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You may have a passion for playing the piano or ending world hunger or writing a book, but your body’s passion is simply balance. If your body is cold, it shivers to warm itself up. If it’s hot, it perspires to cool itself off. If it’s too acid, it calls on backup systems to neutralize that acid with the opposite – alkaline. And, likewise, if it’s too alkaline, your intelligent body incites internal activity that produces acid. Balance is good. Balance is your body’s passion because it keeps it running smoothly.

But there are things that you do and choices you make everyday that threaten the balance your body loves. One of these choices involves what you eat every day. Of course you already know it matters what you put into your body. If you put in processed foods, saturated fats – “junk foods” – well, a host of chemicals and systems go out of balance. But did you know that there are such things as “contractive” and “expansive” foods, which you put into your body every time you eat, that can stress your body and threaten to upset its precious balance?     

“Contractive,” as it relates to foods, refers to a drawing in, squeezing, or limiting effect the foods have on the body. We’re not talking about reducing body size here. We’re talking about an internal tightening or restricting – just an overall up-tightness. “Expansive” relates to opening out, blossoming, or inflating. Again, not body size – it’s an internal effect. Both expansive and contractive foods, when out of balance, can put stress on your body.

In general, acidifying foods such as meat and dairy are contractive. They lead to an up-tight attitude. Similarly, in general, alkalizing foods – fruits and vegetables – are expansive foods that promote a loose, laid-back, possibly “spacey” outlook. Indeed, there are a few foods, which are neither highly expansive nor highly contractive. Those foods are considered close to “neutral,” and they put the least amount of stress on the body because there is not so much of a balancing act needed. 

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the most neutral of all foods is nature’s absolute best get-this-small-person-off-to-a-good-start food – mother’s milk. But mother’s milk is a short-term food for infants. So, as we said, for toddlers through adults, the foods that put the least stress on the body are those closest to neutral. Foods just to the contractive side of neutral are grains, nuts, seeds, and beans. Least-stress foods to the expansive side of neutral are most vegetables.

As we said, fruits and vegetables are slightly expansive. Increasingly expansive are fruit juice, tea, coffee, chocolate, syrups (honey and molasses), sugar, wine, beer, liquor, and the most expansive of all, prescription, over-the-counter, and recreational (usually illegal) drugs.

And, on the contractive side, we said are grains, nuts, seeds, and beans. Increasingly contractive are butter, chicken, fish, eggs, fowl, red meat, and the top “contractor”, salt. 

Your body’s passion is balance, and it will achieve that level of balance, even if the foods you eat are either mostly contractive or mostly expansive. Those balancing results may show up in your personality. A predominantly contractive personality expresses itself in various forms of quick temper, explosiveness, or aggression. If not outright physical aggression, it may be masked as constant nervousness, physical over-activity, or verbal over-activity. Contractive personalities are always busy, always over scheduled, often flying off the handle. These are the “foot tappers”. 

A predominantly expansive personality is casual, laid-back, unable to concentrate, not “grounded,” and minimally motivated. Despite their laid-backness, expansive personality people tend to be worriers. They don’t fidget. Some overzealous vegetarians can become so expansive they appear to be on “cloud nine” – barely in touch with reality.

Drugs, alcohol, chocolate, coffee, tea, and fruit juices are big favorites of the expansives. The most expansive substances we can put into our bodies are drugs. But items that appear lower on the expansive list can have “drug-like” effects and also leave their mark on the personality.

We typically don’t limit our diets exclusively to only contractive or only expansive foods.  Most meals contain some of both. Consequently, most of us don’t exhibit the dramatic personality types of extreme aggression or extreme “spaciness”. We’re more likely to be moderate in our contractive or expansive personality displays. We may be moderately aggressive – impatient, bossy, negative, overly critical of others, generally at odds with the world, but able to function well enough. Or we may be moderately spacey – disorganized, easily distracted, have trouble following a project through to completion, worry a lot, generally have an outwardly easy-going outlook, but grounded enough to do those things that ought to be done.

Highly contractive or highly expansive foods mean a highly stressed body. I’m not telling you that vegetables and nuts are the answer to all of life’s problems. However, giving your body vegetables is essential to providing it with the nutrients it needs to keep your internal environment a neat place for your cells to live. And, you need to balance that intake with slightly contractive selections to allow your body balance and thus the least amount of stress. 

Your body is best geared to handle vegetables and fruits. And, even if they aren’t your favorite foods now, they will climb on your “gee that’s pretty good” list when your body finds out what it has been missing – when your body is able to realize its passion – the balance between contractive and expansive.

 

Dr. Ted Morter, III, is the C.E.O. of the Morter HealthSystem, the company featuring the acclaimed Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.).  For information on B.E.S.T. Life Intensive seminars, offered all over the country in 2007,  in which Janet Bray Attwood, #1 Bestselling author of The Passion Test is also a featured presenter call 800-874-1478 or visit their web site at www.dynamiclifetraining.com.


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