food
Poor diet, especially over-eating low-nutrient industrial foods is a main cause of the epidemic of degenerative western lifestyle diseases of affluence like cancers, osteoporosis, diabetes and heart, vascular and autoimmune diseases. They lead to depression, anxiety and less capacity to deal with stress.
Both the western industrial diet and its diseases support multi-billion dollar food and medical industries with millions of employees and plenty of money for lobbying and promotion. Research is selectively misinterpreted and spread through the media, government agencies and medical experts to promote commercial food.
Anyone can test the effects of different foods on themselves. Or at the supermarket check the physical and emotional condition of each shopper and then look in their trolley. The effects become obvious as we age. Kids pick this up quickly.
A close look at the medical history of friends and family and their diet and lifestyle shows a similar picture. So does a review of research that is independent of food industries.
Comfort eating provides temporary relief from emotional distress but in the long run masks problems and perpetuates distress just like drugs.
If the body's regulatory mechanisms are disrupted by drugs, stress or junk foods it can be hard to work out what to eat or when to stop. Giving up addictive and toxic foods increases our vitality and endurance and helps reclaim our regulatory mechanisms.
Anyone willing to go all the way can lose excess weight and optimise their vitality on a raw plant based diet.
The strategies on the drugs side-menu can be used to quit addictive foods and binge eating. The food pages and their links suggest ways to expand the horizons of eating into more interesting and vital worlds of food.
copyright (C) John Brasted 2008
updated 19. Dec. 2011
