Food Thing

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Grains and beans supply as much protein as meat, are more easily digested and of a much better quality. All the major civilizations of the past have used grains as their principal food, supplementing them with vegetables, nuts, beans, fruit, seeds and, occasionally, small amounts of animal products. It is in this exact proportion that foods occur in Nature and the cultures of the past followed this ratio intuitively. The Egyptian, Chinese, Hebrew, Aztec, Mayan, Inca, Japanese, Russian, Roman and Greek civilizations used grains as their principal food during the highest and most enlightened periods of their culture.

Only by once again turning to grain, the true food of Man, can we attain happiness and health and develop a true comprehension of the orderly workings of Nature.

As Michio Kushi, one-time professor of Oriental philosophy at Harvard, has said, "Grains are a unique product of the vegetable kingdom which combine the beginning and ending, the seed and the fruit, into one compact unity. Some say that eating grains develops an embracing view of life which includes everything because of this wholesome structure. Perhaps this is really true, for all great religions and cosmologies were born in countries which depended on grains."

WHOLE FOODS

It is vital for us to develop a concept of whole food. Choosing a part of any food and discarding the rest is unwise since it is not only an unsound ecological practice, but is also detrimental to health. Nature provides food in whole form and it is in this manner that it should be eaten.

A classic example of the failure to comprehend Nature's workings is the milling of grain, a process which robs the cereal of much of its nutritional value. Grains are Nature's most perfectly balanced foods when eaten in whole form and they provide a complete nutritional package. The hull of all cereals, for instance, consists of six separate layers, each of which contains minerals and vitamins. The inner core is composed mostly of carbohydrates, yet one of the outer layers is designed to aid in the digestion of carbohydrates. If grain is stripped of its rich outer layers and bleached, the resulting product is a totally inferior food.

The ideal should be to use foods in the same proportion in which they occur in Nature, and in the form that Nature provides. Since grains are the most abundant food, they should make up at least 50% of our daily diet. Twenty-five to 30% of our food should consist of well-cooked vegetables. The remainder can be raw vegetables, sea vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and fruits.

If animal products are desired they should only compose about 10% of the total. It is preferable to choose fish rather than meat or dairy products, since many fish - especially small fish and shellfish - contain unsaturated fats, are more easily digested and - therefore - less detrimental to health.

As long as food can be stored naturally, it is good to eat. Grain will keep indefinitely without spoiling if it is kept dry and cool. Rice 4,000 years old, discovered during archeological excavations in Asia, sprouted when planted. It is natural to eat grain at any time of the year.

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