Six Healing Secrets of Food

[Guest guest]

Six Healing Secrets of Food

by Deborah Kesten

Because

our current approach to nutrition isn't working well for so many of us, as a

nutrition researcher, educator, and health journalist, it appalls me that so

much of the literature in my field continues to focus exclusively on only one of

the six secrets: what to eat. If the dice in Las Vegas casinos were fixed so

that only the same side kept showing up every time you rolled them, everyone

would scream "cheat!"

We are being cheated nutritionally. Food constitutes a six-part gift, but all

we're hearing about is one thing. But this skewed perspective, focusing solely

on the physiological aspects of food, has become the norm. I call our one-sided,

limited view the Dark Ages of nutrition. We think that nutritional

science is at its pinnacle, but in fact, most of us are still in the dark about

what can most benefit us about food. This is because we're ignoring the most

important elements of food and nutrition -- the healing secrets of food -- that

have served humankind for centuries. They are:

1. Unite with others through food.

2. Be aware of your feelings before, during, and after eating.

3. Bring moment-to-moment nonjudgmental awareness to each aspect of the meal.

4. Appreciate food and its origins -- from the heart.

5. Create union with the Divine by "flavoring" food with love.

6. Eat fresh, whole foods in their natural state as often as possible.

All these elements count -- not just one or two in isolation.

From Secret to Celebration

As powerful as the healing secrets of food are, I am disappointed that

experts -- from food writers to dietitians and religious leaders -- don't learn,

practice, and teach what these secrets have to offer, emphasizing their valuable

health-giving properties and benefits every opportunity they get.

I am disappointed that we consider only what can be measured in food, while

we've forgotten that what is not so easily measured might be much more valuable

to our health. I am disappointed that society as a whole isn't paying more

attention to the healing secrets of food. Instead we choose to ignore a powerful

truth: food has the ability to heal us in many ways -- if we take the time to

tap into its powerful healing properties.

Where, I wonder, is the meaning, the invisible satisfaction in our food? The

human connection? The pleasure? The delight? The soul satisfaction? Where are

the missing "secret ingredients," what philosopher Huston calls

"forgotten truth" about food and its meaning in our lives? Author Ken

Wilbur articulates this dilemma of objective scientific truth versus underlying

meaning that cannot be measured objectively. In his book The

Marriage of Sense and Soul, he writes, "Science is clearly one of

the most profound methods that humans have yet devised for discovering truth,

while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning."

Our ancient ancestors understood instinctively the significance of putting

meaning into meals. Throughout the centuries, people of many religions and

cultural traditions have infused food with meaning in ways that are still

evident today. For instance, devout Christians begin meals with a prayer of

thanks; Indians refer to bhoga, a collective term for any food ingredient being

used as an offering to God; with compassion for food animals as a guideline,

Jewish dietary laws specify prohibited and acceptable food; and a reverence for,

and connection to, nature and food is an integral part of Native American Indian

beliefs.

When the meaning in our meals is lost, what's left is a list of rules and

regulations that are not meaningful and therefore not motivating or sustainable.

This truth became evident as my mom and dad struggled to overcome their heart

problems. I knew they understood the heart-healthy dietary information I'd given

them, but in retrospect, I realize that the underlying message was, "You

should be eating differently. You should stop eating familiar and comfortable

foods. You should assess and analyze what you're eating." Should.

Surely what we should do or eat isn't a great motivator (nor is it

emotionally appetizing). Indeed, the dictionary states that the word should

implies obligation. Is this what food is really about? Is it something we're

obligated to eat, to analyze, to weigh, to judge, to avoid, to crave, to

overconsume, to underconsume, to control, to love, to hate, to fear, or to

revere?

When we assess the vast nutritional resources of our culinary heritage and

merge this wisdom with what modern nutritional science has to tell us, our

relationship to food becomes integrative and therefore optimal. In lieu of being

tossed around in a storm of nutrients and numbers, you become empowered to

actualize an eating style that holds the potential not only to nourish your

physical health but also to enhance your emotional, spiritual, and social

well-being. Food becomes a celebration of life.

The Main Course

I'm calling for a renaissance -- a reflowering of the way we view food and

nutrition. This new view asks that we pay attention to all the healing secrets

-- and to demystifying, understanding, and practicing them every day. I'm

especially thrilled to tell you about these long-lost healing secrets -- not

only because of their timeless wisdom, but because they contain the answers

we've been looking for -- but in all the wrong places.

Ultimately, their message is simple: the healing gifts of food are available

to us each time we eat. As a matter of fact, every time you shop for, prepare,

and eat food you have the opportunity to connect with the life-giving,

life-containing mystery inherent in food. These activities are also

opportunities to connect with loved ones, with the earth, with life itself. In

this way, you can heal not only yourself but, ultimately, the planet.