Most of us completely underestimate the power of food. Foods are far more effective in restoring energy and modulating oxidative stress than any supplement or drug on the market today. Along with our positive thoughts and intentions, food offers us the greatest potential to reverse the aging process.
Most of us completely underestimate the power of food. To obtain the most possible nourishment from our food, we must not only know what to eat, we must also know how we eat it. So even before we get into the details of the delicious foods and simple preparations that make up the dietary component of the Body Ecology anti-aging program, we will start here: how to eat in such a way that our food nourishes our souls. Then, we can move on to discuss the properties of Body Ecology foods—foods that nature has given us to heal the body and keep ourselves young throughout the decades.
Food as Energy
Food affects us emotionally and spiritually. It has an intrinsic energy and intelligence that it communicates to us on a cellular level (see sidebar). This energy can actually alter our behavior, performance, and appearance. I’ve seen many lives elevated—renewed and healed—through the power of wholesome, nutritious food.
Because of its healing potential and spiritual energy, food should be sacred to us—prepared with reverence and consumed with gratitude. But alas, even though the passing decades have brought us more insight and wisdom, many of us still make our food choices based on our taste buds and our desire for immediate gratification.
Every time we eat, we must now be asking ourselves, “What does my body need, not just want? How can I nourish and heal myself with the food I put on my plate today?”
As we make our eating choices, it is wise to also reflect on how the food was grown or raised, how it was slaughtered and transported to us, and so forth. These choices not only impact us on an individual level, but have global implications as well.
Most of us today will remain quite active and busy as the decades pass. We will still need plenty of energizing nutrients (protein, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, enzymes, and small amounts of high-quality fats and oils) to sustain our dynamic lifestyles. But because our bodies won’t be as efficient at digesting foods, we will need to learn ways of preparing them so that we can utilize their nutrients more effectively.
Eating less and eating foods of higher nutrient density are two of our most important tools for keeping youthful, disease free, and fit. We should bring positive thoughts and intentions to how we eat as well; and mealtimes can be wonderful opportunities to practice developing our hearts, minds, and wills.
Our Very Cells Recognize Food as Friend or Foe
Every piece of food we consume comes into contact with our cell surfaces, which are loaded with receptors that identify it as positive, neutral, or negative. Our cells recognize something as a “friendly food” or an “unfriendly food.” There is a whole field of science devoted to this, called nutrigenomics, or the way food as information speaks to our genes. Food elements contact cell surface receptors, which pass the information to cell messengers called kinases, chemokines, and cytokines. These messengers take the information to the nucleus and give it to the genes. This process is called signal transduction.
Our genes respond positively to organic, natural foods—in other words, a mostly plant-based diet, including properly prepared grainlike seeds, land and ocean vegetables, fermented foods, and a modest amount of organic animal products. The genes in our cells respond positively when they receive messages from a simple piece of broccoli, containing myriad health-giving molecules with names like indoles, carotenoids, lutein, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, sulforaphanes, and many more.
Mindful Eating
In his book The Yoga of Nutrition, Omraam Mikkael Aivanhov, a spiritual master from France, writes: “Food is a love letter sent to us by our Creator, and we must learn to read it. It is the most eloquent, the most potent of love letters, for it says, I love you and I am giving you life and strength.”1 Food is full of sunlight, flavor, color, shape, and texture. How sad that we swallow it without reading the love letter carefully.
Do you eat unconsciously or quickly so you can get on with the really important things in life? Instead of enjoying a meal quietly and consciously, are your daily cares and stresses churning about in your stomach? Do you leave the table feeling sluggish and sleepy?
It’s little wonder many of us don’t digest our foods properly. The way we eat is every bit as important as what we eat.
Many spiritual traditions practice mindful eating, which simply means to slow down and truly experience the aromas, flavors, and textures of the food. Chewing it slowly and well, and enjoying it in a quiet setting—rather than being rushed, agitated, and halfway out the door—is an essential part of this practice.
Part of the stress and anxiety so many of us feel today is because we have lost our connection with nature and our gratitude for her amazing gifts to us. When we eat with gratitude, we reestablish that vital link to the natural world around us. We must learn to have a deeper appreciation for those who make our meals possible; and, if we’ve prepared them ourselves, we do so with a listening spirit, allowing our intuition to take over so that we are tuned in to what our bodies are asking for in that moment. We come to learn the difference between eating until we are overfed and doing so until we are satisfied.
What else is involved in mindful eating? Preparing our meals deliberately and thoughtfully so that everything we need is easily at hand … setting a beautiful table … taking time to breathe deeply throughout the meal … designating a space and time that’s quiet and uninterrupted—all these are ways we make eating a kind of spiritual practice, a sacred rite where food is transformed into strength, energy, love, and light.
Inside the Body Ecology Foods
So why have we chosen to highlight certain foods as part of your anti-aging arsenal? In other words, why do Body Ecology foods stand out?
• Body Ecology foods are replete with fortifying chi energy—ideal for anyone who wants to feel more vigorous and vital.
• Body Ecology foods are probiotic—ideal for creating a strong, disease-free body. The word probiotic literally means “for life.” Probiotics are living microorganisms that have a beneficial effect on the body because of the way they function in the digestive tract. Most probiotics contain Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium, which are “good” bacteria. All of the anti-aging probiotic foods and supplements recommended here are safe, effective, and designed to enhance intestinal health.
• Body Ecology foods offer a perfect balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats—ideal for people who have suffered through exclusionary, nutritionally lopsided diets.
• Body Ecology foods are antifungal—ideal for people with yeast infections.
• Body Ecology foods are gluten and casein free—ideal for people with allergies to wheat or milk protein.
• Body Ecology foods are low in sugars—ideal for people with weight issues, candida, or adrenal fatigue.
• Body Ecology foods have the greatest bioavailability, meaning they are quickly and efficiently accessed by the body—ideal for people with low energy and weakened digestive systems.
• Body Ecology foods are nutrient-dense—ideal for anyone who wants to look and feel better!
Some Things You Might Experience with Body Ecology Foods
New Tastes and Textures
Humans have six basic tastes—sweet, salty, bitter, savory, pungent, and sour. Probiotic foods provide the sour taste, which may be one that is less developed in you than the others. A wide variety of tastes and colors is essential to obtaining all the nutrients that food has to offer. Some of the Body Ecology fermented foods, such as young coconut kefir and milk kefir or cultured vegetables, may be a new taste sensation to you. Try to keep an open mind as you explore foods outside your comfort zone.
If at first you’re a bit skittish about some of the foods, that’s okay. Remember the Principle of Step by Step? It’s okay to take your time. You’ll soon find yourself choosing delicious grain-like seeds (like quinoa and millet) over pasta and rice, and adding sea vegetables to soups and stews and salads and stir-fries because you miss them when they’re not there.
Over time your body has acquired a “memory” for the foods it thinks it wants, even if they are unhealthy! It will take a little time to “reeducate” your palate. After you’ve been eating the Body Ecology way for a few days, you’ll begin to experience the more robust and potent flavors of pure, whole, well-combined ingredients. As your body acquires new food memories, the result will be a greater appreciation for the essence and aromas of truly healthy, satisfying foods. Time to reawaken your palate!
Intestinal Discomfort
If you’re not accustomed to eating fermented foods, at first you could experience some indigestion (gas and bloating). This is because the mighty microbiota are busy changing their environment (your intestines) into a much more pleasant place. They want to survive, colonize, and thrive. In a week or so, this phase will pass; however, this is a good time to drink plenty of springwater (away from meals), make sure your bowels are eliminating well, and do enemas and colonics to cleanse yourself of the toxic material that is making you age way before your time.
Share What You’re Learning!
I encourage you to experiment and explore! Find those foods that suit your tastes and needs the best. Getting to know these new foods and how to prepare them in fun and interesting ways is one of the joys of Body Ecology Way of Life. As a matter of fact, we welcome new recipes and discoveries. Please feel free to e-mail Body Ecology so we can share your recipe with others on our website: recipes@bodyecology.com.
In the pages that follow, you will learn about new foods, new ways of preparing them, and how to maximize their benefits for optimal health and healing.
From the Physician’s Desk
“Many of the foods we eat today are new to our genetic code, and our genes respond to them in often-negative ways.”
For too long we have underestimated the impact of food on the body. Over the course of 70-plus years on the planet, our bodies take in 20 to 25 tons of food. The gut lining, like the lungs and the skin, is one of the most absorbent areas in the body, and as we know, three-quarters of the immune system is located there. Our greatest exposure to foreign material is through the food we eat, and this food provides critical information that is interpreted by the immune system.
The gut lining reads food like a book, and it recognizes what it likes and doesn’t like, and whether the food is friend or foe. Food is not some undifferentiated substance that passes benignly through our systems and is never heard from again. It has qualitative differences. Until very recently, for example, we thought all protein was the same, whether in the form of beef, legumes, nuts, or fish. Now there’s been a paradigm shift; and we know that just as with carbs, there are good, bad, and neutral proteins. We have finally begun to recognize that food consists not just of fat, protein, and carbohydrates, but of infinitely subtle messengers that communicate information to our bodies in profound ways.
Poor-quality food causes our cells to go into a defense mode and put our immune system on high alert. On the other hand, high-quality food—rich in antioxidants, enzymes, and minerals, with the right kinds of natural carbs that are slowly absorbed—speaks to our genetic code in a way that keeps our bodies healthy and happy.
— Leonard Smith, M.D.