The Natural Way of Eating
The natural way of eating cannot be separated from the natural way of farming or organic farming. Organic farming has been defined as crop or animal husbandry with natural materials and does not permit the use of manufactured materials such as fertilizers and chemicals. The natural way of eating mostly is safer for us because it has less contaminants.
Healthy eating and healthy gardening can be supported by being locavores because we know more about what we eat and where it comes from. Locavore is a person who only eats food that grows or produced nearby or in their local area or region within a 100-mile (about 160 kilometers) distance from their home. This movement also will minimize the effect of global warming, and costs (for example production and transportation).
Beyond the sources of the foods we eat through the natural foods and being locavores, other food factors are important to support our healthy life. Try to avoid processed foods. Eat seasonal foods particularly with the rotation of eating the vegetables, fruits, seeds, and animal husbandry, also fish. Get a good quality and quantity of the foods you eat, enjoy your own food cultures or habits, and sample others if you like. Last but not least, exercise and reflection are important as a result of meditation to develop well-being, and the state of happiness, health, and prosperity.
Seasonal foods and human feeding habits have been mentioned formerly in this publication in my blog https://burnabyredwigglers.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/seasonal-foods-and-human-feeding-habits/. Many more people may be suffering from getting too much protein, than suffering from getting too little protein https://burnabyredwigglers.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/earthworm-based-protein/. And this is the benefits of the unusual reverse exercise for the body and peace of mind https://burnabyredwigglers.wordpress.com/2019/11/01/walking-backwards/ https://burnabyredwigglers.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/a-new-normal-in-our-mind/.
In this pandemic year with the unwelcomed coronavirus COVID-19, building our autoimmune system through healthy foods and habits is of the utmost importance. “Which is more important, seed or soil? It is the soil, not the seed”.
If we compare eating healthy foods with planting seeds in good soil, of course having good soil is more important than the seeds. Louis Pasteur’s parable reminds us that “the microbe is nothing” and that “the soil is everything.” In other words, if germs were seeds, in order for them to germinate and grow into viable diseases, they would need fertile soil. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “What is the condition of my body?” Is your body a “Disease Gardener’s Paradise”, or are you actively doing things to make your body an inhospitable residence for germs?”
One of the oldest animals is the turtle. The land tortoise on the Seychelles Islands has a life expectancy of over 100 years in the wild; even in captivity it can live longer for about 250 years. Some sea turtles have been researched to live to an average age of 150 years.
There was a publication in Scientific American magazine about the secret of why sea turtles can live longer. It is because they switch feeding habits from carnivores, eating meat when they were young to becoming mostly herbivores, eating plants as adults until the rest of their life. And most of them do exercise, keep moving by swimming regularly during the long migration.
The long-life theory of turtles that switch from carnivore snacks to herbivore diets was debated by the scientists recently. Some studies have revealed that the diet of green turtles is more complex than previously thought. Adult sea turtles are omnivores, they eat anything. They were recorded eating over 30 different food items seagrass, red algae, brown algae, green algae, small animals, and other items incidentally ingested.
Moreover, freshwater and seawater turtles are social animals. Turtles communicate with each other by making sounds and plan activities as a group. They help each other, no wonder they have a long life and their population is sustainable.
The legend Li Ching-Yuen, herbalist and Qigong practitioner known for his supposed extreme longevity, was reported in Time magazine edition of 15 May 1933, one week after he died naturally outdoors at the age of 197 years. Li’s secret of a long life: Keep a quiet heart. Sit like a tortoise. Walk sprightly like a pigeon. Sleep like a dog. And eat less.
The natural way of eating supported by organic farming, being locavore, and learning from nature by doing exercises should be our way of life to be healthy and happy.
-Bintoro Gunadi
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