Against the Grain

Against the Grain
Growing food in healthy soil for our families and visiting local organic farms are enriching activities that connect us with our traditions and each other. Halfpoint/Shutterstock
Donna Martelli
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Serving riches and material wealth at the expense of health and wellness is a perilous course to follow. Sadly, it’s the way of our culture and economy. Just look around. People are fat. Why is that?

The standard American diet (SAD) destroys a person’s health. God gave us everything we need for an abundant life and to maintain our health and wellness. Natural medicines and cures for diseases are all here for us to discover. I personally believe there’s a natural cure for every known disease in the world, including cancer. Sometimes that cure is as simple as not creating or using the thing causing the disease.

But these natural cures are inexpensive and can’t be patented. They don’t fall within the complex framework we’ve created around health care and medical practice. The system in place prescribes surgeries and drugs for every ailment. When side effects arise, there is another drug to take care of them, and on and on. Currently, the world system is drunk with the love of material wealth and convenience. The consequences are far-reaching.

Let’s go grocery shopping. In the produce section, we see a plethora of delicious-looking fruits and vegetables. They promise to be bursting with vitamins, minerals, and flavor that just won’t quit.

But they’re degraded.

Processors have puffed them up, coated them with wax, and made them grow too fast, all to create more profit. All this assures those valuable nutrients, not to mention flavors, are reduced or lost. I can remember how tomatoes tasted when I was a child: not at all like the flavorless doppelgängers of today.

Leaving the produce section, we walk the center aisles. It’s all but impossible to find real food here. Boxes and cans are filled with ingredients we can’t pronounce with roles we can’t fathom. I have bought cookies and crackers and kept them for a year, and they were still “fresh.” Something is seriously wrong here.

American women are beset with digestive issues such as diarrhea or constipation, and “the bloat” is a constant companion. Even skinny women who don’t eat much can have miserable abdominal bloating. Processed foods are often the culprit here.

Surely there must be some good meat in this store. It all looks plump and rich, but how did it get it that way? The hormones that the poor animals have ingested disrupt our normal hormonal processes. It’s inhumane for the animals and harmful for the people who eat them. Chickens processed in China, oh my. The conditions there are unsanitary at best, and we have no idea what they are doing to those chickens. Then there’s the known fact that the Chinese communist regime sees our country as its principal enemy.

Have you ever been to a less-developed country where everything is natural and only imported items are processed? I have. Let me tell you that biting into a tomato in Romania in the late 1990s was a memorable experience. My senses came alive with a triumphant burst of flavor that I haven’t experienced in the United States. I never knew how delicious eggs were, either, until I had one for breakfast in Romania. Scrawny chicken parts may have humbly adorned our dinner table, but rich and full flavor was nothing to look down on. The tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and all manner of fruits and vegetables were so flavorful that it’s difficult to describe how delicious they were. Additionally, my American digestive woes vanished while I was there. I ate twice as much as I eat at home—and I lost weight.

All considered, what can you do to attain and maintain optimal health? You have to be like me: the odd one. I search for the foods that God gave us: whole foods that are grown organically. I can’t eat in a normal restaurant, a fact that bothers my family and friends because it disrupts their social life.

People who seek a wholly nutritious and natural diet have to smile sweetly and resist the urge to be argumentative as family and friends urge us along to enjoy the wonders of their sad standard American diet. I’ve eaten that way before, but I had to change when I became sick and lethargic. It was a big step to take, but it’s been immeasurably worthwhile.

I may be odd in most people’s eyes, but I feel fantastic, and my energy is through the roof. I may inconvenience my loved ones, but I am not feeding those systems that devour their well-being. Won’t you consider these things and be an oddball with me? It will take some studying and planning, but you can find real foods if you diligently search.

And we aren’t alone in this venture. There are many people out there who feel the same as we do. Once you make the choice to eat only organic, whole foods, you will be amazed at how well you feel.

Donna Martelli
Donna Martelli
Author
Formerly a professional dancer with the Harkness Ballet of New York, and faculty member at Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, Donna was Director of Fitness Arts at LivRite Fitness. There, she taught Ballet, Barre, Pilates, Stretch and Conditioning, Personal Training and provided fitness consultations to members. She created Raise the Barre at LivRite, trained, qualified, and managed its instructors, and wrote its training manual. She is the author of “When God Says Drop It” and “Why the Dance,” available wherever books are sold.
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