Nutrition Experts Podcast Episode 08 Exploring Happiness with Food with Jacqueline Pirtle

Nutrition Experts Podcast

Jacqueline Pirtle is the founder of FreakyHealer.com. Her passion for happiness shines through in all of her work as an accomplished energy healer, mindfulness-happiness coach, and author of 365 Days of Happiness. She has helped hundreds of clients shift into a “high for life” frequency where they can reach happiness anywhere at any time. As a result their health peaked, women unable to conceive finally conceived, success and abundance arrived, and life shifted to being magnificent for them–because that is what being happy will do for anyone.

Jacqueline has been featured on many podcasts, guest blogs, and has had international speaking engagements. Her professional background is in health, wellness, holistic medicine, energy healing, law of attraction, and happiness. She holds international wellness degrees and is internationally certified as a Reiki Master.

[00:00:00] You’re listening to the Nutrition Experts Podcast. Featuring guests who take the scientific talk about food and break it down for practical use. You’ve heard the phrase “you are what you eat.” Come find out what that really means. Experience conversations with experts in the field of nutrition and understand the power of food for our health, wellbeing and beyond. Now here’s your host Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist Mathea Ford.

Mathea Ford: [00:00:27] Hi there! It’s Mathea. Welcome back to Nutrition Experts Podcasts. The podcast featuring nutrition experts who are leading the way using food starts today right now with our next guest. It’s great to have Jacqueline Pirtle on the show today. Jacqueline welcomes to Nutrition Experts. I’m excited to have you on this show and share your expertise with my tribe.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:00:49] Thank you, Mathea. I’m super excited. Thank you for having me.

Mathea Ford: [00:00:52] So, Jacqueline let’s just start with the basics. What made you interested in this topic – this topic of energy healing food, energy together. What is your interest in that?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:01:07] First of all, I’ve been a foodie all my life so I grew up in Switzerland in a family where my mom was home and cooking every day fresh food and which was amazing and my parents were like hobby gardener. So, I grew up knowing fresh foods so when I was younger I didn’t even realize that I’m actually into food which is kind of normal for me. I think growing up in Europe that’s just how things went there. Probably still are.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:01:34] So later in life then I realized that just like how much I enjoy food but it’s not just on a on a level where I enjoyed when I eat it. It’s also on an energetic level right? And when I look at my relationship with food it really is on an energetic level that I really take time to really consciously acknowledge my food when I eat it. I also like have a connection with them talking and chit chatting with my food. What is good for me and I try different ways and what I found is that my connection to my food really helps my health so I also taught that to my children when they are growing up to ask their bodies what kind of food would be good for them. And it just showed over and over again that it really adds up in your health and in your enjoyment. And then I took it deeper and you just like really feeling and really seeing tasting thinking and really connecting with the food in a way that I just knew what energy I’m entering or I let enter with the food I eat right. So that’s really how I very much got into it that I just saw the goodness of really connecting with your food not just to do it as eating or to do food but really to connect with it and to do to eat with a feeling and with their consciousness that’s present when I eat.

Mathea Ford: [00:03:05] You talk a little bit about how you talk to your food, how you work with your food, how it gives you energy. How does that energy become part of our healing? How does it affects healing because you do some energy healing? How does the food and the energy healing work together?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:03:23] I come from the belief that everything is energy so and everything is the same energy and everything is connected and everything shares its energy so I am energy, my body’s energy and my table that I’m sitting by adjacent to my computer so is food, food is energy too right? So, when you look at food that it is energy then you also can understand and realize that when you eat you let energy enter right? So, let’s say you eat a cucumber right? You look at that cucumber. What kind of energy does a cucumber really carry? Like it’s refreshing. It’s like a juicy, it’s green right? The color green which is harmony. So, when you look at the cucumber you really take a second to feel what type of energy does a cucumber carry. And then when you consciously feel that and become aware of that energy and then you eat it. It means that this energy enters your body. You and the cucumber become one. So, the energy of yourself and the energy of the cucumber become one which means every single cell of your body is going to be filling up with that energy the cucumber carries which means when you choose food that feels good to you that matches the energy meal that you have at that moment when you eat, it means that you can refill yourself with the energy you need which then becomes an energetic healing in itself.

Mathea Ford: [00:04:59] How do we know what energy we need at that moment since most of us kind of just eat mindlessly?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:05:05] Basically what what makes you feel good. Now,there is what makes you feel good in your mind right? When you see a cookie it’s like “I like cookies too” so but when you see a cookie and you say like “oh my gosh I really want that! That will make me feel so good.” To take a second and say “Well, was that my mind speaking or was that really my body, you know my physical body and my soul speaking. Right? Is that where is it? Is my heart saying “Yes, to the cookie or is my mind saying yes to the cookie” right? Because there’s a really big difference and the difference is if your mind says “yes to the cookie” you don’t so much feel for that cookie but if your heart says “yes to the cookie” you will feel in love with that cookie and when that happens it’s not going to leave you alone anyway so you might as well then say “alright, my heart says yes to that cookie” and then you can focus on that cookie the happiness that cookie makes you right? It’s like putting a smile on it well, smile right? Even laugh about it and then eat that cookie which means then you fill your body with everything that you could use right then and there. Right? So, to use this to really slow let’s say you’re hungry, you go up in the kitchen and you say “Okay, what shall I eat? Don’t just eat what’s there. That’s one thing. Give yourself a couple seconds to say what would feel good for me. The way I do it is I stand in a kitchen. And then I visualize or I think about a food, I think about a cucumber, I think about a piece of bread. You know I visualize myself eating pasta. So those are a couple foods and in the beginning that may take a little longer but you practice a little bit and it goes really fast and then really like which would make you feel really good. Right? Like you feel for it and then prepare that food. And the amazing part is while you’re doing that and figure out which food you’re getting, your whole physical body with your digestion everything ready for that perfect food that’s fitting for you. Then you prepare it right? And then when you eat it your body is really ready so you fill your body with that feeding energy of that food and your body is already ready and opens up its arms and says “Welcome, we’re ready” right? So, I mean the co-creation of healthy energy and happy energy in your physical body is just incredible because to me it’s like food wants to be your good friend, food wants to have a relationship with you. Food is not just something you just kind of pop in. Food makes you. It’s a co-creation, it’s like a best friend relationship. I wrote a book it’s called 365 Days of Happiness. It’s every day, it’s a step by step guide every day. It teaches you a little bit about mindful living being happy and it’s based a lot of energetic being and it’s a a lot of good stuff in there and very funny sometimes too. And one of those excerpts is about your relationship with food. To really create a best friend BFF relationship with your food is whatever you put in your body. The food you put in your body is that what a best friend would bring into your life. And is that also how you behave towards food right? So, to just really create a relationship and a fun time. Have a party with your food right? And fall in love with your food and that the more you practice that it might sound a little complicated in the beginning instead of just pop something down but it just creates such an amazing healthy environment for you, for the food, the food entering your body your health peaks. And you know something else I realized that when I work with my clients and explain this and they practice this is that the happier they get and the more mindful they get about everything including food the less people are actually eating like the amounts and what not. They just feel like they don’t need that much anymore which is true righ? We don’t really need that much food. And also they choose more of the food that’s actually good for them because they’re starting a relationship with the food right? It’s like a good friend right. You can’t ignore them. It’s like you know you want to be with them.

Mathea Ford: [00:09:51] It sounds a lot like you’re reminding us that we need to be mindful when we eat and we need to take a moment and not just start eating food but we need to think through what’s there and what we need right now. Some of that is what you have in the house but you were talking a little bit at the end there about how happiness affects intake. Can you give some more information about that how happiness and what you mean by happiness affects your intake?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:10:22] To me, happiness comes in many different ways and shapes and sizes. It’s not always that happiness means you’re joyfully and laughingly jumping on a trampoline. Right? Happiness is really many many different things and happiness can be achieved right here right now with nothing to be changed. So, that’s first of all my book is based on what you don’t have to change anything to be happy. For instance if you receive a smile you know that’s happiness. If you drink a good cup of tea which I’m doing while we’re talking that’s happiness right? If you have a good cry and that release and cleansing off your energies and feelings that is happiness. If you get angry and then with that forceful powerful energy you’re going to go clean your house or your car for instance. Right? That is in need of cleaning. Well that’s happiness too. So first off happiness is really you don’t change anything. It’s just really the way you are perceiving something. So that’s first of all that’s really important to me about to say what happiness is you don’t have to do anything right? You just sit back. You accept, respect, appreciate, thank and laugh. Everything there is for you. Receive everything as a gift and then from there you can start mindfully looking for little things that just make you feel good. Right? And when it makes you feel good that’s called Happiness to me.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:11:56] So what I found is that when when people work on an all over well-being of you know like not just with the food or just with money or just with anything else that’s going on but when it’s like an all over whole being healing and mindfulness when that is practiced then your whole being will have different needs for instance. And one of the needs that I saw decreasing is for people needing food. Right? So, what happens is then their food intake becomes less because they’re not necessarily grabbing food for their happiness. They’re grabbing food because they’re in need of more energy. Let’s say they’re hungry, let’s say they just exercise they need something. It’s just a different type of feeling. And then when they eat, when they do it, when they take food in they’re also going to feel good about that food intake. Right? It’s like when when I’m unhappy and I eat food to make myself happy then a lot of times comes that guilty feeling afterwards and you can just realize that downward spiral of not feeling good. It’s not going to work but when you’re working on an all over deep mindful happiness with everything also your body and with whatever is going on in your life then when you eat it’s going to be an intake of an energy exchange or an addition to your energy like “I’m hungry and I’m looking for a fresh food.” So you go in your kitchen and you are looking for fresh food. The energetic value of that will be you know in fresh vegetables and fruits or whatever that might be even a glass of wonderful water with a piece of lemon in it and then you indulge in that and it matches the energetic need you have but not because you’re unhappy.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:14:03] And what I see is is that it’s just people eat less. They grab more the right food and they actually enjoy that relationship with the food they have and their health will just peak you know and whoever is looking for losing weight they will lose weight.

Mathea Ford: [00:14:21] So, Jacqueline emotions you talk a little bit about and I see how people sometimes do use food to either cover up their unhappiness or celebrate, do other things besides to give us nourishment and those emotions do affect how we eat. So, how do you think people can affect or change that cycle?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:14:45] The easiest to say is to One, work on you that you can mindfully be happy. That’s not attached to anything. If you’re sitting in a room and you’re unhappy to not look for anything that would make you happy for instance focus on your breath. Right? Take a deep breath in and out and just focus on that beauty inside of you. And that happy great feeling of every breath you take right? And every breath you breathe out because it is life right? And when you do that then your needs for being happy on the outside for instance food will decrease right so that will be my first tip. But don’t take me wrong, I also am I love chocolate for instance and sometimes I just grab my little piece of chocolate because it just makes me so happy. I’m not saying don’t ever do that anymore. It’s just more like weighing it a little bit right?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:15:49] It’s like to to not to maybe not look at food as your happiness giver a but to rather find happiness with whatever it is inside of you mindfully. And my second tip would be to fall in love with food. Look at food like it’s not your servant and it’s not just something you do is like “No, it’s like your best friend is visiting” and you’re having a great great great time and you fall in love with the food that you eat maybe even go as far as to say if there is food in front of you, ask yourself “Can I fall in love with that food?” And if you can’t don’t put it in your body because it’s obviously not going to be very helpful for you. But if you have food in front of you and you can really feel that you fall in love with it like that feeling right? Like on top of the world have fall in love really oh my gosh then eat a piece of chocolate or you got banana or eat that pasta right? So, to really just have some fun with food and not so much pressure about food right?

Mathea Ford: [00:17:00] So Jacqueline, it sounds like you’re saying kind of go back to listening to your body like we’re encouraged to do a lot of times when we’re younger to listen to what we’re hungry for, to eat as we’re hungry. How do you know what your relationship is with food? And then if it’s not the best then how do you go about starting to change that?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:17:26] Ask yourself when you eat, “How do I feel?” Right? Like a lot of times we’re probably eating. A lot of people are very used to that feeling on that they eat and then they feel guilty afterwards right?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:17:40] So, that will be an absolute indication that your relationship would profit if you know if you fall work on falling in love with your food righ? That’s for sure something or I mean if you just don’t feel so good about food or feel like “Oh! This is going to make me fat!” Those kind of thoughts are just really not helpful and those are not really thoughts that will resonate with a high fly frequency which is happiness. So, anything of that would be you know to really look at your relationship with wouldn’t say “Okay, I kind of want to change that. Right?” I mean do you have fun with your food? Are you in love with your food right? Those are some simple questions and if you can’t say “yes” to them then I would suggest to start working with it because I tell you what, is like food is part of this physical experience here. Right? So, were different components were the physical body where the mind, where the soul and consciousness anchored now. Right? So, in our physical experience called life, food is an amazing part of it and it’s here to you know to see it, to taste it, to smell it, to think about it to feel it, right? To hear it right? Try hearing food I tell you until you heard, until you tried to hear food, you haven’t really experienced food yet because… And try to chit chat with you would have some fun with it right?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:19:11] And that’s part of the physical experience that we’re so gifted to do here and life is just a bunch of fun when you really can… when you can really experience food in that way.

Mathea Ford: [00:19:25] So, I know you do a lot with happiness and energy healing. So, can you talk a little bit about what those energies are that we might have and what might need to heal about them with relation to food and what we eat?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:19:42] When You look at everything is energy that means feelings or energy too, thoughts are energy too right? And a lot of times I mean think think of yourself now as a grown up person. You don’t really want to think or feel that way about food right? But it’s kind of there. It’s like this automatic program you’re running and that really comes from growing up and I would say that most people have some sort of you know some sort of hurt or some have trauma or some have just like a thoughts that are not helpful with food that’s just like also how we grew up right? And instead of getting too deep into the Why and the How and the walk from back in time it’s just really you know look at it and say “Okay, I’m not very positive about food.” Right? And that’s an energy it’s everything is energy. And I want to kind of heal that energy. And what would you do is what you what you could do the simplest thing is to just think the opposite. So this food makes me fat for instance. Well, think this food makes me think for instance right? Or this is this is “I’d like that food but it’s going to be so unhealthy for me.”

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:20:57] “While like that food this is going to be so healthy for me.” Just jump to the opposite. So, if you have a thought towards of food and energy towards the food that’s not fitting think the opposite. And the more you do that the more you train your mind to think positive about food and have some fun with food and that’s really where the healing comes in.

Mathea Ford: [00:21:19] I had one am I going to say it’s not guilty or not guilty it just is you know the Twinkie didn’t commit robbery type thing.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:21:27] I agree. I really agree. You know I can maybe give you an example. So when my kids were little we were one of those some what are they called they’re like the festivals with the rides and what not and then I always made sure that my kids grew up eating healthy right? So and I educated them but we never forbid anything, we just asked them and explain to them we just had healthy stuff at home but we ate cookies too. Its just I made them from scratch things like that. But then we were at that festival and then one of my kids said “Can I have the sweets, the sweet treat?” And I thought “Okay, well sure.” So, the child ate the sweet treat and then like he was so happy all over the moon happy because normally at home we didn’t do that right? So anyways and then like half an hour later my child looks and he says “I have a bellyache.” And I said “Oh really?” And then my child that it’s probably because of that sweet treat.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:22:29] And then I said “Listen. Maybe, maybe not but I tell you what? How did you feel when you ate that?” And he says “OHh! Over the moon happy! I was so happy!” I said “Yeah, I saw that! And was that enjoyable?” “Yeah oh! Yeah! Yeah!” I said “then, Instead of saying I am now having a bellyache because of that sweet treat rather focus on how happy it made you when you ate it. Because when you ate it that was a split second and then the next split second you have a bellyache has nothing to do with it.” Now, in the physical world maybe people would say actually it does. It’s because of the coloring and all that comes up. But from an energetic level at that moment happiness was created right then and there. And then half an hour later the bellyache happened and you know what happened is then with focusing on a happy feeling and not really in the mind focused because of that I got now a bellyache, the bellyache disappeared because it’s an energetic level. It’s created happiness right then and there and that was the most important part.

Mathea Ford: [00:23:37] So I love everything you’ve been talking about and I’m trying to think of ways we can help our listeners to use this information because you’re talking about gratitude and just basically having gratitude for all the things we have in our lives and having happiness from that gratitude being feeling blessed. So, what are some ways that listeners can use this information in their daily life to improve their lives?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:24:06] First off, fall in love with food. Fall in love with food and realize that food is not simply there to eat but it is there to co-create health and joy with you right? And food wants to be your partner for life and for joy. That will be my first thing, the next one would be to bless heavy food that enters your body. You know to blessed even the cookie to bless the food and say “hey I’m so happy thank you so much. Bless you and thank you for bringing all the happiness in my body” and then indulge and then chit chat with your food. Have a good time with your food and then of course be present when you eat right? So, be really present then and really feel and get into what is entering your body and that’s always really really powerful right? And then make your time with your food to celebration like a fun time put on nice music, light a candle that’s amazing. Lighting a candle so like a celebration, very very nice act to do and then you sit down and you eat right? It brings peace and blessings into the situation and just make it a social time and really just relax about food, relax about food and smile at your food and then indulge in it.

Mathea Ford: [00:25:24] One of the things that I’m thinking when I’m listening to you is this is absolutely wonderful for when I have the food in my house but how I get the food in my house is to go grocery shopping or online shopping or whatever. How do you improve or make sure that you have the right energetic foods in your house because you somehow have to get them there? They don’t just magically appear. Maybe they will in the future.

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:25:52] The way I shop is when I go in a grocery store. I mean I have some ideas and kind of what I would want to eat during the week or something. When I go in a grocery store I walk through the aisles and let’s say I’m standing in the vegetable aisle for instance right. I look at all everything. I take a second and I really look at every single food there is right? And is like everybody else around me is like crazy going faster while I look at it and then I say “Okay, I’m going to buy tomatoes” because they speak to me right? “So what are we going to buy today?” Well, my body tells me exactly what to buy. Some tomatoes I look at all the tomatoes and then I choose which tomato looks the best for me right? And then I also will figure out how many. So, when you’re connected to food like that you will buy whatever you’re going to then eat in the next couple of days. So, that’s how I shop and you just being connected even when you buy the food.

Mathea Ford: [00:26:53] What’s your favorite food? Are you a vegetarian? Do you follow any sort of special foods and what’s your favorite one?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:27:01] I eat pretty much everything! I’m not such a big seafood person. I love fish though once in a while. I’m not a big meat person. I eat meat though once in a while and then I asked my body what it needs. But to me like fresh clean food veggies, colorful food, I love colorful food. I really liked that and I like chocolate for instance. I also like red wine once in a while. So, every split second is different right? It’s like “right now, I love this the next day I love that right?” So, I love food in general but I make it fitting for me. And then it’s immediately it’s the perfect food that I fall in love with. So…

Mathea Ford: [00:27:45] The whole idea of happiness just not related to food. How do you think that that changes our lives? Your 365 Days of Happiness book and how does that transform your life?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:28:01] The biggest transformation is that when you learn and practice to mindfully being happy with whatever there is in your life and that’s the book what it’s based about was my work, that’s my passion. Then it transforms your life in that way that you will never really need any change anymore because you and happiness you’re one right? It’s like you are happiness and happiness is you. No matter what’s going on around you and you become one. And it’s always present. It’s like a package how you say it’s like the best package deal ever because it’s always there. And to me that’s the biggest transformation because you’re never needing anything from the outside really but because you always have that available inside of you. Now, you sometimes sleep? Do I sleep? Of course you know and that’s also normal, that’s part of the physical life and I always think of it that when I sleep and I feel like “oh! I just sleeped into not feeling so good. Well it’s a great practice for me to… So, now what am I going to do about this mindfully so I can shift back to happiness so it becomes a gift in itself because it’s a great practice I get stronger and stronger every single day, every single sleep I get stronger to to stay happy right? And to just work with I’m feeling good. I make it a priority like every morning I get up and I that’s that my decision is my biggest goal today is to feel good no matter what to feel good and funny enough what happens is everything just kind of falls into place the way it’s good for me right? My health peaks and things are coming my way that are just like “wow! I didn’t even know that exists” right? And plus you know you spread it right? It’s like if you’re in a state of feeling really good you spread it with everybody around you with everything around you including your food right? And then you shift everything around you too it’s like a movement almost.

Mathea Ford: [00:30:09] So, what type of person do you find is drawn to doing this type of practice with their food? What they’re eating to working on improving the happiness and the energy? What type of person is best suited for that?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:30:25] Anybody that is not really happy that would love to be happier. That would love to have a more vivid experience in life. Anybody that would like to be healthier or anybody that would love to attract more goodness in their lives or for instance a family member like a parent. Usually it’s the moms that started with the book you know that would love to transform their family right? So they start to practice with them and they spread it to a whole family and it’s just everybody everybody gets a chunk of this goodness. So, if you feel like you’d like a change in your life. If you want to be in control of how you feel and if you just want to say “that’s it! I don’t want to change anything in life, I just want to change how I feel and not base it on other people or other things that are happening whatnot.” Then this practice is really for you.

Mathea Ford: [00:31:21] Alright Jacqueline, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It was a pleasure to have you on the show. I know my listeners have learned a lot about gratitude, happiness and even if they think it’s a little “woo woo” to talk to your food and be that engaged, I still believe that there’s a lot of value in the mindset switched to being happy and choosing happiness that will help you to just live a better healthier life. If listeners want to connect with you what’s the best way to do that?

Jacqueline Pirtle: [00:31:58] Well I have a Web site it’s called freakyhealer.com And I’m also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Under that name Freaky Healer. And my book is available on my website or on Amazon.com. And I also have on my website on the post, you can subscribe to my free posts and it’s all about health and happiness and inspirations every day most of day most days. And then you get a free three golden tips to being happy guide into your e-mail. Very speedy when you do that.

Mathea Ford: [00:32:35] Well guys this has been another great episode of Nutrition Experts podcast. The podcast all about learning more so you can do more with nutrition in your life.

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