Human Design Determination: Discover Your Digestion Type

Determination in Human Design is one of my favorite things to look at in someones chart. It is a deeper aspect of design, so it's very common for adults to NOT relate to their Determination. Why? Because there's a strong chance it's buried in a life of conditioning, and food is one of the most conditioned aspects of our lives. The good news is, the longer someone practices and follows their strategy and authority, the more your Determination feels in aligment and you can reap the benefits of it.

On the other hand, babies and children who haven't been conditioned yet naturally lean into their Determination.

Real life story: Both of my boys are Nervous Touch Determination. This means their body requires the right kind of stimulation and action to effectively digest food and life in general. I didn't know their human design until they were 8 and 9 yo, but in hindsight, they have both created "buzzing" energy in various ways while eating since they were babies. My youngest used to humm while I breastfed him. He also use to dance and bop up and down in his toddler chair while he ate. My kids would bring little toys to the table. My older son is constantly up and down out of his chair throughout family meals. When he was 5 yo, I strapped a rubberband around the chair legs of the chair he ate at so he had something to kick. I could tell he was very busy at meal time, so now the "nervous" part makes sense. All his moving around during mealtime drove me nuts, but once I found out he was Nervous Touch, it made sense and I stopped saying anything to him during meals. I allow the movement now, and almost encourage it since I know it helps him digest his food better.

What is Determination in Human Design?

Determination is the specific way you're designed to take in nutrition and information. It is connected to your digestion a

nd your brain’s cognitive potential.

Where to Find Determination in Your Human Design Chart

Determination is an advanced aspect of human design. Just throwing that out there. To begin, let's define some lingo and show you where to find Determination on your chart.

Variable refers to the arrows on your human design chart. The two words (variable and arrow) are one in the same. Your variable (aka: arrow) points either right or left. The top left variable is where Determination is located.

Determination is represented by a circle with a number in it. This circle is called Color. Each variable has a Color and Tone (the triangle). They are a deep layer of human design, and often parts of us that are buried in conditioning.

This Color number plus the direction of your variable determines your Determination. In this example, the Determination is a 4 Color with the variable pointing to the Right. This means the person has Nervous Touch Determination.

Many online human design chart generators don't show you Determination, but the chart generator on my site does. Download your chart and find out your Determination here.

Determination changes very often throughout 24 hours, so to ensure your Determination is accurate, it requires an exact birth time.

4 Benefits of Eating According to Your Human Design Determination

Aligning your eating habits with your Human Design Determination can create surprising shifts in how you feel, think, and function.

1) Following your Determination will promote proper digestion. Why wouldn't you want this? When food is properly digested, nutrients can be properly assimilated throughout the body. Some people call this aspect "human design nutrition" and in a roundabout way they are correct, but Determination doesn't tell you exactly what to eat. Instead, Determination is about the proper conditions and circumstances someone needs to digest food.

2) Following your Determination will optimize cognitive abilities and "determine" your cognitive potential. As you eat in the way that's aligned with your body, this maximizes nutrient absorption, and therefore provides the brain with essential nutrients that support brain function.

3) Eating according to your Determination can accelerate deconditioning, which helps you become the individual you were born to be.

4) When you properly nourish your brain and body through your unique eating style, then you have more clarity to tap into your Authority and align to your fullest potential even more clearly.

How the Six Main Determinations Become Twelve Total

There are 6 main Determinations, but each of those has two options depending on whether the variable points right or left, so there are 12 total Determination types. In this blog, I'm only focusing on the 6 main Determinations. Eventually I'll write individual blogs for all twelve :)

An Overview of the Six Main Determinations

Color 1: Appetite

Appetite is the most primitive digestive system. You are designed to eat one thing at a time, so it’s important to keep your ingredients and food choices simple and close to their natural, whole state. “Keep it simple” is your motto. 

Mixing foods can interfere with your digestion, especially foods that are less simple and contain more processed ingredients. I especially recommend only one flavor at a time in your mouth while eating. To learn what digests best for you, check in with how your body feels 15-30 minutes after eating. This will help you gauge how many ingredients your system can handle.

While mixing foods isn’t ideal for you, you may enjoy alternating between different foods during a meal (ie: taking a bite of one item and then a bite of another, but not mixing flavors in your mouth). 

Just as with food, you also process information one thing at a time. Consider where else in your life you tend to alternate between things or focus on one task at a time, such as your wardrobe or decorating style.

If your Variable points to the left, your Determination is Appetite Consecutive.

If your Variable points to the right, your Determination is Appetite Alternating.

Color 2: Taste

Taste is about selection. You are designed to be selective in the way you eat, and this comes from your sense of taste. You are very effected by the mouth and taste buds, knowing if a food is correct for you or not. This is a more picky and rigid eating preference. At times, you may not even be willing to taste the food. The body just knows you don’t want it. Don’t force yourself to eat new things if you don’t want to. You may find you enjoy the same foods over and over and likely have your go-to foods.

With Taste, it's very important to savor the flavor! Chew every bite as long as possible. You want to keep the “taste” in your mouth, and in contact with your tongue, as long as possible. This allows you to enjoy the taste much longer, and chewing well also activates your salivary glands, which begins to alkalize the food and starts the digestive process. This then triggers the pancreas to produce hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which is essential for breaking down food and absorbing nutrients.

If you were to taste new foods, focus on local and seasonal foods. Go to your local farmers market or grocery store to see what’s in season.

Your very refined palate and sense of “taste” can even show up in your clothing choices, design eye, how you like to learn, and who you enjoy learning from. You know what you like and don’t like. Trust that.

If your Variable points to the left, your Determination is Open Taste.

If your Variable points to the right, your Determination is Closed Taste.

Color 3: Thirst

Thirst is about being sensitive to temperature of food and beverages. Temperature has a deep relationship to the brain and your body will benefit greatly by consuming foods and drinks that are the proper temperature. The temperature your nervous system prefers depends on whether your variable points to the right or left.

The temperature of your food impacts your body's ability to absorb nutrients correctly, and appetite stimulation is dependent on the temperature of the food. Your stomach also likes liquids because it makes digestion easier when the stomach doesn't have to "chew" on solid and mass all the time.

The temperature of your environment also plays a role in how well you digest and absorb information. Pay attention to how warm or cold the room is when you are eating, reading, studying, or learning. The proper temps can support both physical digestion and mental processing, helping you take in information more easily.

Experiment with drinking the proper temperature liquids while you are studying or learning, which may help your brain take it all in and absorb knowledge. It’s important to stay well hydrated!

It is very healthy to drink a lot of satisfying hot or cold liquids, according to your Thirst, such as broth, soups, teas, ice water, etc.

If your Variable points to the left, your Determination is Hot Thirst.

If your Variable points to the right, your Determination is Cold Thirst.

Color 4: Touch

Touch is about your environmental circumstance needing to be aligned with your system in order to digest food. The space you're in, including sounds, are cricual in terms of your ability to correctly take in food and information.

If there’s something you enjoy eating, the body wants to stay in Touch with it for a specific time. So stay with the food as long as your body is giving you the signal. This preference may last for two weeks or two days – who knows, but stay with it while your body wants it and until your body says no (ie: a specific salad). This is the intelligence of your body and your intestines to distinguish what you’re eating as something you need. The body tells you to continue eating a specific thing until the body’s needs have been met and then the signal is done and then you move on.

Touch is also connected to your hands. Touch can be applied to food by using your hands to prepare food, cook, and eat. Get your hands into the food in some way. At the store, I encourage you to feel the fruits and vegetables in the produce section to see if it's the right quality for you. I've heard Touch people say they can touch a fruit and know how ripe it is or not.

In some societies, it's normal to eat with your hands, but in others it isn't. This is an area to assess potential conditioning. As a young child, did your caregivers scold you for eating with your hands? Are you conditioned to believe it's not polite to eat with your hands? As you decondition, your body will start to open up to it.

Touch also applies to things in your life besides food, such as your clothes and furniture that feel good (or not) when you touch them. Look around... do you notice you're drawn to things that feel good to the touch (ie: fuzzy blankets, furry socks, etc.). Do you like how your clothes feel on your body? When you sit to eat, how does your chair feel? As odd as it sounds, if you don't like the texture of your clothes and you try to eat, this could potentially impact digestion because your body is "off."

If your Variable points to the left, your Determination is Calm Touch.

If your Variable points to the right, your Determination is Nervous Touch.

Color 5: Sound

You have a more “modern” digestive system. Sound is very important for you and it's related to the volume/decibles in the environment where you're eating. Be discerning about the type of sound and level of sound you hear in your environment while you are consuming food and information. Are you listening?

There’s a judgment connected to sound - “That sounds good.” or “That sounds bad.”or "That's to loud." or "That's not loud enough." These are important for you to be connected to. Can you allow yourself to lean into that judgement or does conditioning, such as people pleasing, pull you away from that? It can even be the sound of someone's voice you don't enjoy, which can seem harsh to lean into, but there's a reason and you just have to trust.

The ability of your body to stimulate your appetite and properly absorb nutrients can be influenced by your ability to sense the correct sound frequencies exposed to the body. If you do not like the sound around you while eating, change it or stop eating until the sound changes to something that is pleasant for you.

Feel into the sounds around you. Is it pleasant, regulating, dysregulating, disturbing, uncomfortable, off putting? You will notice a sensation in your body when the correct sound enters your system. Honor this frequency and come back to it when you need to find alignment in your body.

If your Variable points to the left, your Determination is High Sound.

If your Variable points to the right, your Determination is Low Sound.

Color 6: Light

You have the most unique digestive system of them all. Light is about eating at a certain time of the day, and according to your nervous system, you digest food best in either direct light or indirect light, depending on the direction of your variable.

To really regulate your system, be intentional about watching the sun rise and set. Observe the timeframes during the light and dark when you feel best, feel the most alert, or are the hungriest. Pay attention to hunger cues and follow those.

If Direct Light, you might be more sensitive to winters and need a light to be near you during these months. A seasonal affect disorder (SAD) light therapy lamp is worth looking into if you tend to feel bluesy during the months with less daylight.

Notice how natural light vs artificial light affects your body. If you’re in a room with artificial light, try to be by the window. Some people report a headache and fatigue with artificial light. We are exposed to a lot of LED lights, which isn't the healthiest for us. Experiment with non-LED daylight lamps in the house, especially if you live in the Northern Hemisphere with a lot more darkness in the winter.

Block Blue Light bulbs can be changed from white light to yellow light.

As the day goes on, yellow lens glasses might feel wonderful on your eyes.

In the evening, red lens glasses might feel wonderful on your eyes. They may help your body to feel comfortable and to relax.

If your Variable points to the left, your Determination is Direct Light.

If your Variable points to the right, your Determination is Indirect Light.

Embodiment Questions for your Determination:

• What past experiences come to mind with this eating pattern?

• What are some examples (maybe from childhood) you can remember when you used to eat for your “true Determination?” Describe the experience.

• List something(s) from your Determination you want to start experimenting with.

• Something to observe: After you eat according to your Determination, how does your body feel 10-30 minutes later? 

• Something to observe: If you don’t eat according to your Determination, how does your body feel 10-30 minutes later?

• If your Determination is a Circumstance (Tone 4, 5, 6), how do you feel eating in a certain space, especially with an undefined Identity Center? 

I encourage you to experiment with your Determination. Because this is an experiment, move as slowly or quickly as you need to. It can take a few months to feel a difference, and as you decondition your design, you will notice more of a preference to follow your Determination. Enjoy the ride!

PHS Reading

If you are interested in learning about your Determination and more, this is part of my Health and Human Design reading that focuses on the variables in your chart.

Health and Human Design Reading

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Please drop me a comment about your experience with your Determination in real life.

Warm regards,

Kelly