How to Nurture Healthy Eating 'Instincts'
The reasons for the loss of the healthy eating instincts can be summarized in
the following way:
[1]We have separated from nature to a specific degree with the aim to
develop the ability of thinking which is the basic precondition for human
freedom. Now we can by the help of thinking understand the material world, the
structure of our body and even the physical activities involved in the processes
of nutrition, but the price for this is the loss of healthy eating and drinking
instincts. While animals are still guided by instincts, we need to use our
thinking if we want to properly nourish ourselves.
If we want to transform our inherited instincts we will for sure
encounter many challenges and obstacles on this path towards healthy
eating and drinking 'instincts'. On this path we need to make various
changes in our attitude towards food and in our eating and drinking
preferences as well. We can arrange activities which enable us to make
appropriate changes in the four groups which reflect the four parts of
the central nervous system with their specific functions.
1. Acquiring a Holistic Understanding of the Role of Nutrition
The huge amount of literature on nutrition available today demonstrates that
we are striving to understand how food affects our body, to know what has
positive or negative effects on our health. Such striving is a necessity of our times because there are
many one-sided 'truths' about food. If we want to overcome the widespread
confusion which exists in the realm of nutrition, then we need to develop a real
understanding of how food affects every aspect of the human being – that is, we
need to understand the fundamental principles of nutrition. Only by their help
can we acquire a proper holistic understanding of the role of nutrition, which
will enable us to make appropriate choices of foods and diets that are being
offered to us. Otherwise we might – with the best intentions – choose things
which can do more harm than good to us.
2. Providing the Body with the Good Quality Food
Even before we acquire more comprehensive understanding of
nutrition, we can start to provide our bodies with the best food we can
buy or produce. Our bodies are marvellous organisms, immensely complex,
with a variety of systems and organs in constant mutual interactions. By
eating good quality food we can ensure that our bodies get the essential
nutrients they need, and that they are not burdened with substances they
do not need. [2]
We can consider the transition from low quality to high quality food
as a means of slow detoxification of the body. It does not require
giving up our favourite dishes, because we can prepare them with better
quality ingredients. Of course, for this we have to actually cook –
without this ability (or, at least, the willingness to learn cooking) we
cannot expect that we can make real positive changes in the realm of
nutrition.
3. Establishing Healthy Eating Habits and Meal Rhythms
Our eating habits have to a large extent been influenced by the
eating habits of those who surrounded us in our childhood. We cannot say
they are really our own eating habits until we consciously decide which
we want to keep or transform to fit our individual needs. Adults have
the ability to educate themselves and change their eating habits if they
decide to do so. It is hard work to overcome old habits, but if we are
properly motivated and we persist in trying – in spite of often falling
back into old habits – it is possible to change. The positive outcome is
well worth all the effort.
In fact, the biggest change in eating habits can be the transition
from bad quality food to good quality food. This is because junk food is
really addictive! People may in this transition experience similar
withdrawal symptoms as when someone stops taking the drugs.
[3] The final aim of our striving is the
establishment of a balanced diet with a great variety of grains, fruits,
vegetables, legumes, etc. If there is a tendency towards a one-sided
diet of potato and meat – or any other extremely one-sided diet – the
problematic foods can be slowly reduced until they become part of an
overall more balanced diet. [4]
4. Developing New Sensitivity for the Effects of Food on Our Organism
If we practice the above approach for some time, we will start to
become more sensitive to the effects of the food we eat. We might find
ourselves in circumstances which 'force' us to eat food we have enjoyed
in the past, but now find it really unpleasant. Or, we will become able
to perceive the difference in the quality of food which we were not able
to do in the past, for example, the difference between freshly milled
flour and old flour. Or, our stomach becomes much more sensitive to the
quality of the food it receives, thus becoming an additional 'organ of
taste'. Such experiences will be proof that we are on the right path,
for "good digestion is founded on the capacity to
taste with the whole alimentary tract, and bad digestion results
from an incapacity of the whole tract to carry out this function of
tasting." [5]
These four different kinds of activities which are necessary for the
development of new eating 'instincts' are, of
course, spread over periods of time which can often overlap. But there
is a sensible succession of New understanding
– Good quality –
New eating habits – New sensitivity
which creates fruitful ground for the nurturing of healthier eating
'instincts'. These instincts are not the same
as animal instincts because they involve a learning process and the
conscious acquisition of new eating habits. The final outcome is the
development of the ability which enables us to sense what is healthy for
our organism in a similar way as it works in the case of animal
instincts. For that reason we can still call them 'instincts'.
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
Two of the above How to Nurture Healthy Eating '‘Instincts' already
contain practical instructions for improvement of our diet. They present two
basic conditions for the development of new eating 'instincts'. The first
condition is to provide our body with good quality food. Only good quality food
can refine our body to such a degree to be capable to sense what is healthy to eat and what is not.
♣ See
HOLISTIC FOOD
'PYRAMID' to find out which food is regarded as good quality food.
The second condition is to establish overall
healthier eating habits and rhythms. This may vary from person to
person or from one eating community to another. But without an effort to improve
our existing eating habits we cannot hope to make any progress in regard to the
capacity to feel which foods do us good and which harm us.
In this task they play a special role the seven grains. In comparison to
potato, [8] grains have a balancing effect on the
cerebral hemispheres, for they equally simulate both frontal lobe (coloured
blue on the picture) and sensory lobes (coloured green). Grains are
therefore a good source of nourishing substances for our thinking and
perceiving by means of various senses – but only if they are consumed whole,
unrefined. Thus the grains have an extremely important role if we aim to
regain healthy eating 'instincts' in the co-operation of our activities of
thinking and perceiving.
[9]
But if a person uses just one or two most popular grains, then he or she
is more prone to develop one-sided eating habits. The consumption of a great
variety of grains makes everyone's diet much more balanced.
♣ For the list of grains see
WHOLE GRAINS
There is also a difference if we eat only one or a few most favoured
grains or if we have on our menu all seven grains. The consumption of
various grains improves our menu and at the same time contributes to more
balanced diet. Even better results can be achieved if we develop the habit
of consuming grains in accordance with the rhythm of the week.
♣ For practical instructions see
WEEKLY RHYTMHM OF SEVEN GRAINS
WARNING: You always have to put the above
practical dietary instructions inside the framework of
GENERAL NUTRITIONAL
GUIDELINES with the aim to know their limits when looking for a solution
of a specific nutritional problem. You also need to be familiar with
THE ROLE OF NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES with the aim to avoid any one-sided conclusions.
