Nutrition and Technology



By Prof. Dr. Feelgood

I have been approached to contemplate this subject, on consideration I ponder a paradox, is it nutrition and technology or technology verses nutrition?

When I was young the media was full of glorious predictions about the future of mankind, stating that the age of starvation and malnutrition in the poorer nations of the world would come to an end because man was finding ways through new agricultural techniques, fertilizers, conservation and transport methods. Those were all very rosy predictions for the hope of mankind on this planet.

The first question to ask is: why was there starvation and malnutrition in the first place?

Genesis describes the Garden of Eden where the seeds and the grass was to be eaten by the animals and the grains and fruits were to be eaten by Adam and his prodigies. This actually is a promotion for vegetarianism.

Hunter and gatherer were the first way of our remote ancestors of nourishing themselves and most of the time in their lives was concerned with finding game, wild roots, berries, edible leaves and fruits. Later the fertile crescents of the world where populated and the first agriculture began, where the populous learned to separate grains and plant those which were useful, in abundance, whereby it was not necessary any longer for the early people to wonder to find their sustenance.

The digging stick was slowly replaced by the flint hoe and then by the plough, first pulled by man then by animals. The art of agriculture was born and the city states, walled cities and an aristocracy began to flourish in the fertile areas of the globe. This was the beginning of a staple diet based on communal and social structure using early agricultural techniques, but again nothing is infallible as was described in the Old Testament in the story of The Pharaoh’s dream which was interpreted by Joseph about the seven fat cows being eaten by the seven lean cows. Nature is unkind and will wroth drought, floods and general mayhem to ruin any mans attempt to create a balanced life. Here they learned to preserve, store and dry the foodstuffs which were needed in the times of despair. Hunting was replaced slowly by animal husbandry and the seeds of our modern food culture were born, but a prehistoric carrot does not look much different from a modern one except for its size, or nowadays perfect shape.
All the ages have gone from the original periods of invention to the end of that civilization always ending in decadence. A modern example was Rome, where in the end birds were cooked inside pheasants, inside rabbits inside lambs, inside goats, inside pigs, inside cows etc, and after all that was consumed it was always polite to throw it all up in a silver bucket so one could start the food orgy all over again. These ages of the under bred and over fed are a constant feature of our world history. The middle ages also contained these same elements as does our present, in better older German restaurants can be found, in the corner of the men’s room a vomit sink.

Asian societies have generally considered food as a medicine and a necessity that had become a science of life. The Chinese have the philosophy of the five tastes to live a healthy life i.e.: salt, sweet, bitter, acrid and savoury. This fits nicely with the Five Elements Theory that is the cornerstone of Chinese philosophical thought, as each taste sensation corresponds to one of the five elements: water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. As well and the Indian cuisine which discriminates between the three Gunas, that is to say Sattva: Essence (subtle), Rajas: Activity, Tamas: Inertia (gross)
Sattvic foods: Are fresh, juicy, light, unctuous, nourishing, sweet and tasty.
Give the necessary energy to the body without taxing it. The foundation of higher states of consciousness. Examples : juicy fruits, fresh vegetables that are easily digestible, fresh milk and butter, whole soaked or also sprouted beans, grains and nuts, many herbs and spices in the right combinations with other foods. Rajasic foods: Are bitter, sour, salty, pungent, hot and dry.
Increase the speed and excitement of the human organism. The foundation of motion, activity and pain. Examples: sattvic foods that have been fried in oil or cooked too much or eaten in excess, specific foods and spices that are strongly exciting. Tamasic Foods: Are dry, old, decaying, distasteful and/or unpalatable. Consume a large amount of energy while being digested. The foundation of ignorance, doubt, pessimism. Examples: foods that have been strongly processed, canned or frozen and/or are old, stale or incompatible with each other - meat, fish, eggs and liquor are especially tamasic. This last category corresponds to the present day’s Western diet.

The ancient and near history of food was quite balanced as every tribe or society had plots of land where they grew an assortment of foods which gave a balanced diet and therefore a varied nutrition, containing the vitamins and minerals found naturally in a varied natural diet. This all changed when the period of the Colonists and Conquistadors invaded the world and changed everything to large tracks of monoculture products, such as spices and tea, which were grown, not for the benefit of the local populations, but for export and profit to and for the conquering countries of Europe and now a days further West. The picture of the food chain changed and what had been grown locally now had to be imported. Again this is profit, above the cost of the original food product adding to the cost of this nourishment.
Today there are large tracts of land the size of some of the States in the US which only produce wheat or maize, negating all other food sources these again are used to feed livestock which in turn give hamburgers and oil to distillate into gasoline or oil to deep fry potatoes in. This is the out come of technology on nutrition. What is left to eat is full of preservatives, taste stimulants, chemicals, antibiotics and sterility. This is technology used for profit and not for the well being of the masses.

Technology is neutral, a machine will just sit in the corner until a human turns it on, and so it is still man who directs the uses of these technologies. There is nothing wrong with technology, but it must be used for the good of health and not only for the health of a corporation.

Technologies can reverse the present trend where the majority of the Western world is suffering from obesity followed by arterial problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer. They can, given in the right hands can change the existing path and bring us, not back, but to a new varied natural supply of foodstuffs that are wholesome and nutritious and just what the doctor ordered.

A closing antidote here: For centuries the Japanese diet was based on rice, vegetables and fish, cancers and coronary problems were rarities in their history. From the sixties onward they began to import and eat Western style, that is to say chesses, pork bacon, eggs and fast food such as greasy hamburgers. Now the statistics show that they also are drastically on the increase with heart attacks, cancer, obesity early chronic sickness and death.

The New Testament states that Jesus said to his disciples: Eat with me; but I can assure there were not tamasic hamburgers and pizza pie on his menu.