EATING AND DRINKING

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

In the last few months I have become increasingly concerned about what goes into our bodies (the Lord’s temple) as food and drink. This concern was heightened after I heard Dr Don Colbert, Mrs Mary Colbert and Gloria Copeland discuss the difference between life foods and dead foods. They explained that Life foods are those that are closest to their natural state and free from any alteration by man while dead foods (and drinks) are either altered or created entirely by man. Does anything come to mind in the latter group. The Colberts and Pastor Gloria Copeland suggested that life foods give life to the body while dead foods have the opposite effect. This was also tied to the injunction in Roman 12:1 on presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

I surveyed my diet and realised I was way off.

Whenever I have the opportunity of contributing to a health column like this I always restrain myself from discussing diseases. Why? Only a handful of people would be affected by any disease or condition that I may discuss. Whereas there are issues that impact our health which we all confront all the time.

According to Dr Mike Murdock “the secret to your future is hidden in your daily routine”. Since this is a health column, the future we are considering here is our “health future”.

There are certain routines that we engage in daily: we eat, drink, work, walk, talk, sleep, play, among others.

As a medical person, when discussing the issue of healthy living, I had often focussed on the importance of a Balanced Diet. This is good. However careful scrutiny of the sources of my own meals in the light of new nutrition knowledge showed that most of our meals may be both balanced (in food groups) and unbalanced (in nutrients).

The key here is what kind of processing has the food undergone before getting to your plate?

A Balanced Meal with Unbalanced Nutrients

The idea behind the Balanced Diet assumes that foodstuffs are as fresh as they should be during consumption. However, present reality where most food items are pre-processed, defeats the purpose of the Balanced Diet as a healthy meal. Pre-processing tends to strip food of their nutritional value especially as regards essential minerals and micronutrients.

The pressure of our fast life has brought the fast food revolution from outdoors into our kitchens and homes. The microwave has ushered in pre-processed and pre-packaged food items that take only 5 minutes from raw to ready!
Such pre-processing and packaging are usually done through processes that denature the food. Denaturation refers to the process whereby the natural states of substances are altered through physical or chemical means. Such processing may also include intense cooking of food items.

This process leads to the loss of essential minerals, vitamins and micro nutrients.

Another important fall-out of pre-possessed and pre-packaged food items is that they are preserved either through chemical means or by passing through radiation! Preservation keeps the food from natural processes that decompose food.

Yes, the food is preserved in the can or container and also preserved in the digestive system, since the preservatives prevent the natural processes in your system from digesting (decomposing) the food effectively. This may lead to conditions like indigestion, heart burn and others.

The suggestion is to avoid pre-processed foods as much as you can if your focus is on eating healthy! When next you are taking what looks like a Balanced Diet, look again to see how much of the items on your plate have gone through pre-processing before getting to your kitchen. The proportion will give you an idea of how much of the natural nutrients may have been lost before the food got to your plate.

For us in Nigeria anyway, processed foods offer no cost-benefit advantage. They are imported hence usually cost more while giving less nutrients. Some pre-processed food items are said to be fortified with nutrients. Don’t always believe that. The fortification may not outlast the long shelve lives or your cooking process!

Remember! take food in their natural state as much as possible. Avoid man-made refined food as possible.

Your digestive system was designed by its creator to handle natural substances.

Examples of pre-processed and pre-packaged or artificial food items include canned foods, packaged vegetables, polished rice, flour, refined white sugar, NutraSweet or aspartame (artificial sweetener). NutraSweet breaks down in the body into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. Methanol is also known as wood alcohol and is broken down in the body into formaldehyde, which is embalming fluid! I am sure you can add to this list by simply looking around you or watching what goes into your mouth!
Olusegun S. Odujebe, MD
(Comments are welcomed at segunodujebe@yahoo.com)