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ISSN: 1539-431X August 8, 2006 Food: Friend or Foe?
 What
is RSS?
John Cali Although we've never talked about this subject publicly (at least as far as I can recall), it's come up many times in private readings over the years. Obviously it's an important issue for many folks. This whole thing about food has fascinated me since I was a little kid. I grew up in a large family of Sicilian immigrants. For us, food was fun. It was festive. It was a cause for celebration. We never thought about food as either friend or foe. Of course, we knew we had to eat for physical survival. But we didn't have the hangups about it many in our modern world seem to have. We didn’t label food as "bad" or "good." We just knew what we liked, and enjoyed it. We recently got several emails from one of our readers on the subject of food. Here are some excerpts from her letters: I love the newsletters and Chief Joseph. I've never had anyone who made me feel alright exactly the way I am more than Chief Joseph. I love his wisdom. I have the archival (newsletter) CDs, but I've not found anything in there that discusses eating meat versus vegetarianism or vegetarianism with dairy and egg products. What does he say about this? Is it okay to eat meat, eggs, and dairy products? I'm sure there are others like me who are wondering about this question. I don't feel guilty about eating meat and send out gratitude to the creatures who are nourishing my body. I feel that, if we can consider men who go to war on behalf of a country patriots and heros, why can't those creatures whose lives go to feed us be heros, too? If I had my druthers, they'd all be raised lovingly and kindly and totally appreciated. Death happens here on earth, but I'd like to raise the quality of life for all things who are here to feed us. But the issue of honoring all life gets confusing. Take for instance, the incidence of rats in my ceiling . . . . It was becoming brown and stained and unhealthy, they were coming in my room and eating dog food and leaving poop . . . . Now, I've seen creatures, even insects, out in the yard, and I get a feeling when I see them. Some don't bother me, while I get a definite feeling that some should be removed. But my rat problem wasn't taken care of until . . . . my maternal grandfather came from the other side and (the rats) never came back. So, this issue of honoring all life gets confusing. I mean, aren't I life? Don't I have the right to live safely and well, too? Are we supposed to let all other living things overrun us because we consider them alive? It's confusing. I'm looking forward to Joseph clearing it up for me/us, as it goes way beyond just what we eat. I mean, what if we find a sentient vegetable one day? Then, what? Here's Chief Joseph. Chief Joseph We are aware of the issue food is for many of you -- a huge issue in some cases. As John said, he and his family realized they needed food to physically survive, to nourish their bodies. As you all do. But he also said they simply enjoyed the food, made it a cause for celebration. And that, friends, is the perfect perspective. Enjoy, take joy in, every aspect of your physical lives. Food is surely one of the most important -- and pleasurable -- aspects. Okay, so that's the ideal scenario. But not the scenario most of you live out in your daily experiences. One of the problems today is you have so many "experts" telling you what's good for you and what isn't. If you read every book ever written on diet, the "right" foods, the "wrong" foods, etc., you would go insane. You wouldn't dare eat anything -- after all, it might kill you! So let us start at the beginning. That is, you and your bodies. Your bodies can easily take care of themselves, and flourish, without much input from you. We say this only halfway humorously, for your bodies could really do quite well without you. What we mean by that is whatever food you give your bodies, your bodies and their cells can deal with. Your bodies are capable of taking whatever food and drink you give them and drawing out only the nutrients they need to survive and even thrive. Your bodies know more about what they are doing than you do. Having said that, however, we have a caveat. There are certain foods your bodies can handle more easily than others. Generally speaking, that means foods closest to their natural state. All the preservatives, colorings, sweeteners, and other additives your society seems in love with, take your food far from its natural state. So when you give your bodies all this junk, if you will, your bodies can -- as we said earlier -- handle it. But they have to work harder because these foods do not resonate with your bodies' natural desires. Your bodies adapt, even though it's a strain for them. And they survive. They're tough! But often, that translates, for you, into what you call a craving. A craving, for example, for sugar, or fat, or alcohol, or caffeine, and similar substances your bodies do not instinctively resonate with. So is natural food, without the junk, better for you? Definitely, yes! The closer your food is to its natural state, the better. We're not talking about being vegetarian versus eating meat here -- that’s a whole other issue. And there are additional issues here, at least several. For example, your attitude toward the food you eat. Your state of mind when you sit down to a meal -- do you just do it mechanically, rushing through it so you can get on to something else more important? Are you stressed when you eat? Has the food been prepared by someone under stress? That stress energy will permeate the food. And so on. This is a subject with many facets, and we will be delighted to discuss them all later. But, in the interests of not inundating you with too much in one day, we will conclude here for this time. P.S. from John: Obviously, Joseph did not address all the issues and questions in our reader’s emails. I thought about this, as we were doing this newsletter, and realized there were too many issues to be addressed in one newsletter. Since I know many of you lead busy lives, I like to keep the newsletters fairly short. Joseph was sensitive to that. However, we will do a follow-up next week on eating meat versus being vegetarian. And, if you would like us to continue this topic beyond next week, please let me know.
This article was originally published here.
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John can be reached by email here
or through their website Copyright © 2006 by John Cali. All rights reserved. *************************************************************************
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