Building Blocks

A Chapter excerpt from "Health and Happiness: an owner's manual for the mind and body" - now available in new, unique, custom personalized print.

I like analogies because they allow us to think things through logically when they are approached from a different view point. That is why I am going to compare eating food to building a house.

Imagine you are a building contractor and I have just hired you to build a house. Better yet, let’s say the house is already built and it just needs maintenance and renovation. There are no complicated plans to read or foundations to dig. The hard part is done… Everything is already built. The house just has some squeaks and creaks and a few leaks. Much like your body could have some strains, sprains, bruises, cancers, arthritis or poor vision. Let’s say you have to repair a leaking roof. What materials would you need? It depends on the type of roof, but overall you may need some flashing, caulk, shingles, tar paper, coatings etc… Now let’s imagine that the only material available to you is concrete. Besides being extremely heavy, concrete is also porous and absorbs water – making it a poor choice for a roofing material. You could keep pouring concrete on the roof until the weight collapses the structure – or find a new material to properly fix the problem.

Your body is much more complex than any building on earth and needs a wide variety of materials to keep it operating properly. The problem is that most of us are not operating properly, but don’t realize it until damage has been done. If your body needs roofing materials (salad) and all you give it to work with is concrete (fast food), then repairs and maintenance cannot be carried out. Your body just stockpiles the concrete (maybe around the waist or hips). Not only does your body not get what it needs, but it gets an excess of what it doesn’t need. When materials are obviously stockpiling in the body and other problems still persist, take it as your body warning you that you need to put something else in it!

My second analogy is a termite infested wall (or cancer ridden cells that must be repaired). The wall is made out of wood and is badly deteriorated. We need new wood and nails to rebuild it. Let’s compare the new wood to fresh, raw fruits and vegetables and the nails to fresh spring water. Then let’s burn the new wood (much like what cooking does to the nutrients in fruits and veggies) and then rust the nails (much like carbonating the water and adding sugar). How strong will our new wall be when made of burnt wood and rusted nails? How many nutrients are we cooking out of our food? How polluted, carbonated, colored and artificially flavored is your water?

Your kidneys and liver are like an air filter in you homes’ heating and A/C system. If you don’t regularly change the filter, it becomes clogged and the system has to work harder to force air through the dirt, thus increasing your electric bill. If the filter becomes too clogged, it may not let any air pass and may burn up the motor and system. You can’t naturally change your body parts, but you can keep them clean and hydrated and assist them in the detoxification process with sweat, activity and stretching. Think about this: your body is your permanent home that you live in every day of your life - 24/7. Keep it clean and well maintained and it will provide you many years of comfortable, trouble free living.

Let’s be clear on something – food doesn’t heal the body or cure disease. The body heals the body and defeats disease. Eating the right foods and eliminating the wrong foods gives the body the necessary ingredients to carry out its inherent functions. Give your body the materials it needs and it can rebuild itself and keep itself well maintained.  Keep it cleansed and detoxified and it will operate more efficiently and stress-free for years to come.