In te Ao Māori, the Puku – the gut, the stomach – isn’t just where you digest food. It’s where your Tuakiri lives. Your identity and sense of self.
When someone says they have a ‘gut feeling’ or feel something ‘in their stomach,’ they’re acknowledging this ancient wisdom. Your Puku knows things your mind hasn’t figured out yet. It processes your world in ways logic cannot. It carries your trauma, joy, and knowing.
But here’s what colonisation did: it severed that connection. It replaced traditional kai with processed foods. It disconnected us from the land that grew our food. It taught us to ignore our gut’s signals and follow external rules about what, when, and how much to eat.
The result? A crisis in our Puku that fragments our sense of self. Digestive issues, yes – but also identity confusion, emotional dysregulation, and disconnection from our own body’s wisdom. When your Puku is out of balance, your Tuakiri cannot stand strong.
Taha Kai offers a pathway home. Through three foundational steps, you can heal your relationship with food, reconnect with your Puku’s wisdom, and ground your identity in embodied knowing. Let’s explore how.
Step 1: Te Ohorere – The Awakening (Seeing the Food Colonisation)
Before you can heal your Puku, you need to see what’s happened to it. The industrial food system didn’t just change what we eat. It changed how we relate to food, to our bodies, to ourselves.
Food colonisation happened through multiple channels. Land confiscation eliminated access to traditional food sources. Economic marginalisation made processed foods the only affordable option. Marketing convinced us that convenience mattered more than nourishment. Cultural disruption severed the intergenerational transmission of food knowledge – how to grow kai, prepare it with intention, share it with aroha.
The outcomes devastate entire communities. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, digestive disorders – these aren’t personal failings. They’re the predictable results of systematic food colonisation. Your Puku, designed for adaptation, became overwhelmed by constant feeding on foods that provide calories but not wellness.
Te Ohorere asks you to look at how this shows up across five dimensions of your life:
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Whakapapa (relationships): How has food stopped connecting you? You eat alone, scrolling through your phone. Family meals are rare or rushed. You’ve lost traditional food knowledge from your Tūpuna. Food preparation became a chore to minimize, not a practice of love. You don’t know where your food comes from or who grew it.
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Tinana (body): What’s your body trying to tell you? Bloating, gas, pain, constipation. Food sensitivities that never existed before. Energy crashes. Weight that won’t stabilize despite endless dieting. Skin issues, joint pain, headaches – all connected to gut inflammation. Your Tinana is screaming ‘I can’t process this anymore,’ but you’ve been taught to suppress these signals with antacids and pushing through discomfort.
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Tuakiri (identity): How has your sense of self become fragmented? You don’t recognise your own hunger and fullness signals anymore. You eat what you think you should eat, not what your body needs. Your relationship with food is defined by shame, control, fear, or rebellion. You’ve lost connection to traditional foods that carry cultural identity. You define yourself by your eating patterns: ‘I’m a stress eater.’ ‘I have no willpower.’ ‘I’m always on a diet.’
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Wairua (spirit): Where’s your sacred relationship with food? Traditional cultures knew that eating is a spiritual act. Karakia before meals weren’t quaint traditions – they were spiritual technologies for staying connected to what sustains us. But now? Meals are transactional. You eat without awareness, gratitude, or presence. Food becomes fuel or comfort, losing its spiritual dimension. You’re disconnected from seasonal eating, lunar cycles, the mauri (life force) in what you consume.
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Hinengaro (mind): How occupied is your thinking? You’re constantly thinking about food – what to eat, what not to eat, what you ate, what you’ll eat later. Your mind is full of conflicting food rules and diet messages. You experience food anxiety. You use food to manage emotions rather than feeling them. You’re obsessed with body image. Marketing messages override your body’s natural signals.
For seven days, you track these dimensions daily (Te Whāriki o te Ora). Not to judge yourself. Not to fix anything yet. Just to see clearly. You answer questions about what you ate, why you ate, how your body responded, what emotions arose, whether you ate alone or with others, whether you were present or distracted.
By day seven, patterns emerge. You see which dimension is suffering most. You identify your triggers – stress eating, boredom eating, eating to avoid feeling. You recognise what your Puku is trying to tell you. And you pick three goals to work on. That’s your roadmap forward – Te Whakatakato tō Mahere.
Step 2: Te Whakatūria – Mana – Establishing Your Authority (Taking Your Puku Back)
Mana is your authority. Your sovereignty. Your power to choose what nourishes you. Right now, the food industry has your mana. Ultra-processed foods are engineered to override your natural satiety signals. Marketing is designed to manipulate your emotions. Convenience has been weaponised to keep you dependent.
Te Whakatūria – Mana is about reclaiming that power. You convert those goals from Step 1 into specific practices. Instead of ‘I want to eat better,’ you create concrete commitments: ‘I will drink water first thing every morning before anything else.’ ‘I will eat one meal per day mindfully, without screens.’ ‘I will stop eating three hours before bed.’
The framework uses a three-tier system:
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Tier 1 – Daily Non-Negotiables: Your foundation. Things you do every single day. Morning water before anything else. One mindful meal with out screens. Three-hour gap before bed. Pick 1-2 practices and commit completely.
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Tier 2 – Regular Practices (3-4 times per week): Intermittent fasting (eating within an 8-hour window). Preparing one meal from scratch with intention. Including gut-healing foods like bone broth or fermented vegetables. These keep momentum without overwhelming you.
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Tier 3 – Aspirational Rhythms (when possible, no guilt if missed): 24-hour fasts for deep healing. Weekly traditional food preparation. Quarterly gut-cleansing protocols. These stretch you without breaking you.
Critical point: start with ONE Tier 1 practice. Master that until it becomes automatic. Then add more. Your brain can only handle so much change at once. Trying to transform everything overnight is why most people fail.
You also work with natural rhythms. Your Puku is connected to lunar cycles – the same way the moon affects tides, it affects the waters within your body. Full moon periods have high energy, perfect for starting new practices or having conversations with whānau about food. Dark moon periods are introspective, ideal for gentle cleansing and reflection. You don’t need complex protocols. Just notice how your hunger, cravings, and digestion shift through the month.
Set up your environment to support your mana. Designated eating space (not your desk, couch, or bed). Screens removed from eating areas. Clear out-processed foods that trigger overconsumption. Stock gut-healing foods. Meal prep once per week. Unsubscribe from food delivery apps that trigger impulse ordering.
After 2-3 weeks, review what’s working. Which practices feel natural? Which still feel like struggle? What unexpected benefits showed up – better digestion, clearer thinking, calmer mood? You adjust, refine, find your rhythm. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about building practices that genuinely support your Puku’s healing and strengthen your mana.
Step 3: Te Whakawhanake i – Kaha – Building Your Resistance (Developing Unbreakable Strength)
Here’s what happens once you start protecting your Puku: the food system pushes back. Cravings intensify. Marketing becomes more targeted. Social pressure escalates. Convenience becomes more seductive. Your body experiences withdrawal from processed foods that were literally engineered to be addictive.
This isn’t weakness. This is biology meeting billion-dollar food engineering. Ultra-processed foods are designed with perfect combinations of salt, sugar, and fat to override your natural satiety mechanisms. They’re created to be irresistible.
Te Whakawhanake i tō Kaha is about building kaha – strength, capacity, resilience – to withstand this systematic pushback. The nine-day challenge progressively builds resistance across different domains. Maybe Day 1 is managing intense cravings without giving in. Day 2 might be eating mindfully in a social situation. Day 3 could be your first 16-hour fast. Day 4 navigates emotional triggers without using food to cope.
Each day targets different resistance muscles. Some days focus on physical healing through fasting (which activates autophagy – your cells’ self-cleaning process). Other days build social resistance – saying no to food pressure from family or colleagues. By Day 9, you’ve proven to yourself that you can protect your Puku even when everything pushes you to surrender.
Important note on fasting: It’s powerful medicine, but it’s not for everyone. Don’t fast if you have eating disorder history, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have type 1 diabetes, take medications requiring food, or have serious medical conditions. When in doubt, talk to your healthcare provider.
You also build architectural boundaries – structures protecting your Puku automatically. Time segregation means specific eating and fasting windows. Space segregation means no food in bedroom, at desk, or on the couch. Food segregation means healing foods versus occasional foods, each with specific purpose.
One of the hardest challenges? Social pressure. Whānau who express love through food. Workplaces with food-centered culture. Friends who bond over meals. You prepare authority statements:
Instead of: ‘Sorry, I’m trying to be healthy’ (justification, signals negotiability)
You say: ‘I’m focusing on gut healing right now’ (authority, signals sovereignty)
Instead of: ‘I can’t, I’m fasting’
You say: ‘Fasting today’ (no explanation needed)
You practice these out loud. The first time is hardest. The hundredth time is effortless.
The framework also encourages forming food healing circles – small groups (2-4 people) pursuing gut wellness together. You meet weekly or bi-weekly to share wins and challenges, identify system tactics trying to break your boundaries, problem-solve without shame, and celebrate sovereignty victories.
Individual resistance is powerful. Collective resistance is transformative. When others normalise your boundaries, share strategies, and provide accountability, the impossible becomes possible. You’re not fighting the food system alone.
You are building Tū Pūmau (consistency) through Whai Mua (success and productivity) giving you Tū Māia (stability).
Your Puku Knows the Way Home
By the end of these three steps, something profound has shifted. You’ve moved from unconscious eating to intentional nourishment. From food system dependency to embodied sovereignty. From fragmented identity to grounded selfhood.
Your Puku is calmer. The inflammation has reduced. The bloating has eased. You can feel hunger and fullness signals again. You know what foods serve you and which ones don’t. You’ve learned to fast with intention, giving your digestive system the rest it desperately needed.
More importantly, your Tuakiri stands stronger. Your sense of self is no longer fragmented by shame, external food rules, or disconnection from your body. You trust your gut – literally and metaphorically. You know who you are, and your identity is grounded in embodied wisdom rather than shifting external standards.
The poverty or scarcity that may have shaped your early relationship with food no longer controls you. The abundance of processed foods that followed no longer colonises you. You’ve found the middle way: eating with intention, fasting with purpose, nourishing with wisdom.
You’ve reconnected to ancestral practices while adapting them for modern life. You’ve decolonised your Puku and, through it, your identity. You’ve learned that a grounded, nourished gut creates a clear, powerful sense of self.
This is Te Haere Whakanoa – the journey back to your power. Your puku has led you home to yourself.
Every time you choose intention over impulse (Tū Pūmau – consistency), you strengthen your mana. Every time you honour your Puku’s signals, you rebuild trust with your body. Every time you resist the food system’s manipulation, you prove your sovereignty. Success and productivity (Whai Mua) have transformed to stability (Tū Māia).
Your puku remembers what your mind forgot. It knows the way. It’s been trying to tell you all along. Now you’re finally listening.
Nuku i – Puku. Ground yourself in your core.
Kia kaha. Kia māia. Kia Manawanui.
Be strong. Be brave. Be steadfast. Your puku knows the way.