Food, Health & Enjoyment, Part II (#60)
In Part I, we discussed the various influences on the way we eat. The cultural influence limits our exposure to only one way of life where we happened to grow up. The geographic influence places the physical limits on what we can eat where we live. The infomercial influence represents all kinds of distortion on the way we think we should eat. As a consequence, it is not easy for anybody to get an objective view about food.
In order to be objective, I advise using your common sense rather than doing all kinds of research about food. The more you try to learn about food, the more infomercial data you tend to get. This casts doubts on whether your effort is worthwhile. The basic question we should ask is: What is the purpose of food? Well, food is simply for health and enjoyment. Everything else should serve this purpose.
Moderation
The enjoyment purpose is very easy to fulfill. If we like what we eat, thats sufficient reason. However, enjoyment has to bring health at the same time. We must apply the principle of moderation. Too much enjoyment will lead to indulgence. We must moderate the quantity and frequency of food intake even though we crave for a particular kind of food. There is a Chinese saying: Eat less and the food will taste better.
Moderation does not mean control only. It means trying to stay in the middle with no extremes. If we enjoy what we eat and do it with moderation, that will be good enough for a happy life.
Variety of Choice
Knowledge is expanding everyday. What we know today will become obsolete soon. How do we know that we are eating the right kind of stuff? In fact, we dont know very much. Even if we think we know, can we be wrong? More than likely! So why bother? A good attitude is: It is worthwhile to try different kinds of food that we havent tasted before. This will expand our sphere of enjoyment for we dont know how much we are missing if we dont try. A good strategy should be: If you like it, eat a little more. If not, eat a little less.
Your body needs all kinds of nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, etc. You dont need tons of them everyday. Your body will absorb the right amounts of those nutrients from what you eat, and reject the rest. There is no need to force-feed with the correct nutrients. You may want to do it but your body will not accept anything more than it needs. The best way is to give your body enough choice to do what is best. As far as you can control, do the easiest and most enjoyable thing, that is, eat a great variety of food. Have you noticed that most of the people suffering from mal-nutrition have a very restricted list of food that they can eat?
Variety does not mean quantity. Variety means many different kinds of food and methods of preparation. Variety enables you to obtain different kinds of nutrients for your body to choose. It also adds color to your life and enhances your enjoyment. The easiest way to achieve variety is to improve your way of eating by gradually enlarging the scope of food that you eat. In short, be adventurous and try something new everyday!
Balance
When we talk about balance in the food we eat, the idea is not far from moderation and variety. Why? When we achieve moderation and variety, we have basically arrived at a balance point. In short, balance means middle of the road among many different choices.
In Chinese culture, the concept of balance is taken a little further. The idea of hot & cold is used as a simple means to achieve balance. For more details, please review my three videos: The Concept of Balance (#24), Hot & Cold, Ancient but Useful Concept (#23), and Hot & Cold, Part II (#26).
www.herbsandtea.com
November 2009
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There is no reason for me to doubt the nutritious values of frozen fruits and vegetables. If I have a choice, I prefer fresh ones because they taste better.
askjohnfung 2 years ago
I was curious about frozen vegetables and fruits and are they good nutritious value.... glad you do youtube videos
headlightdog 2 years ago