I can finally think clearly now. The days of scattered thoughts, attention deficit which crippled my ability to focus on a goal or intention, indigestion and chronic intestinal disorders leading me to sickness and deficiencies due to the inability to absorb nutrients are all gone. Constant hunger plagued me as nothing really satisfied me, maybe my taste buds were pleased, but I certainly sought after more. All the flavors seemed to be there as I was amazed by the neurological effect in a sugar daze as my schooling days passed but I did not pass. I had a hard time in school. Now I have my masters in Nutrition and I read a book or so weekly and find myself reading more than one book at a time with interest in many subjects which I found resistance to in the past.
Sure, I was inspired. Yes, my mind fuels more creative thought than the food that I eat. It is the block of energy that concerned me. Processed foods, for me and others within my research, do just that. The food that is untouched, hanging from trees, and growing from the ground always resonated well with me. It was only a logical thought to me to eat this…and only this. All of the other foods I ate just seemed glutinous, or like I was only running after my taste buds. I denied this thought with the idea of protein consumption and my ancestors standing over their prey, in blood, eating the heart while it is still pumping. That thought is a beautiful picture of co-existence with nature compared to the gruesome slaughter houses that enabled my plate to be full and satiated my cravings….or did it? I constantly craved and wanted all this food that made me sick and clouded my mind as I was tired the majority of the time.
With the exclusion of artificial flavors and colors, hydrogenated oils, and corn syrups I began my journey. This is good practice for reading because the small print on the side of all those boxes that affluent societies consume is overwhelming. I prefer not to read all that so I stick to the produce. Although all those PLU codes documenting the 1,500-5,000+ mile journey to our plate from another county isn’t for the illiterate. I always wonder why we buy coconuts in Florida for $1.50-$4.00 in supermarkets when they fall off the trees in the parking lot; I suppose some people prefer coconuts from Thailand and Costa Rica at the expense of a few thousand gallons of oil and a few minutes of the 40 hour work week.
We have so many choices of fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, medicinal herbs, spices, and super foods like Goji berries from Tibet to conjure up a “super diet”, let alone the unimaginably unlimited resources and knowledge of farming-to righteously grow all of our own foods- meandering in Google, YouTube, and books at our fingertips. Instead most of us consume 30-50% animal products like meats such as chicken, fish, and cow, with there by products like cheese and milk. Refined grains make up the rest of the diet, processed until taste bud perfection from pasta to corn syrup- it is easy to stay in the “packaged diet syndrome” where everything is coated with preservatives, artificial flavors/colors, and sometimes that delicious combo of phosphoric acid, corn syrup, and caffeine that kids and parents alike love for breakfast or dinner (YUM!). This is sure to give way to the “nutrition transition”. This is the term for a phenomenon in which a developing country becomes affluent taking them from starvation to obesity as quickly as they “got rich”.
Experience and education teaches me so much that most of us take for granted, like the survival foods that out predecessors ate such as hunting- using every last part of the animal for nourishment and how small of a percentage this food source has been throughout history and in most cultures diets’ today. Text books also taught me that the discovery of grains may have brought the existence of civilizations, as we enabled food sources in one place stopping nomadic life. These are all theories as all of history is only a reflection of one mans perception at the time anyway…so I like to use an easy experiment to exemplify the ABUNDANCE OF HEALTH THAT IS WAITING FOR YOU.
Carefully studying all the diets of the world, the subtle changes people close to me make, and there mind/body response, social change like vegans and the raw revolution, and fad diets like Atkins, athletes and elderly diets, fetal needs to birth to adolescence…it all amazes me and taught me the same thing compost teaches me….
Eat foods that grow from the ground and feel like the one who made them. Eat the foods that are marketed, packaged, and preserved; and that is just how you will feel. Put all the scraps in a bucket or container from a fruit and vegetable fast for 1 month. Monitor how your mind/body feels, and look at your compost pile (giving it plenty of air by opening it and shaking it) every day. Now do the same with all the foods that comprise a typical affluent society member’s diet. Put all that processed food in a bucket, with all the meat, and cheese (the leftovers from your plate) in a bucket and monitor how your mind/body feels along with the observance (and aeration) of your compost bucket. Monitor just 30 days, eating only raw, uncooked fruits and vegetables; versus the typical processed diet. Two extremes…which one is really extreme for the human body and mind? Even 3 days to 1 week will uncover the abundance of health that is preserved when the co-existence of nature is observed.
Health is a slow process and this experiment is meant to help examine our opportunity to heal ourselves in this affluent society filled with opportunity to educate ourselves. If your diet is only 2% fresh fruits and vegetables (like the additives in parenthesis on the side of all those containers that make up your diet) and you increase that to 20% this month and continue the evolution of nutrition- you can be eating over 50% raw foods in your diet a year from now and enjoy the abundance of health that is waiting for you! Please send you story with a picture or video to OrganicFointess@gmail.com to help others like you! As we are all one! Be sure to eat as many colors, shapes, and sizes, off all fruits and vegetables- and try for as much Organic and Local produce as possible!!! Love and Gratitude to you!
