A few weeks ago I wrote of my concerns on what we as a collective community are feeding our kids.
Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the conversation by adding their comments. And, secondly, I need to apologise for my passions, which can often be mistaken for obnoxiousness. Too often in the recent past I have found myself grinding my teeth with anger, rage even. It’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes, baring witness to the atrocities in our world.
Nonetheless, life goes on, and through deepening my spiritual practice comes the realisation that the most effective way to change the world is to lead by example; to live compassionately, to forgive those that frustrate me, and also to forgive myself for becoming frustrated in the first place.
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| Image found here |
We could linger in the darkness of negativity, but I truly believe that there’s a revolution in full swing. More and more people are adopting vegetarian and vegan diets, or at least flirting with them, which will surely put a sizable dent in the catastrophe that is the factory farming industry. When we eliminate these foods we experience what I call a permanent state of Ingested Fear Detox (think: ingested hormones and antibiotics, and the fear and suffering that we’re physically digesting by consuming these foods). Interests in juicing, raw food diets, macrobiotics, and whole food has sky rocketed! People are curing themselves of obesity, diabetes, depression and anxiety and other chronic diseases, all over the world, right now! People the word over, even skeptics, are welcoming the presence of a spiritual practice. Yoga, meditation, visualisation and prayer (conventional or otherwise) are becoming mainstream, as are other ritualistic practices of self care, such as dry body brushing, aromatherapy, lighting candles and affirmations.
Rather than spiraling negatively, I would like to turn this situation on it’s head and take an opportunity to find something to be grateful for. My initial concerns regarding the anti-foods and non-nutrition we are providing for our kids are real, these concern terrorizes my thoughts, regularly. But in all seriousness, what time are we better equipped to deal with such negligence than right now? We have the information and we are starting to uncover the truth.
We now know better than to trust the food pyramid which is funded by the meat moguls, dairy crew and agri-business.
We know that the fruit and vegetables sold in our no-so-super-markets are sprayed with poisons at best, and genetically modified at worst, unless labeled otherwise.
We know that we shouldn’t be buying that ‘cereal’ for our children; that what’s in that box isn’t even technically food any more.
We are starting to doubt our doctors, not because they are awful, terrible people, but because many of them have been detrained in nutrition, and are taught that chronic diseases are incurable (I’m not sure how much more proof we need to suggest otherwise) and can only be controlled and repressed with radical treatment and drugs. Which brings me to my next point…
We are starting to distrust the drugs we are prescribed, the ones that leave us feeling more desperate than before.
We know that we can afford organic produce in the long run; that buying organically reshuffles our priorities to health and self love. That organic carrots are far cheaper than countless medications, doctors visits, and the pain of losing a loved one.
We are starting to use our intuition again, that glorious voice, or that gut feeling, that will always lead us down our path.
We are coming out of the fog.
And if you didn’t know about these things, well now you do! :)
Last time I wrote on this topic, I mentioned I was going to follow up with some information on how food is affecting the behaviour of our kids. This is still something I want to address some time soon, but for now, I’m going to flex my positivity muscle.
My advice to anyone even moderately intrigued by what I’ve written today: start asking questions! Peak your head over the fence (not literally!), turn off the news, put down the newspaper and contemplate looking inside for guidance. Go get yourself a library card and get readin’! I have some brilliant resources on my pinterest page. Take yourself on a date to the farmers market, let all the colours and smells seduce you into an organic frenzy. Read your food labels, and while you’re there, forget about the calories, I truly believe that’s one of the reasons we’re so sick as a society. When you read the food label, look at the ingredients. Hint: you’re looking for food. If the ingredients list is too long, has words you can’t pronounce, or numbers, then forget about it. Consider natural therapies, meditation and visualisation as realistic options in facilitating your healing. Give those gorgeous kids of yours some home made goodness, bring joy to the kitchen table by creating food with love, and since we’re at the dinner table, let’s enjoy each other’s company, let’s put away the iPad and be wonderfully grateful for our food. When dinner’s over, maybe we can pack the kids a healthy lunch for tomorrow? What about jumping on a meditation pillow or a yoga mat? What about telling yourself how beautiful you are, even if you don’t believe it? What about changing this world wide perception from fear to compassion. When this shift happens, we automatically take better care of body-minds, and those of our kids. We buy the organic spinach instead of the Advil, we choose to forgive and release past hurt rather than making ourselves ill with resentment.
And the good news, if this feels impossible to you or someone you know, we’re in a time where there is a whole generation of people willing to spread the love and the light. People like me! We want to help you transform, because when you do, you start to spread the light and the love and from there we create a blissed out snowball that will, I repeat will, change the world.
At the end of the day, folks, we all need to practice a little more of this…
Another fabulous post!! I too battle with being a bit too negative when really it is a positive message we are trying convey and spread to as many people as possible.
Unfortunately, as a future doctor, medical practitioners have to use evidence based treatments and cannot recommend anything that doesn’t have adequate scientific evidence for fear of legal ramifications. There is still not enough data with regards to diet and many natural remedies for the medical profession to start recommending these things. Thankfully, there are recent studies that have shown that a vegetarian diet is better for longevity,cardiovascular health and prevention of some types of cancer – which means there are studies being done in these areas and it is looking positive for the future. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of funding for these types of studies as there is no money in it for drug companies or food companies, so most benefits of diet for chronic disease are anecdotal.
I really like your point about looking for the food, not the calories, when label-reading. And it really is amazing what kind of positive impact eating bright, colorful and whole food can have on your psyche – back when I was starting to “discover” veggies was when I started to love my food. I used to think I loved food when I ate stuff like salty instant noodles all the time, but oh man, no processed food could ever compare to the perfection of eating an orange, or an avocado.
Power to the blissed out snowball. :)