts, emotions, and even the way we hold our bodies. I provide practices and stories from my clients and my life to support understanding of how this works. Shifting our flow supports us... or not, in how we connect with everyone and everything that happens in our life.

Author's Bio: 

Carol Harris-Fike, ACC, NCOC
CHF Coaching and Consulting, LLC

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Carol Harris-Fike is an ICF credentialed coach serving individuals and organizations across the United States. Harris-Fike completed ontological coaching courses with Newfield Network and earned her NCC and NCOC (Newfield Certified Ontological Coach) certifications from Newfield. Carol’s thirty years’ experience in public education as a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent enriches her work. Her study and practices with energy, including Reiki, Tai Chi, and Chi Gong support her work. She has degrees from Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Austin. Areas of expertise include an understanding of the latest scientific research in the connections between the brain/body and how our view of the world affects how we think, feel, and move. She has designed a method for learning to shift the energy that flows within us to shift our moods, emotions, and language. She understands how this view affects the choices we make and the results we receive. Carol’s book: 5 Life Energies: The Choice You Have in How Energy Shapes Your Life was published in fall, 2009. JICT Images: Journey with Intuition & Creativity for Transformation, a set of 72 evocative photos with questions for contemplation plus a manual will be published, spring 2010. Carol and three ontological coaching colleagues created this project. She lives in Western Colorado with her husband, Rich. Learn more about Carol on her website: www.YourLifeFromHere.com.

Learn more about my book: 5 Life Energies: The Choice You Have in How Energy Shapes Your Life©2009, www.5lifeenergies.com

Learn more about JICT Images: Journey with Intuition & Creativity to Transformation ©2010, www.JICTimages.com