Satisfaction of organic needs is their sole concern. Remaining stagnant at this level is the greatest folly one can think of. Living at this level results in pathetic and perilous conditions all around. No one advocates to forgo consumption of material objects. Rather, do it in a spirit of detachment. The art of renunciation becomes natural and spontaneous once a perfect sage blesses the seeker with knowledge of metaphysical form of Supreme Brahman. Excessive obsession with `bhoga' leads to roga - physical and mental maladies. Medically too, over-indulgence affects both the digestive and nervous system resulting in a wide range of diseases. Moral degradation, ethical decline, aesthetic impoverishment and spiritual blindness are natural concomitants.” (http://www.adishakti.org/_/trilogy_of_bhoga_roga_and_yoga.htm)

Food is always sure of exciting passions and conjuring all kinds of emotions.  Just the mere mention of the word and the debate is already under way.  Anyone will concur that our nutritional needs depend on many factors such as age and gender, type of activity, climate and time of year, food availability, culture, financial means, etc., and perhaps most importantly on our evolutionary inheritance (genes) which makes some of us less tolerant to certain types of food and less able to metabolize and assimilate others.

The hackneyed saying “you are what you eat” - which was recently given a new lease of life by Dr Gillian McKeith – has probably never been as much of actuality as today.  Indeed, despite all the technological and scientific advances of the last decades in the domain of health and disease prevention and eradication, many are none the wiser when it comes to making sensible food choices and only a few are entirely aware of food’s multiple implications. 

It is undeniable that the food industry and the media have a lot to gain by constantly pushing on us the latest “must eat” food fad.  Wholesome fresh foods are rarely advertised for they are their own advertisement.  From a business point of view, it makes a lot more sense for the food industry and advertisers to promote the newly-found health benefits of processed foods such as packaged cereals or white bread than extol the virtues of Brussels sprouts.

Based on the latest scientific findings, we are told to eat a little bit more of this and a little bit less of that, adopting and abandoning along the way a number of unsafe diets, but the bottom line however remains the same: all the foodstuffs that are now part of our diet, even with the addition of vitamins, minerals and trace elements and so on will never add up to as much as a fresh product given to us by nature. The empty food that has become the mainstay of many households will certainly make our waist balloon up but will fail to provide what is really needed.  It is hard to believe that the large quantities of food we ingest leave us bereft of the most vital nutrients.  Whether we like it or not, many of us suffer from malnutrition, not because we are under-nourished but over-nourished.  Over-nutrition with its range of specific deficiencies, excesses and imbalances is what is dangerously impairing the health of the Western world at an accelerated pace. “You and you alone are responsible for the result of how you nourish your body. The LIFE in your food is what counts. Your body is composed of billions of microscopic cells. Your very existence depends on them. They need nourishment, live, active nourishment. It depends on you, and on you alone, whether the food you eat results in nutrition or malnutrition!” (- Dr Walker “Fresh Vegetables and Fruit Juices – What’s Missing in Your Body”)

Increasingly, however,  people are now refusing to conform to the dictates of nutritionists and fashion and are demanding to know more about the ins and outs of the food they eat.

There is a whole array of delicious, satisfying, life-sustaining foods which can help us feel better and give us more energy and in turn the added energy will make us want to take up more exercise.  Switching to local, fresh and wholesome foods and reducing - if not stopping - our consumption of meat also means that we can do our little bit to end world hunger and minimize our carbon footprint.  We need to grow in global environmental consciousness and “live simply so others might simply live” (- Gandhi). At a much earlier time, Socrates had already uttered similar words of wisdom: “And with such a vegetarian diet they may be expected to live in peace and health to a good old age, and bequeath a similar life to their children after them.”  It is time for us to become aware of the interconnectedness of all things and to stop living selfish lives.  We can begin to do this by taking responsibility for what we put into our mouths.  For if there are certain things such as our own genetic make-up that we cannot control or change, we can control and change what we eat.  Junk food perpetuates violence and bad behaviour and this is why vegetarianism is key to creating a more simple lifestyle and promoting peace on earth.  The roots of non-violence are deeply steeped into our diet.

A genetically modified food is not the same as a natural food.  Nature adequately provides for all human nutritional requirements.  When one buys a fresh natural product ripened in the open in natural sunlight, the solar light it receives enhances its genetic make-up.  When man begins to alter the chemistry of food, using artificial light and chemicals, the food becomes empty and cannot sustain life in the way a naturally grown product can.  “The rays of the sun send billions of atoms into plant life, activating the enzymes and by this force they change inorganic elements into organic or life-containing elements for food…”  (- Dr Walker, “Fresh Vegetables and Fruit Juices – What’s Missing in Your Body”) .

Confusion and utter disquiet are now rife as regard the short and long-term effects of what we are daily ingesting.  It is quite sad that we should have reached a point when we cannot trust that what we eat is safe for consumption for we don’t know how it is made, where it comes from and what treatments it has been subjected to prior to finding its way in the supermarkets.  The potential dangers of GM and processed foods together with the horrific cruelties of factory farming practices to meet the current dietary demands of the Western world have been a huge boost for the organic movement and its efforts to minimize the impact on the environment through the use of fewer pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.  There are now many proponents advocating going back to a diet based on plenty of fresh, organic, free-range, local whole foods instead of the highly processed and genetically engineered ones.

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