12 major dietary changes:
will they spell the end of humanity?

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	web www.natural-cancer-cures.com

THE END OF THE WORLD?

At the Natural Products Expo at Anaheim in March 1994, I walked past a plain, inconspicuous booth that wasn’t displaying any food or health products. I would have missed it if not for the fact that a man there was being interviewed by a reporter.

Some words at the booth caught my eye. I recognized what it was about. I got all excited...

“What’s that?” asked John, who was with me. The two of us were there to shop for our upcoming organic and natural foods store, Brown Rice Paradise.

“That’s the end of the world!” I said, explaining that it is an organization that campaigns against the artificial manipulation of foods, such as where animal genes are put into vegetables.

I was just being dramatic when I said it was “the end of the world.” I was half joking.

But in all seriousness, John said “You’re right!”

I guess I was right. The genetic manipulation of food is a very serious matter indeed. If left unchecked, it could lead to the destruction of the human race.

Because we are what we eat. We exist because we eat. When we change pour food, we change ourselves. When we destroy our food, we destroy ourselves.

In the Macrobiotic Diet, Michio Kushi writes: “We are what we eat. Change of what we eat changes our physical, psychological, and spiritual conditions. Change of body, mind and spirit results in the change of social and cultural expression as well as personal health and development.”

Kushi notes 12 major dietary changes in modern times:

1. Loss of principal food.
   The consumption of whole grains, the principal food of all previous civilizations, has declined sharply.. And grains are now mostly eaten refined, not whole.
   
   
2. Increased consumption of animal food.
   Meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products and fish have replaced grains at the centre of the modern meal.
   
   
3. Increased consumption of sugar.
   Many foods today contain sugar, honey and other sweeteners, including artificial sweeteners.
   
   
4. Change in vegetable consumption.
   People today eat only a few of vegetables, like tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce and cucumber. These are mass produced with chemical fertilizers. Often, they are eaten canned or frozen, not fresh.
   
   
5. Change in fruit consumption.
   Wild and naturally cultivated fruits have been replaced by uniform, hybrid species. People eat more canned, frozen and sugar-treated fruit, fruit juice and fruit from different climatic zones. They eat less fresh or naturally dried native fruit.
   
   
6. Change in legume use.
   Beans lentils used to be the principal source of protein. Today, they are fed mainly to animals.
   
   
7. Emergence of non-essential foods.
   Candy bars, soft drinks, ice-cream sand other non-essential snack foods are being consumed in vast quantities. These are usually packed with sugar, fats, salt and chemicals.
   
   
8. Change in farming quality.
   Natural, farming has been replaced by modern methods which rely heavily on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other chemical spray.
   
   
9. Change in salt quality.
   Natural, un-refined sea salt has been replaced with refined salt. This salt is almost pure sodium chloride. It lacks other minerals that are essential for health.
   
   
10. Rise in vitamin consumption.
    Natural vitamins have been removed from modern foods and a few are replaced by synthetic vitamins.
    Also, many people take vitamin pills.
    
    
11. Rise of artificial foods and cooking methods.
    Thousands of synthetic chemicals, most of which have not been tested for their safety, have added to modern foods. In addition, electric and microwave cooking have replaced cooking with natural fire.
    
    
12. Rise of biogenetically engineered food.
    These include foods that combine the genes of animals and plants, such as tomatoes that contain fish genes to give them a longer shelf life. Foods are also being irradiated to make them last longer.

The changes in the modern diet occur into main areas: pattern of eating and quality of food.

In the past, most of the dietary changes were in the pattern of eating, as modern transport, refrigeration and food preserving technology made it possible for people to eat foods that were not normally available. For example, refrigeration and canning made meat and dairy foods more widely available and cheaper. With improved transportation, people in temperate countries can now eat tropical foods, while those in the tropics can eat temperate foods.

In recent years, as our food becomes more and more artificial, it is changes in food quality that have become a greater cause for concern.

Dietary changes in both areas have led to a deterioration of health and well-being at all levels. They have caused widespread physical and mental illness. They have caused family and social problems. And, they have contributed to the destruction of the environment.

But will these dietary changes lead to the end of the human race? To the end of the world?

Possibly. If we continue to eat strange foods in strange ways. Because food is the basis of our existence.

We can, however, reverse the trend of dietary changes. We can return to traditional patterns of eating, we can restore the quality of food by re-adopting natural methods of farming and food production. This is already happening with the growth of the natural and organic foods movement worldwide. You and I are a part of this very important movement.

We may be making dietary changes and eating natural foods simply to restore our personal health. But that is where it begins. We cannot save the world if we do not first save ourselves.

At the same time, we need not have ambitious plans about wanting to the save the world. For most of us, it’s too great an ambition. But if each of us take care of our self, then the world will take care of itself.

Humanity will not come to an end.

---

Click here for and index of articles about strange foods and other dietary changes.