One thing we can realize more and more in this life is just how fragile and sensitive our bodies are. All of us have gone through moments and periods of our lives when we have treated our bodies and ourselves as if we were indestructible, ingesting all kinds of strange substances and subjecting ourselves to some very intense experiences, all in the pursuit of varying levels of stimulation in the moment.
The truth is, is that our bodies and our nervous systems are not impervious, but are extremely delicate and sensitive systems that require a very fine balance of biochemistry in order to operate at optimum levels.
We can easily fool ourselves when we are younger that no matter what we do or what we eat that we will always recover and suffer no real ill effects. It is incredible what we can get away with eating and subjecting our bodies to and still remain in a relatively decent operating state. It really is a tribute to the miraculous system that is our biology.
However, the harsh reality of the abuse that we subject ourselves to when we are younger begins to come to light for many people as early as their late twenties and early thirties. Certainly, when most others begin to enter their forties and fifties the terrible truth of the lack of care for their health will most certainly raise its ugly head. The incidence of heart disease, cancer, arthritis and other immune system disorders are rampant and continue to climb at an alarming rate. The only way that you can avoid being confronting by this fact is to be in a continual and aggressive state of denial.
Recent research in the areas of microbiology and nutrition is showing more and more that our bodies require a very delicate balance of pH (acid/alkaline balance). We also require an ever present capacity to metabolize nutrients and remove whatever waste and toxins that may accumulate in the body.
Anything that upsets this delicate balance will inevitably lead to increasing levels of dysfunction in the entire body/mind system. When we abuse our bodies by eating foods that are either unbalanced or nutritionally deficient (such as foods which are high in refined sugar and low in minerals and enzymes), we begin to create an interior "landscape" which becomes increasingly acidic. A biology that is overly acidic becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, mold, fungus and viruses. These unhealthy elements in the blood and tissues of the body (they tend to accumulate especially in the joints and connective tissue of the body) create a build up of a very intrusive kind of calcium and phosphorus which creates inflammation and breeding grounds for a whole host of different kinds of disease.
Everything that we experience as premature aging can be directly linked to this kind of unbalance in the very fine balance of the interior "landscape". These symptoms would include things like stiffness, weakening of the bones/eyesight/hearing, graying and falling out of the hair, arthritis, all digestive disorders and all of the major immune system disorders such as cancer and heart disease.
If you are a person who is committed to living a full and aware and long life, then you must become increasingly aware of just how what you put into your mouth affects the fine and delicate balance that exists in your body and nervous system. To throw this kind of care to the wind and to only be interested in the stimulation of the senses is to live in a deep state of delusion. Not only does eating highly unbalanced and stimulating foods not make you truly happy and/or satisfied, but it actually leads to excruciating pain and deep levels of suffering and dissatisfaction.
In the next installment, I will try to identify the kinds of foods which are the most dangerous in terms of upsetting the fine balance in the body that is required for maintaining a high level of health and vitality.