The Spiritual Significance of Food Choices

When we consider our health, we often think in terms of vitamins and eating the right foods and eliminating junk foods. I try to do both. By junk, I only mean the foods that you can’t handle. The same foods might not be junk to someone else, so you have to learn a little charity.

I have found that most of my own illnesses were caused by the foods I ate. That being the case, I have to look as carefully at the good foods as I do at the so-called junk foods.

We might catch a cold because we got a chill or didn’t dress properly. On the other hand, it may also be that we ate the wrong food. I don’t mean to say that all illnesses can be attributed to food; this is not true. But our basic diet plays a bigger part in our health than most people realize.

Taking vitamins and eliminating standard junk foods may not be enough. We also need to examine the effects of the good foods. We could be preparing some of them in a way that is wrong for us, or eating them in larger quantities than our body can handle. These are all points to consider.

Spiritual View of Health
Learning more about your body can be a spiritual realization. When you are able to function better in your physical body, you are better able to serve ECK (the Holy Spirit). You are happier and more pleasant to be around. We are interested in good health, because it can aid one toward God-Realization.

Health is a continuing concern as the aging process accompanies us through life. It’s as if we are all on the same big carpet of time, whether we’re 3 years old or 90. As the carpet moves along, we go from infancy to gray hair, losing the springiness of youth.

The point I want to make is this: Whichever end of the carpet of time we happen to be on, we should make an effort to be in the very best health we can. This helps us to be more conscious and more alert to the workings of the Holy Spirit all around us.

Fruits and Sweeteners
Sweeteners, even the natural forms found in fruit, have an adverse effect on me. My wife also is very sensitive to fruit, especially bananas sold at the grocery stores. They caused such piercing pains in her eyes that she found it impossible to work. One day I brought home some organically grown bananas for her to try. She was able to eat a small portion, maybe half a banana a day, along with other food.

Commercially grown oranges and other fruits absorb the poisons sprayed all around them. I think pesticides are responsible for a lot of the illnesses people suffer from today. My wife’s eye pains were remedied simply by eliminating commercially grown bananas from her diet.

Sugar, including the natural sugar in apples, oranges, and other fruits, often gives me a general feeling of weakness. It’s just the way my system reacts to them. For other people, fruits are absolutely necessary.

The foods that are bad for me may not be bad for you. But keep in mind that if you are coming down with too many colds, there may be more to it than the idea that everybody gets them. If this occurs often enough to be a nuisance, then look at the foods you have been eating — even the good foods.

Food plays an important part in our lives as we try to reach God-Realization. In sharing my observations about the effect certain foods have had on me, perhaps you will get some ideas on how to improve your own health.