You Are What You Eat

By John Dolman

Healthy food and nutrition used to be conveyed by the old meat, veg, grain, dairy and fruit model. As long as you were eating a balanced diet, we were told, you were supporting your body to be healthy. Now the dialogue around food has become more sophisticated, including more facets and dimensions: ethics, purity and sustainability. Not only must our diet be balanced, it must be clean, full of life force and not cost the planet to produce.

Organic and Biodynamic foods contain high levels of nutrients and life force, whilst being chemical free. The difference between chemically and conventionally grown food and organic/Biodynamic food is enormous. Studies show that nutrient levels are more than three times higher in organically grown food than chemically and that Biodynamic food has even higher nutrients and life force. Anecdotal evidence points to increased awareness and clarity also. It stands to reason that the obesity epidemic is really an epidemic of a nutrient-poor, vitality-deprived and therefore starving population.

But we don’t need the experts to tell us this. Our own experience reveals that we feel better, enjoy our food more and enjoy the process of eating together more when it is produced with integrity. Our relationship with food, and the earth that produces it, begins to shift and the old saying ‘you are what you eat’ becomes especially poignant. 

Perhaps it is essential to our evolution both personally and collectively to look more deeply at what food produces within us. Besides vitamins and minerals, there are other more subtle elements that we absorb. What are you absorbing when you eat toxic chemically-laden food, made with greed, neglect and economic rationalism? What do you become?

We can instead feed ourselves with food that will nourish and cultivate within us wisdom, clarity, vitality and compassion. In these uncertain times, such qualities are essential for our survival so that we can navigate more effectively and successfully within our daily lives.


See also accompanying articles, Spiritual Composting  and Biodynamics, SuperScience for Super Food

John Dolman is the managing director of Santos, a Kindred magazine partner and sponsor of Sustenance.

Santos – 02 6684 2419
See Santos' website
 
Published In Kindred issue 23, Sept  07