I struggle with both of these
issues in my everyday life because I am a vegan living in a community
of meat eaters. By simple observation of those around me, including
my family, it is obvious that a meat eating lifestyle is unhealthy,
although it's not just the meat but the other processed unhealthy
foods that are being consumed in large quantities. I am now 52 years
old and the only family member without a serious health issue. My
parents, my brother, my aunts and uncles all died at very young ages
of heart disease and cancer. We were raised on a diet of meat and
baked goods made with animal fat, and large quantities of dairy
products. In the community I live in here in Tennesse almost every
single person is overweight. It has become the normal way of life
here which is a frightening fact. If you walk through the local
grocery stores and peek in the carts in the checkout line it is
obvious that the culprit is meat, dairy, and large amounts of
processed foods. Fresh fruits and vegetables are not even a
consideration for most people.
Something
else that I have observed is a lack of connection to the food, even
to the point of being unable to taste the food. There is no thought
of where the food comes from, or even what's in it. I rarely see
anyone reading a food label. Food has become an almost chemical
pill. Something that gives you a temporary high like large amounts
of sugar might. It is no longer a living thing that is there to
nourish your body. There is no connection in a spiritual or holy
sense to the plants of animals. There is no understanding that the
food enters your body and penetrates and nourishes every cell. It is
just something you put in your mouth and swallow.
I
think this connection develops out of a relationship with nature. It
was cultivated in me when I became a gardener and understood the
miracle of plants and how they grow. When you develop this
connection you understand your sacredness as a human being and your
relationship to the rest of the earth, and the desire to eat other
living creatures and processed foods goes away. The taste of the
wholesome foods and the satisfaction of eating a slow, nourishing
meal sustains you in ways that other foods cannot.
In
that way eating becomes a spiritual experience that flows into the
rest of your life and heals your body like no medicine can. I would
say that in many food trials this would be a missing link that would
account for the lack of improvement in individuals switching to a
vegan diet for if their mind isn't changed along with their diet,
they will not improve.
Eating
needs to be relearned by the majority of the American population, and
what I am trying to understand now is how to accomplish such an
enormous task.
Thank
you for reading my essay,
Susan
Kissinger
