NUTRITION
FOOD AND KARMA The way foods (including ‘superfoods’) are grown or raised, processed, transported, traded and prepared has powerful effects on soil, plants, animals, ecosystems and the health of the planet, as well as on farmers, consumers, economies, and society as a whole. You may be familiar with the term
karma. The theory of karma is one of cause and effect. However, causes do not simply lead to a predictable set of knock-on effects. Karma works in subtle ways, with causes combining in multitudinous complexities to create experience. When you eat something, you eat everything that happened to make that
Do you rely on a food production system that restores nature and cultivates human consciousness? Or one that throws nature out of balance, is grown and processed by strangers, and employs monoculture and genetic modification? And since we’re talking about superfoods, one that perhaps reinforces a lifestyle that prioritises health and fitness over everything else (a phenomenon known as ‘healthism’)? One that leverages privilege and social status to create the illusion of ultimate health by placing a higher price on the most exotic, the most antioxidant-dense, and the most sexy-sounding and marketable, despite the costs?
//YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH THE TERM KARMA. THE THEORY OF KARMA IS ONE OF CAUSE AND
EFFECT. HOWEVER, CAUSES DO NOT SIMPLY LEAD TO A PREDICTABLE SET OF KNOCK-ON EFFECTS. KARMA WORKS IN SUBTLE WAYS, WITH CAUSES COMBINING IN MULTITUDINOUS COMPLEXITIES TO CREATE EXPERIENCE. //
food come into existence. You say yes to the hands and systems that allowed that food to come to you. You affirm a certain version of the world. If you choose bananas from a South American plantation located on destroyed rainforest land, employing impoverished workers at a fraction of the wage they should be receiving, using pesticides and shipped long distances using oil-fuelled ships, you ever so slightly reinforce this state of affairs. You make it part of your reality and experience.
YOU SAY YES TO THAT WORLD If you instead purchase bananas from a local organic farm, you say yes to a different set of conditions. You strengthen community ties, and in a miniscule way weaken the hold of impersonal food corporations. You say yes to a world that treats soil, air, water and people with respect.
18 MARCH | APRIL 2018
STILL FEEL LIKE YOU NEED YOUR SUPERFOOD SMOOTHIES? There’s nothing wrong with having some superfoods in your diet if you truly enjoy them and can afford them. But if it’s purely the health benefits you’re going for, you need not pay five times the price for possibly a fraction of the antioxidants. Given that the more exotic superfoods are shipped from so far away and stored for months in some cases, many of these foods are no longer fresh and therefore may have experienced loss of antioxidant activity and superfood- ism anyway! There are many locally grown,
comparatively cheaper superfoods with an unusually high nutrient density that you could pop into your morning smoothie instead, to give you a bounce and a clear conscience. Kale, parsley,
turmeric, ginger, and dandelion greens can all be grown in your own backyard easily, and in the case of dandelion, can be found as weeds growing freely along your fence line! If you still wish to gain the health
benefits of specific superfoods without remortgaging your house, try spinach over spirulina (both high in antioxidants and iron), eggs over chia seeds (for an Omega-3 hit), seasonal berries over acai (antioxidant central), and pumpkin seeds over maca (both promote reproductive health). Grounded spices such as nutmeg,
cloves, cinnamon, turmeric and mustard contain the highest ORAC count (a measure of total antioxidant capacity) of any foodstuff you can get, far exceeding noni juice or acai berries. Other superfoods that I’m lucky to have access to here in Southeast Queensland are locally grown avocados, purslane (Portulaca oleracea, an edible weed exceptionally high in ALA Omega-3, vitamins and minerals), and locally caught fish. If you must have quinoa, acai or
maca, and you’re concerned about sustainability and social justice, do your research and vote with your dollar. If you’re buying organic chocolate, make sure it’s at least ‘fair trade’. Check where it is grown and how it is harvested. We eat the energy we want to become, so choose wisely.
Does the food you eat resonate with who you are, and who you wish to be? l
Connect with other readers & comment on this article at
www.livingnow.com.au
Casey Conroy is an accredited practising dietitian, holistic nutritionist, naturopath in-training and yoga teacher
who loves dark chocolate and any yoga incorporating an eye bag. She is the founder of Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing on the Gold Coast, and advocates a practical and light- hearted approach to nutrition and natural health.
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