CHAPTER 10
What to Eat The current sciences of medicine and hygiene have made no progress toward answering the question, What shall I eat? The contests between the vegetarians and the meat eaters, the cooked food advocates, raw food advocates, and various other “schools” of theorists, seem to be interminable. And from the mountains of evidence and argument piled up for and against each special theory, it is plain that if we depend on these scientists we shall never know what is the natural food of humans. Turning away from the whole controversy, then, we will ask the question of Nature herself, and we shall find that she has not left us without an answer.
On the question of what to eat, the answer is simple: Eat what Nature provides. The One Living Substance from which all things are made has made an abundance of perfect foods for every person in every place humans can live, and has given every person the physical and mental faculties to know what foods he should eat and how and when he should eat them.
Whenever people have attempted to “improve” on Nature, they go wrong. For humanity does not yet know enough not to go wrong. Nature is the physical form of the One Living Substance, operating according to the rules of the One Living Substance, with the energy of the One Living Substance. Nature provides every person exactly what is needed for perfect health.
The Great Intelligence, which is in and through all, has in reality practically settled the question as to what we shall eat. In ordering the affairs of nature, It has decided that a human being’s food shall be according to the zone in which he lives. These are the foods best for the requirements of the climate. These are the foods which will be the freshest when a person eats them, and therefore most filled with the life force of the One Living Substance. In acquiring these foods a person can be in closest association with the Principle of Life that created them. Therefore, a person need only ask himself what food grows and lives where he lives.
How shall a person know which of these foods to eat, according to his age, gender, ancestry, condition of health, exposure to cold, physical and mental activity?
Again, we see that the Great Intelligence operating in Nature answers the question. It provides a variety of foods in every zone, and it provides a human being with hunger and taste.
A person needs food as a raw material for the Principle of Health in his own body to direct in providing energy, heat, defense, and tissue repair and growth. He needs protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. These are found in the flesh, milk, blood, eggs, bones, and organs of water and land creatures, and in the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds, grains, nuts, and fruits of land and water plants. The Great Intelligence guides the masses of people to discover ways of procuring and preparing these foods in harmony with Nature. A person’s own Principle of Health guides his hunger and taste to the particular foods that will fill its needs.
With all the various ways food is prepared, how shall a person know the proper way?
He should procure and prepare his food in ways that cooperate with Nature. It is only when people work against Nature that they go wrong. To illustrate this point let us compare the health of people working in cooperation with Nature with the health of these same people working against Nature.
In every climate there are tribes who have learned over thousands of years the wisdom of nature and the best ways to gather, prepare, and eat the foods of the region in perfect harmony with the seasons and cycles of Nature.
The perfect health of these people provides a shining example of what is possible in physical strength and endurance, perfect eyesight and teeth, longevity, skill and agility, mental development, morality, and overall well-being. Moreover, they have learned the secrets of healthy reproduction and child-rearing such that there are not only happy, healthy children, but the absence of unsociable behavior.
What secrets of eating are followed by these perfectly healthy people? - They eat only foods that occur in nature or that can be simply made from these.
- They eat only the best foods, and parts of foods, with the greatest nutrient content.
- They eat both animal and plant foods.
- Many foods from both plant and animal sources are eaten raw.
- From wild animals, bones, and organs are as important as (and often preferred over) muscle meat.
- From domesticated animals, fresh milk (and in some cases, even blood) is drawn. When milk products are used, they are made from milk taken from vitally healthy animals after they have been well fed on newly growing spring grasses.
Cheese, butter, and other milk products that can be stored for later use are made from this milk. During other seasons, the animals are fed the highest quality hay. - For some groups, insects in both adult and immature forms are important food sources, even where other animal foods are available.
- In zones near the sea, sea creatures are the source of animal food. Fish eggs are a rich source of nutrients. Where they are not available year-round, both the flesh and eggs of fish are dried for winter use in a way that preserves or increases nutrient content.
- Plant foods are eaten liberally during the season in which they grow and are ripe. Where they are not growing year-round, some are preserved for winter use in ways that preserves their nutrients.
- Sweet foods of all kinds are eaten only sparingly on special occasions. Refined sugar is avoided altogether, as are all foods made by adding refined sugar.
- Land used for plant cultivation is fertilized liberally with natural substances, and allowed periods of rest.
- Grains are eaten whole, or ground immediately before use. The entire grain is used.
- Women are supplied with extra high nutrient diets for several months before marriage and pregnancy, and during pregnancy and lactation. Childbirth is carefully spaced three years apart so that the mother can nurse her child, then replenish her body in preparation for the next pregnancy.
- Young men are also fed extra-high nutrient diets in preparation for fathering children.
- Children are nursed, then given high nutrient foods to help them grow. There are times of natural decrease in food supply, and ceremonial times, when the people eat less, or not at all.
- The people actively participate in the physical pursuit of growing, gathering, hunting, and preparing their food. They have community ceremonies of gratitude and celebration.
These are the practices of the healthiest people on earth.
What happens when these same people abandon their way of living and eating and replace their foods with unnatural foods? They develop disease, deformity, misery, and unsociable behavior.
What are the unnatural foods that cause these effects? They are refined and preserved foods from which natural life has been removed or lost, or sugar and flavors added to hide the absence of nutrients. They are foods so old that no life force remains in them. They are foods from unhealthy plants and animals, containing life force that bears the impression of weakness or disease.
What is needed for perfect health is vital food, brimming with life force, eaten according to the practices of healthy people.
How shall the modern city dweller acquire this vital food and incorporate these practices into his life? First is to remember that he is to eat the food Nature provides in the zone in which he lives.
He must align himself with the Principle of Life with gratitude that there is abundant food for all and with faith that he will be perfectly guided to the best sources available in his area. Perfect health requires a relationship with the Source of all food with faith, gratitude, and joy. Food must be gathered with the attitude of more life to all and less to none.
A person must either learn to grow and gather, raise animals, hunt and fish, or find those who do. If he does not procure his own food directly from Nature, he must form a friendly relationship with those who do. He can then knowingly choose to deal with those who operate in harmony with Nature, exercising gratitude and wisdom.
The person who does not know how to identify a farmer or hunter following the natural laws of producing and finding food can be guided by these simple concepts:
Choosing your food providers - The food provider is healthy, happy, and of a generous spirit.
- He uses no poisons of any kind in the production of foods.
- If he raises animals, they are healthy and treated with kindness, respect,and gratitude. They are fed only the best foods for their health, not for abnormal growth or food production. They are not confined in unhealthy conditions, but given freedom to move about normally, and only sheltered for their protection.
- If he fishes or hunts, he catches or kills lake, river, land or sea creatures intheir natural environment. He uses means that ensure the healthy survival of all the species caught, whether or not they are the ones to be eaten.
- If he farms, he uses only healthy, living soil uncontaminated by previouspoisons. He replenishes the life of the soil so that his crops are rich in natural nutrients. His crops and soil are so healthy that they do not attract pests, and he farms in such a way that birds and other creatures eating the insects on his farm are unharmed. Any water running off his land contains no chemicals that will harm any other part of life.
These are the characteristics of a person who knows the laws of Nature in the production and procurement of food.
You must also know how to determine the correct people with whom to associate in any other steps of obtaining your food. Do not associate with anyone in the process of procuring food who speaks of disease, fear, or lack in any way. Associate only with those who gratefully and joyfully appreciate the life-giving qualities of food, are happy to grow it, harvest it, prepare it, serve it, eat it, and know that there is an abundance of the best food for all. This is important whether you are dealing with someone who is selling you land on which to farm, or a farmer, or butcher, or truck driver, or store clerk, or cook, or waiter in a restaurant.
You must not eat foods produced or transported carelessly, or treated in any other way than as precious, life-giving substances. This is easily accomplished when you are the one procuring the food from its natural source or if you are in direct and harmonious relationship with all those who are.
The city dweller who thinks it is too difficult or too expensive to obtain food in this way need only review
The Science of Getting Rich All his doubts will there be answered. He will be guided in the correct manner of acquiring all the money he wants, and in attracting to himself all other resources he desires.
Once a person is supplied with a variety of vital foods from which to choose, how shall he know what to eat at a given meal? Here is the only needed guideline:
Eat what your body wants. Your body wants what the Principle of Health requires to create perfect health.
What your body wants is determined very simply. The thought of the food, when you are truly hungry, is appealing. The taste of the food while chewing it is pleasant. After eating, your body feels energized and satisfied. There is no sleepiness, irritability, congestion, pain, discomfort of any kind, from the moment you begin to eat until the next day. Over a period of days, weeks and months, you continue to feel well.
This is how you will know you are eating the correct foods. Then you will not need to give the least thought to what you should or should not eat. You will want the right foods. The Principle of Health in your own body will guide you to know what to eat just as surely as it will guide you to know when to eat.
If you do not eat until you have an EARNED hunger, you will not find your taste demanding unnatural or unhealthy foods. If you make an association with your source of food that brings joy and gratitude, you will further increase your desire to eat what is natural and healthy.
It is when a person becomes lazy and allows himself to be tempted by taste and convenience rather than following the Great Intelligence with which he is bestowed, that he pays the price of decreased health.
When you learn to cooperate with Nature you will want what is good for you, and you will eat what you want. This you can do with perfect results if you eat in the right way, and how to do this will be explained in the next chapter.