Food

"Food Groups"

Modern nutritional guidelines divide food into 6 basic “food groups”: grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, and added fats/sugars. From a nutritional perspective, this is rather bizarre. There is no such thing as a “protein food,” and grains are not foundational to a healthy diet.

What Foods are Healthy?

This is a question that cannot be

What Are "Wholesome Herbs"?

Wholesome herbs are whole plant foods. Think of a plant that grows food, such as a strawberry plant, a kabocha plant, or a fruit tree. The food the plant produces, which contains the seeds of the plant, is called the herb, or the seed-bearing herb. “All Wholesome Herbs” refers to the seed-bearing herbs – vegetables, fruits, and nuts – or, in other words, whole plant foods.

The Perfection of Whole Plant Foods

Plants harness the raw elements of the earth to form carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and innumerable phytochemicals which nourish, heal, cleanse, strengthen, and energize the body of man. The herbs (fruits, vegetables, and nuts) of the earth are not only sufficient, but unequivocally ideal, for our complete vigor and health. Whole plant foods safely and effectively bear potent nutrients to our physical bodies.

Plants do not actually create minerals, but rather pull them from the soil and air and assimilate them into controlled forms which are safe and usable to our bodies. Without this plant-sourced assimilation into controlled forms, many minerals, such as iron and copper, are toxic and act as
heavy metals in the body – including those we obtain from animal-based foods or “fortified” processed foods.

Eating Animals: Second-Hand Nutrition

A very common (and heavily promoted) misconception in nutrition is that animal foods (flesh, milk, and eggs) are required for health. Except for the use of animals for food to save us from starvation, this is absolutely wrong.

First, it is important to establish that animals are not the original source of any nutrition. Cows produce neither calcium nor protein, and fish don’t produce omega-3 fats nor vitamin A. All nutrition comes from the earth, for man and animal alike. We are never better off obtaining our nutrition second-hand through animals.

Our bodies never benefit from eating animal flesh, milk, or eggs in place of whole plant foods. Wholesome herbs are the best and safest source of all nutrition, including protein, fat, iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids (such as EPA and DHA).

The Food Chain: Linking Man and Plant

Modern philosophies in biology teach that the “food chain” is the current state of animals (and man) eating whatever they can catch and kill (or, in man’s case, what is slaughtered for them). This is an artificial food chain, and rather nonsensical considering the biological patterns of the earth. The real “food chain” is the symbiotic relationship between man and plant (or between animal and plant). This is the biology of continual increase in which both receive and give more.

THe Symbiotic Relationship

between

Man and Plant

Man

Breathes in Oxygen;
Breathes out Carbon Dioxide

Requires Protein; Excretes Nitrogen

Picks Fruit

Plant

Breathes in Carbon Dioxide;
Breathes Out Oxygen

Fixes Nitrogen;
Manufactures Protein in Food

Produces More in Response to Picking

"Whole": Preparation versus Processing

The wholeness of our food does not mean we cannot cut or cook it – in fact, many whole plant foods require cooking. Cutting and cooking are natural food preparations. Unnatural processing, however, destroys the delicate nutrition and alters the very nature of the food. Processed gummy fruit snacks are obviously not the same as whole fruits. Judging between preparing and processing requires some common sense.

Food processing maximizes the pleasure of eating at the cost of the pleasures of health. It requires some discipline to learn to abstain from indulgent processed foods, but as we refrain from eating unnatural “food products” that overexcite our palates and numb our senses, we will increasingly perceive and enjoy the contrasting and complementing flavors of whole plant foods.

"Just a Little Won't Hurt... Right?"

We have been led to believe that healthy foods “make up” for unhealthy foods, that a few vegetables somehow cleanse us of all the bad stuff we eat. Or perhaps we think that when we eat vegetables, we “earn” that ice cream. That’s like saying (in baseball) if we hit a home run, we “earn” the right to strike out; or (in basketball) if we swoosh a 3-pointer, we “earn” the right to shoot an “air ball.” Let’s be honest with ourselves – we don’t have to “earn” the right to indulge; we have our agency and can do as we please, within law and civility. We can choose to eat that unhealthful thing – or, we can choose to maintain our momentum and pursue our health.

When it comes to health, there is no such thing as “getting away” with eating animal-based or processed “foods,” because you can’t hide your food from your body. Whether we immediately recognize it or not, every unhealthful thing we eat damages our health. Our food does not magically evaporate after we swallow. It continues through the complete process of digestion, absorption, and metabolism.