| Do you know who's
preparing your food? There's a frightening trend afoot. More and
more we're leaving the food preparation to strangers like
restaurants and the processed food industry because our time is
too valuable and is better spent doing the important things like
making money, watching TV or surfing the net. But these "surrogate
mothers" are motivated by profits not an altruistic desire to
promote our well-being, so where are those "important" time
expenditures taking us as individuals and as a society - as a
world? Time is money, as the saying goes, and because food has
always been relatively inexpensive in this country, our time seems
too valuable to be spent in the kitchen. Cooking has lost its
perceived value in many homes, with children preferring store
bought to homemade. Cooking is looked upon as a low status job - a
mindless, tedious, time consuming occupation. It is undervalued as
are most of the truly nurturing professions (massage might be an
exception). This is a tragedy with far reaching consequences for
our Nation and the world that seeks to emulate us.
In the so-called "primitive cultures" and in other very old
cultures e.g. Chinese, the person who prepares the food is highly
respected, it being recognized that the quality of the food eaten
determines our level of wellness. The cook is more highly esteemed
than the doctor because prevention is more valuable than cure. The
doc comes in to mop-up after one has become deficient and/or has
abused oneself with over consumption to the point of inflammation
or degeneration. Medicinal herbs, drugs and homeopathy seek to
re-establish a balance, but food, nutritional herbs and moderation
will create and maintain that balance that we call Health.
And what about our Health, anyway? In our schools it's usually
an elective but in the Natural World it's a requirement. It's
called Survival and the healthiest do better at it than all the
rest!! We have superimposed our socio/economic laws over natural
ones and, in the short term, it seems we've achieved ascendance
but, America Beware - Mother Nature bats last!!
In 1910, the U.S. was number one in health of 93 nations. In
1920, it was number 2. In 1978, the U.S. Public Health Service
reported that it had dropped to 79th and by the 1980s, it was down
to 95th out of 100 nations, according to a report released by the
United Nations.
Esoteric it's not, but somehow, in our addiction to
"materialism", we've missed a very important concept -a core
concept about what is required to thrive on earth. Why are birth
defects and degenerative diseases among children on the rise in
the United States?
Why do we have so many learning disabilities, attention deficit
disorders, eating disorders and depressed people? It is because we
have been breaking Natural Laws related to Health, i.e., we've
been neglecting our basic nutrition. This "bankruptcy" has also
been linked to delinquency, domestic abuse and drug addiction.
So, if you've been thinking that your economic well-being is
all that counts, think again. Spiritual/physical/economic health
are all different facets of the same jewel that I will call
Radiant Health. If your body is a temple, how's the foundation? Is
there a leaky roof, or is it about to collapse? If your body is an
all-terrain vehicle, are your tires flat? Is your battery dead, or
is your windshield just cracked? The more perfect that our
temples/vehicles are, the more perfect are the transmissions of
energy to us and from us and the more likely we will survive as a
Nation fit to be called a world leader.
Otherwise, hey, the Romans probably thought they were cool too.
|
