YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. Literally.
The tissues of our body, plasma, blood, muscle, fat, bone, and nerves are constructed and nourished based on the food we consume. It is only because of the resilience of the human body and the built-in mechanisms for survival that many people are able to subsist on insufficient nutrients derived from processed and artificial foods.
But why survive when we have the potential to thrive?
What’s on your plate?
When we consume “food” constructed of chemicals and with genetically altered or implanted material, it follows that the body must convert these products into useable nourishment. This generates a few questions.
- How much additional energy and internal processes are required to extract products the body can use to build, repair, and replace the cells and tissues that are expended daily?
- Further, how taxing is this on the body?
I think you would agree that these additional burdens on the body hasten the aging process and make our bodies more susceptible to poor health, chronic illness, and life-threatening diseases.
Chemical harvest vs personalized nutrition
Choosing foods from nature’s bounty as opposed to a chemical “harvest” supports our body’s function and contributes to longevity and health. There are a few finer points to consider.
Joshua Rosenthal, founder of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition says that “one man’s food is another person’s poison”. Rosenthal reminds us that natural foods, even those closest to nature are not consistently beneficial for every person.
This truth has meaning at a subtle level too as we will see when we dive a little bit further into Ayurveda and the five elements.
Learning about the element’s qualities will reveal our connection with nature and the world we live in and teach us how to navigate feeding our bodies and our minds proper nourishment.
