Six: The Effects of Different Foods
Before you go about changing your diet in any way, you must understand in more detail how specific foods can affect you. Body, mind, emotions, activity, spirit— all are influenced in some way by the food we eat. 1
Most foods can have both negative and positive influences, depending on the quantity in which they are consumed: Too much of a“ good” food can be as detrimental to your well-being as the“ unhealthy” kind, and occasional moderate amounts of the latter may in fact have little if any negative effects. Although I have my opinions, of course, on what foods are“ better”— opinions based on many years of study, observation, and experience— I will try to show you both the positive and the negative aspects of each food stuff. It will be up to you to decide how each will fit into your life. My commentary on the spiritual effects of foods is based on traditional viewpoints, such as Hindu and Chinese philosophy, as well as Western anthroposophy; however, I pass on only those theoretical considerations that match my personal observations. The food categories we’ ll examine are milk and dairy products, meat, fish, fowl, eggs, grain, beans, roots, leaves, sea vegetables, fruit, nuts, nightshades, herbs and spices, and sugar, salt and fats. MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS
• Expansive: milk, butter, yogurt, soft cheeses
• Contractive: hard, salty cheeses
• Buffers: either acid-forming or alkalizing
• Mostly cooling: except butter and high-fat cheeses
• Buildup food A newborn who drinks its mother’ s milk receives the perfect food, custom-made to fulfill its needs, until such time as the youngster can begin to partake of the same food as adults. Milk is richly nourishing, soothing to the soul, and carries the warmth of life that will help a child develop its own ability for warmth and love. Because of this, milk in general— not only human mother’ s milk— has come to be associated with good nourishment, and with the ease, bliss, and innocence of childhood. According to Hauschka,“ Milk prepares the body for habitation by the soul and spirit. It brings a person down to earth and gives him a feeling for the oneness of the human race.” 2 But what happens when human beings drink the milk of another animal? And when that milk, moreover, is subjected to various processes that alter its natural state? Fresh, raw milk from cows, goats, sheep, camels, yaks, and similar animals may have a number of nourishing qualities and nutrient elements; but, it has a different chemical composition from human milk, and it lacks the human energy field, the human quality. When this milk is, in turn, pasteurized and homogenized, and when synthetic vitamins are added to it, we can be certain that it is a totally different substance from the one that goes directly from the human mother’ s nipple to her child’ s mouth( without even coming in contact with air). As such, it must also have a totally different effect. According to modern nutritional thinking, milk( and today that means pasteurized, homogenized, vitamin A and D fortified cow’ s milk) is an“ excellent food” beause of its high volume of component elements such as protein and calcium. The fat content of milk has recently come under criticism, so that it is now considered desirable to consume“ skim” or“ low-fat” milk( although the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend low-fat milk for infants). As we have seen in chapter two( see this page), human mother’ s milk has somewhat more fat than cow’ s milk. I would argue, therefore, that perhaps it is not the fat but the protein, calcium, and sodium concentration in cow’ s milk— considered so healthful— that we should be concerned about. Compare the nutrient composition of cow’ s milk and mother’ s milk:
COMPARISON OF NUTRIENTS IN HUMAN AND COW’ S MILK Macronutrients in grams per 100 grams