Natural Health

Learning to live naturally

When I was a teenager I had been persuaded that planet Earth was over-populated and that I shouldn’t bear children myself. But higher powers had other plans for me because it was after the birth of my son that I stumbled into understanding food and nutrition.

Nevertheless even after my son was born two decades ago, I yearned to have a daughter and I was always drawn to people who had little girls. Now to my great joy, I have not one, but three step daughters, and they are a delight, although they are no longer little!

One of them has had major health problems since childhood. Partly because she was raised on typical nutritional fare which did nothing to help her precarious health. But after living with me for two years, her father and siblings can’t believe the positive change they see in her. They feel it’s a radical personality makeover with better health a bonus side effect. The change she has experienced isn’t only because of the healthy, nutritious food she is eating. She is also living in a more relaxed environment and is made to feel she has real talent. Therefore she is now a more confident individual, focused on realising her dreams.

However the prime cause of her metamorphosis is intelligent nutrition. It surprises me when people question how food can have a major positive impact on them. What else could make a difference? No, not even germs and viruses (read my column in the November issue), because one can’t blame microbes for heart problems, diabetes, deteriorating eyesight, arthritis and the like. What are the causes of these ailments? Genes, old age or destiny? It all needs a rethink.

If you had any idea of how the body worked, you’d have no doubt that all ailments are intimately connected with what you eat, drink and breathe. Food assimilates in the blood to nourish blood cells that make or break you. Did you know that one tenth of our blood decomposes every day at the rate of 300 million globules per second? So in ten days your bloodstream is not the same as it was ten days ago; the blood is completely new, its composition being dependent on your nutrition and lifestyle.

Have no doubt: you are what you eat. Therefore what you eat determines whether you feel happy or depressed. For several decades people have been consuming refined foods. Guess which vitamin is lost when cereal is refined? Vitamin B, the vital vitamin that helps us fight stress and depression. Do we need to investigate further why stress is a global phenomenon these days?

George Ohsawa, the father of macrobiotics (an ancient Japanese system of healing like ayurveda) says that our will is affected by what we consume. A strong will is built by consuming mineral-rich (more yang) foods, while avoiding extreme yin items that deplete our bodies of minerals. Sugary foods and drinks, especially carbonated beverages, lack minerals, so yinized blood leaches them from body and brain tissue, as well as from bones and teeth.

Unfortunately even those who accept that our health is determined by what we eat, argue this does not apply to the brain. They are misinformed. Continuous intake of fast foods impairs the functioning of the brain. How prone or immune we are to these problems depends on how strong we are genetically and constitutionally.

Although I said ‘unfortunately’, looked at another way, it is fortunate that we know that food has such a powerful role in our well-being. Fortunate because maintaining good health is within our reach, and needn’t be blamed on factors beyond our control. So all we need to do about living naturally is to be clear about the fundamentals of living naturally. It isn’t as simple as popping a pill!

Many parents who consume a diet made up of meat, sugary foods and drinks, create children who exhibit early genius which cannot be sustained as they mature. This is because the foods they consumed weaken the strong constitution they possessed when they were young. And a weakened constitution is unable to exhibit innovative genius. A sound mind needs a sound body.

A yang body is the supportive foundation for a mind that can be yin (open to inspiration), yet probing and creative at the same time. A macrobiotic diet can facilitate this ideal balanced state over time. If you have been regularly reading this page in EducationWorld, you’ll know what a macrobiotic diet and lifestyle includes.

In India, we are fortunate because our diets are naturally macrobiotic, if only we switched all its refined ingredients to unrefined. This includes salt, sugar, cereals, and oils. The one major difference, however, is that there is no room for dairy products in a macrobiotic diet. Macrobiotics like any other natural healing system, urges us to stop violating the universal order and allow nature to do its job by assisting it in four ways. One is to choose organic foods; two, listen to your body; three, follow natural laws including understanding symptoms which are indicators when one is not in alignment with nature; four, remain active, without which all of the above are futile.

Whatever the health problem, correct your lifestyle and watch the magic. Make the effort to break the vicious circle. Once you succeed, you’ll live the difference and never look back. The world will seem to be at your feet and every dream within reach.