We are what and how we eat

Recently I read an interview by a famous psychiatrist that provoked me to think about the nature of today’s food habits and changing life styles. We know food has a direct impact on our body and mind. Throughout civilization (prior to the advent of refrigerators), people ate fresh food that was cooked at home. In Vedic literature (1500 BCE to 500BCE), we find that food was considered sacred, especially as there was an energetic component beyond nutrition and preparations and consumption of food were forms of worship. Their diet was vegetarian, with fresh grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts. Milk derived yogurt and ghee (clarified butter which is also free of lactose) were essential parts of diet and rich in probiotic elements. Meat consumption was restricted for special religious occasions. Bhagavad Gita refers to a healthy diet as being comprised of “Sattvik food" - the qualifers being vegetarian, fresh (cooked within 2 hours) and supportive of elevated forms of thinking and not those that would 'inflame the senses'. Food was designed to enhance longevity, spiritual strength,health, happiness and contentment.” ( chapter 17/ verse 8) In earlier days, earthen pots were used as cooking vessels which added calcium and iron to the food. Also clay, being alkaline in nature as well as ensuring slow cooking that prevented charring of food when cooked on metal pans in high heat. Many of our chronic modern ailments are now being connected to charred or burnt food, high heat cooking that often turns oils carcinogenic, a lack of probiotics naturally available in fermented foods, nutritional loss from high heat cooking etc. And of course the widespread usage of plastic and other harmful metals that are now part of our food chain. In traditional cooking, usage of spices , make a symphony of colour, taste and flavour, which is also good for health. In today's world, especially in western countries, cooking has gone from a family activity to a commercial, industrialized business that is devoid of a personal connection and is largely driven by frozen and packaged foods. India and many eastern countries have still preserved a more traditional approach to food creation and consumption, though that is changing fast. Sitting crossed legged on rugs, eating mindfully in silence and with direct connection to the hand as oppposed to a fork an knife creates primal connection to our food. This is still practiced in traditional homes throughout the East. The cancer of today is directly correlated to high sugar and salt laden fast foods, packaged, frozen, or worse - restructured (many kids don't understand the connection between what they're eating and the plant or animal that it comes from). Food has gone from a connected activity that is primal to our being to being a mindless secondary function while conducting business calls, watching television, or driving. The consumption of meat and alcohol have become universal throughout cultures and are scientifically proved to create serious ailments - both physical and mental. Ayurveda (literally translated as the science of long life), much like Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine says “ when diet is wrong, medicine is of no use, and when diet is correct, medicine is of no need “.