Learning Wholism in Nutrition

A friend of mine described the problems she has had with mineral supplements.  This is my reply to her.

Of course rocks (mineral pills) don't digest easily.  So you have to buy the really expensive mineral supplements.  Plants are bioavailable to us because they are alive too.  They have complex nutrients that contribute to their life force.  Each plant has its own synergistic way of living.  Supplements companies cannot imitate the intricacy of nature.  So, I would prefer to get my minerals from plants.  Below I will describe some ways that I have found to harvest plants.

GROW YOUR OWN MINERALS

Many easy to grow plants have high nutritional value. The amount of minerals that they contain depends on your soil. I have been growing wheat grass in my garden and snipping it off. In the kitchen on a cutting board, I cut the grass into one inch pieces and then add water to blend it into a mash. Next I strain off the fiber then throw the juice into my green smoothies. The taste of the grass is pretty strong so something like organic lemon (use the peel and the seeds) will cut through the strong taste.  I have so much grass growing and it is so easy to grow so throwing away some of my grass it is not a big loss.   I am using it in place of expensive organic spinach etc.  Also, I started planting things like alfalfa which is good for me.  Before knowing this, I bought alfalfa as a tea.  Similarly, I throw my squash seeds in the garden too and eat the sprouts.  Any seed will sprout and most anything will make a nice little green vegetable without all the fuss of growing a big veggie like squash. 

I know it is winter in the Northern US, so gardening is not possible.  Winter is coming to Tokyo too, but these grasses look pretty hardy.  I have a feeling that I will be cutting them off in the snow.  During the winter I can grow grass near a window.  But, as compared to sprouting in water, the garden is so easy.  Soil is so much easier to tend compared to changing water for sprouts.  Also, I am sure the seeds get energy from the sun and the soil.    Anything can go into a green smoothie, not just fancy store bought organic greens.

NO GARDEN? WILD HARVEST, DRY AND DECORATE WITH TEA JARS

There are a lot of wild weeds in the forest. What a wonderful excuse to take a little spring or early summer hike.  If you can harvest these "weeds" before they seed, you don't need a garden.  Drying the useful parts as a preparation for tea is another way to get minerals.  

Making food like this a head of time is great, but the problem becomes I forget that I have them.  So after making them, I need to arrange my tea shelf so I actually drink them.  I think this is an aesthetic problems more than a memory problem.  Arranging my teas in a way that I know what they are and so they are attractive helps me to make sure that I will certainly drink them.  

Slow dry frying is a way to take the edge off very bitter weeds.  But of course the raw plants provide more enzymes for you digestive system.

CONNECTING ABSTRACT FACTS WITH LIFE

In the past, I was trying to buy bottled supplements, but the process became confusing.  I think emotionally I could not handle it.  There is no spiritual connection with a pill and there is a complex set of actions involved in purchasing anything including having the money to spend.  Even herbs that I purchase over the Internet don't necessarily get used.  If I wild craft them or grow them, there is a bond.   Planting and wild crafting is so much more connected to my life. It is not an intellectual exercise or a long line of manipulations of the market system.

Last night I opened up a nutrition book that I had studied in the past.  Before I thought I had to buy supplements.  Honestly, in my mind the information did not settle into a useful form. This time, I started thinking in terms of foods that I actually easily make and like.  Instead of looking up supplements on the Internet, I looked up food nutrition reports. I wrote down only the foods that are available to me and that I like.   Next I think I will think about the wild crafting and gardening to get those same nutrients.  If I know that I need some nutrient, the next step is to think of a variety of foods or herbs that provide that nutrient in a way that I can easily integrate into my life.  I reject the impulse suggesting that I consume nothing but a certain herb or food.  Rather, as I investigate my personal chronic conditions, I find that the same nutrients appear repeatedly.  Those are the ones that I want to harvest or buy from a variety of sources.  I have many more options than just supplements.

In a post several days ago, I was very inspired by the description of how a respected homeopath said she chooses foods.  She mentioned several diets.  As a homeopath, she considered several l diet food lists and looked at the overlap. She also considered the research behind such diets.  She looked at her heritage.  Looked at other information that she calls common sense. She knows a lot more than me, so to me, her common sense is my idea of  studying nutrition and adapting information to my lifestyle.   

Isn't this how we homeopaths choose a remedy? We repertorize symptoms and use a variety of other sources as well. In nutrition, it looks like pathology and disease names dominate. I wish I could look up symptoms in something like a repertory. Homeopaths look at the individual.  Adding together the information is the artistic part of homeopathy.  I realized that when I look at the maze of information that is out there about nutrition, I have to think like a homeopath.  I have to go from the abstract to the practical with ease.  

The whole study process makes so much more sense this time.  I should move from abstract information to a clear set of activities that are easily integrated into my life.  Of course, structuring my life for an unfamiliar set of activities always takes effort.  So, I give myself plenty of space;  low expectations, slow startup time, and provide plenty of forgiveness for mistakes and failures.