Demonizing Food

Addictive behavior is an integral part of our cultural norm. We often live in denial. We believe our behavior is normal and healthy. Normal and healthy are not the same. Much of so‑called normal behavior is really addictive behavior. We think what we grew up with is normal. When everyone is sick, sick becomes normal. One of the lesser‑examined areas of addiction is food addiction. Some authorities believe that over 65 percent of women and 45 percent of men in this country have disordered eating patterns. This is another way to say that our relationship with food is sick.

In years past 50 years, the American diet has dramatically shifted. People turned away from nature and turned to the high‑tech world that touched and changed all areas of human consumption. Demeter and Ceres no longer blessed our crops; instead, the Goddess became a steel‑winged angel spraying poisons on crops. This activity supposedly insured an economically plentiful harvest. We exchanged the loved‑filled chicken of Grandma for the convenience of the Colonel.

Some people believe poor health is a direct result of pesticides and herbicides‑‑ nearly all processed food contains sugar, white flour, fat or salt. I challenge this idea. We are not unhealthy because of the changes in our food production or because of our fast foods. We allowed our food to be mass‑produce, poisoned and lose quality because we were already sick. The sickness of our souls reflected in the sickness in our foods. Sick people grow and eat sick food. People in harmony with themselves grow healthy food and eat healthy food.

People think they can straighten out their lives by embracing healthy foods. A change in diet alone is never sufficient to heal the body. Our diets and eating habits can not be corrected from the outside in ‑‑ they must change from the inside out. As we begin to love ourselves, to appreciate our uniqueness and to accept our dharmic (dharma is structure or form in our lives that most supports our souls) place in the universe, our food regains its place of sacredness in our lives.

American culture embraces a philosophy that pits good foods against bad foods. We turned our foods into demons. The problem with demonizing food or making certain foods bad is that the demons end up biting us on the butt. The age‑old story is told in Genesis: When Adam and Eve were instructed to leave the apples alone; apples became the most desirable fruit in the garden. Remember, they could have eaten anything in the garden except apples, but what did they go for? They made a beeline for the apple tree. Adam and Eve revealed the forbidden fruit syndrome...what you can't have is, what you will want the most.

Can you see why diets that cut out certain foods are likely to eventually fail? I have a friend who tries every new diet on the planet. When she gets ready to go on a new diet, she starts eating more junk food ‑‑ and greater quantities of food. It only takes the anticipation of a diet to spark her binging behavior. Diets are self‑imposed starvation. My friend knows she won't be allowed to eat certain foods, so the forbidden foods became even more appealing. Then she diets tolose the weight gained as a result of going on the diet in the first place.

Grandmother Rosa is a South American born indigenous elder. Her animation captured the spiritually hungry at a medicine gathering in the nineties. Grandmother’s spirit told her to stop making food her enemy. “Love all the food you eat.” It didn't matter whether she ate bean sprouts or chocolate, she was to respect and love it all. Her change in attitude created amazing results. Not only did Grandmother Rosa lose weight, she lost the desire for many foods that didn't support her physical health. There is a big difference between sacrificing and losing desire. When we approach food from a point of sacrifice, we thwart our ability to achieve our goals.

I suggest an alternative to dieting and to believing in food magic (food magic - good food is like magic it will instantly cure everything and make my life work). Love all food you eat. Bless your food before you eat. Spend time each day discovering who you are through prayer, spiritual reading and by being still and listening to inner wisdom voice.

The following prayer is from my book "Offbeat Prayers for the Modern Mystic." I took the prayer that my father and grandfather said and created a contemporary version. Use this prayer or find another creative and expressive form of prayer that will allow you to reestablish a healthy and holy attitude about your food and your life.

New Grace

Not only are we grateful for this food, but we are grateful to the essence that gave it form. We give thanks to that life force within the food that brings us vitality. May this food become a celebration of the immortality of life itself. May we be ever grateful for all of life's creations.Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. Bless these bodies to the service of our spirits.

AMEN

Quantum physics delivered us from victimhood; it reveals that energy affects energy. Our thoughts are energy. Our food is energy. When done in openness, authenticity and humility, prayer is a higher form of energy that affects our lives both physically and emotionally. Bring Spirit into your relationship with food. Don't pray like a beggar. "Please, please, help me help me help me." Don't whine. Bless your food. Bless your relationship to food. Let your trips to the grocery store be spiritual pilgrimages rather than burdensome everyday tasks. When eating out, be a radiant, joy‑filled consumer rather than a holy terror to your server

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Recently, when checking out at the grocery, I had one of those quirky inspirations. I made a smiley face out of the fruits and vegetables I placed on the conveyor belt. I told the check out woman, “Look, I made a present for you”. She was delighted and shared her enthusiasm with fellow onlookers. I began to make a practice of honoring my food as I purchased it. Yesterday I made another face. I used broccoli as the hair and used cucumbers as the horns. The check out lady asked if she could disturb it to ring me up! Sometimes I just line up the groceries to look orderly and bless the food as I place it on the conveyor belt. The first time I did this I was particularly prayerful. The man standing behind me said “I like the way you place your groceries, you have a special way.” It never occurred to me that someone would notice what I was doing.

When so much of our day and lives are consumed by eating, planning to eat, shopping for food and cleaning up after we eat, it is important to be in harmony with food. Food is not the demon. The real demons are inside us. Our demons are the rejected and unloved parts of our Self. As soon as we can become the powerful works of spiritual art that we actually are, the demons in our foods disappear. We will no longer need to project our inner pain onto our outer worlds.

I follow the food supplies in grocery stores. I am a food reader. The quality of our restaurants and grocery stores reflects the spiritual qualities of our lives. In the early 70's, I cultured my yogurt or went to the health food store on Thursdays. Dannon yogurt was delivered only one day a week, and if I didn't get there in time, I wouldn't be able to get any yogurt that week. About fifteen years ago, a grocery store opened in my neighborhood. I walked the aisles looking at fresh whole wheat breads without preservatives. Fresh herbs nestled beside organic fruits and vegetables. In fact, the vegetables and fruits made up the largest section of the store. This scene would be the norm in the west, but this store was in Memphis, Tennessee... home of Billy‑Bob and barbecue. I cried in gratitude. I cried because we are blessed by so many choices, because we are changing as a culture. I cried for those who will never see such opulence. I remembered the raging results of hunger and the look of sheer desperation in the faces of the children. I cried with compassion for those who cry lack in the midst of such great abundance, and I rejoiced for all that I had. The grocery stores of today are our new temples. I have some of my greatest visions and deepest spiritual insights in the grocery store.

So now you have it. You have asked for a better way... and here it is. For those who have eyes, let them see, for those who have ears, let them hear and for those who are hungry, let them worship. Food is sacred, it is not our enemy! Give thanks and rejoice.

* This article was originally published in 2003 in several magazines, but since I'm on the food trail - I thought you might enjoy it.