Wendy RosenfeldtFinding the latest superfood has been the quest of the modern age, however a vital ingredient in the search for nourishing food is often overlooked. Intelligence.
A food’s intelligence can be loosely translated as nutritional value although it also includes the quality, freshness, and degree of life in the food. We understand that we need a balanced diet to provide us with the necessary ingredients for all the different aspects and functions of our bodies. Calcium is good for our teeth and bones, iron helps to transport blood around our bodies while antioxidants fight damaging free radicals.
Nutritionists expound on the amounts of protein, fibre, calcium etc that are found in each particular food. However, the form of the food is often ignored. Nutritional values vary widely depending on whether it is organic, fresh, microwaved, tinned, a week old or genetically engineered. An organic orange has 30% more vitamin C than the average supermarket variety. Fresh, organic spinach has 1,500 mg of iron while the nonorganic contains only 19mg. Food cooked or reheated in the microwave has been found to be significantly lower in qualities such as iron but higher in cholesterol.
Food can lose its intrinsic intelligence the longer it sits around in the fridge. It is not as if that bag of carrots will remain perfectly nutritional until the magical use by date. Cooked food declines in goodness even more quickly. Food that has been cooked, refrigerated, and reheated is only going to increase your free radicals no matter how organic and fresh it was to begin with.
What we are really getting out of our food is a quality that has not yet been measured by western science. It is understood in many modalities as prana, the lifeforce or the consciousness of the food.
A seed contains all the necessary information required to grow into a plant. The outcome is an active, living organism. When we eat a fresh tomato or lettuce, we are metabolizing the life or intelligence of that food. Like humans, plants need to protect themselves against toxins and pathogens. They create special chemicals for that purpose. When consumed in the form of a wholefood those disease-fighting chemicals retain their intelligence thus benefiting our bodies in much the same way.
A poor diet can never be rectified with a handful of supplements. Modern science tends to isolate the active ingredient in a plant and replace the natural ingredient with a synthetic one. This approach compromises the synergies that exist among organic components. Bioflavanoids, found in fresh fruit and vegetables, were originally dismissed in favour of artificial vitamins. They have since been found to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and anti-allergic properties.
Food that has been genetically modified provides an even greater struggle. Our bodies have evolved with the food we eat over thousands and thousands of years. When it encounters a new type of food, for example a tomato spliced with a fish gene, it cannot assimilate it. Genetically engineered organisms are often not properly digested and create blockages and confusion in the physiology.
There are many reasons to eat a healthy diet other than just to minimize your risk of getting health problems. When you eat well you feel lighter in your body, clearer in the mind and more positive in your moods. Your whole physiology functions more easily. Intelligent food creates an intelligent physiology.
Wendy.rosenfeldt@tm.org.au
www.ayurveda.org.au
Barbara Brewster
Davina Herbert
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