Eight: Changing the Way We Eat
Food is selected according to a harmonic order to give a body to your thoughts, and your thoughts determine your choice of foods. So your choice of foods perfectly embodies your view of reality at any given moment.
— Richard France, Healing Naturally
HOW DO YOU FEEL? Throughout most of history, human beings have eaten what the earth and their immediate environment provided. Natural, seasonal foods— found, grown, or caught— were the norm everywhere on the planet. They were prepared simply, according to traditional methods: eaten fresh, or roasted over a fire, sometimes fermented, perhaps dried or smoked to preserve them for lean times. And special foods for special occasions and conditions were part of each group’ s cultural heredity. On the whole, one was grateful for what one got. All this has changed dramatically in our times. In the most sophisticated towns and cities, as well as in the simplest country stores, exotic and plain fare from all corners of the globe can be found, as modern transportation has brought the bounties of the whole world to our doorstep. Food has gone, in some ways, from being nourishment and sustenance to being art and plaything. No longer bound by any long-standing dietary tradition, we must, every day, make conscious food choices, choices based most often on our taste buds, and sometimes on our notions of what is healthy or not.“ Changing our diet” for health reasons bespeaks our affluence. We would not— could not— change our diet during a famine. Being faced with so many choices demands of us greater responsibility, a clearer vision. With all the recent emphasis on“ healthy” eating, it is important to remember one thing: Food does not make us healthy. The right kind of food will allow us to reach our maximum health potential, to become as healthy as our genes and constitution may permit. It will support what we are at our best. It will not interfere with our development, but it will also not make us more than what we can be. In short, good food is effective because it is passive. The wrong kind of food will act like a block or a dam, deflecting our growth and thwarting our unfolding. In other words, it will actively create trouble, and make us unhealthy. We should be clear about this whenever we decide to change our diet. No particular food, or way of eating, is a panacea, regardless of appearances. I’ m sure each of us has heard stories of people who healed themselves of lifelong conditions by a change in diet. But although the diet seems to be what has brought on the cure, like a magic wand, I prefer to look at it differently. I feel that it’ s not the brewer’ s yeast, or the fruit salad, or the blackstrap molasses, or the brown rice, or the miso soup, or the yogurt. Good food will nourish us without causing stress, and thus allow our immune system to spend its energy in healing. Thus many different diets will have healing effects. Often it is not just what we eat, but also what we don’ t eat, that helps us become healthy again. Although I believe that rigid theories of what is right and wrong to eat are misguided, reality being fluid and changeable, certain principles do apply. I have outlined them in chapter five,“ The Health-Supportive Whole- Foods Eating Style.” The details of health-supportive eating, however, depend on you, and it is up to you to adjust your particular food choices continually. To do this, keep in mind the effects of different foods, as outlined in chapter six. And, equally important, listen to your body. Listening, however, is not enough; you also need to be able to interpret what you hear. As an example of the way you can use the foregoing models, here is a quick overview of some telling discomforts and the general change in dietary choices that would help to set them straight: 1. Do you feel spacy, unable to concentrate, scattered,“ can’ t get it together”? Are you dropping things, bumping into things, starting lots of projects but not finishing them? YOU MAY BE TOO“ EXPANDED”: Increase contractive foods and diminish the expansive ones. 2. Do you feel tight, tense, on a narrow path? Do you get feedback from your environment that you are unyielding and rigid? Are you prone to tension headaches and do you have trouble changing or starting new projects? YOU MAY BE TOO“ CONTRACTED” OR“ TIGHT”: Eat fewer contractive foods, more expansive ones. 3. Do you have a sour taste in your mouth, unrelated to lemon or vinegar, when you wake up in the morning and at other times? YOUR DIET MAY BE TOO“ ACID”: Eat more alkalizing foods. 4. Do you go on binges of sweets after eating a vegetarian meal with much fruit and salad? YOUR DIET MAY BE TOO“ ALKALINE,” OR TOO LOW IN PROTEIN: Add some beans, grain, fish, or fowl to your diet. 5. Are you tired or depressed often? Any of the above may apply, or else you’ re eating sugar or honey. Avoid these foods as your first measure; if that doesn’ t help, see number 4. Let’ s now get into some more specific details about how to make your eating system work for you. WHEN TO CHANGE YOUR DIET If you are contemplating a change in diet, there are several questions that you must ask yourself: What do you want your diet to do for you? When should you change your diet? How should you go about it? How do you