Tuesday 9 July 2013

Food

I'm always reticent to talk about the way we do anything as a family in case people read it as my attempt at being prescriptive. We all have our own path to walk, the way we see as right (for us), the way we think is beneficial, and for each course there is a horse, no? What works for one family will not work for another; what is your life situation is not mine; the experiences we have all had that has brought each of us to this very step today are varied, and so being prescriptive doesn't work. It never has. It never will.

Saying that, and without really wanting to justify myself a great deal (nor you), I thought we could look at food once in a while?

Aaand today is detox day. Steeping lemon balm to add to the green smoothie

I'm no expert, I'll tell you that from the get-go. My food education started a few years back and continues to grow each day. I don't know why food never interested me; perhaps because it was always viewed as 'something you have to do', something to get out of the way, the mess cleaned up, the meal finished so life could happen. I admit that most of my student years were spent eating toast and hummus and I have no idea how my teeth never fell out. I love my vegetables but fruit has always been hard for me. Always.

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Since having children (isn't that the catalyst for so much of our self improvement - that we be the change that we wish our children to mirror?) I have tried to improve my relationship with food. Unless there is an upheaval, we eat around the table as a family each day. And I cannot say enough about this. They say a family that prays together stays together? Well, I think people who eat together from one table eat at a deeper level; there is spiritual nourishment to be imbibed from breaking bread together. I know it because I feel it. I feel the healing in it, the blessing. Food tastes better and bridges are repaired and bonds strengthened. It doesn't matter what kind of day you've had, what harshness was spoken or felt, sitting eating as one is something so fundamental to being human. Community is born around food.

Desk day with desk day snacking

Starting, then, as a novice, a babe again into adulthood, I had to learn how to feed my family. And with so many things we do we start with what we know. Me, from the foods my mother made, and my husband from the foods of his culture. And finding middle ground is not easy when you have one person who considers anything not made with chilli inedible, and another who thinks food should not hurt.

And nettle for good measure

In our way of life, Islam, food is such a major thing. The Qur'an says: "Oh, people, eat from the earth what is halal and tayyib". 'Halal' is the Islamic equivalent of kosher, with the addition that alcohol is also forbidden. But even some Muslims tend to be less familiar with the concept of 'tayyib' - which means 'pure/ethical/wholesome/good'. Nearly everywhere that we are enjoined in the Qur’an to eat only of the halal, 'tayyib' is explicitly mentioned as a necessary quality as well. But in this age, 'tayyib' has been largely forgotten.

Regarding meat there are so many conditions of raising and slaughtering. A few are:

1. The animal must be raised in a humane and wholesome environment.
2. The animal must not be mishandled, stressed, or caused any discomfort during transport.
3. The animal must not feel stress or fear before death.
4. The animal must not be killed using continuous pain or injury.
5. The animal must be killed away from the view of other animals

Fun n games at a friends house earlier

The more I learned about the way food is brought to our tables in this culture, the more I realised that what we are eating can never be classified as 'tayyib'. So much of our food is not ethically grown and raised, it isn't pure, it certainly isn't wholesome and if by some miracle 'tayyib' food were to reach us, the way we cook it would certainly knock the goodness out of it.

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And you are what you eat. Whenever a cell in your body is replaced the food you have eaten has contributed towards its construction. Was it any wonder that I constantly felt unwell, drained, tired, and lethargic when what I ate was not wholesome? I was eating badly, and I was becoming badly.

Printed. Now a little break... To cook dinner in :/

The way we view healthcare in this culture is also seriously weird. We do grow up with the assumption that when we get ill a pill cures it. The fact that we call medicine 'healthcare' is also pretty funny, really.

In horticultural terms I've learned as my many years as a dabbler at the allotment that if a plant is diseased there is not much you can do; the best thing you can do is make the soil so healthy and pH balanced that the plant heals itself.

And we're the same. We have an amazing body that does a miracle job every single second of every single day. Our liver takes the brunt of almost everything we eat - every disease that comes our way and every toxin in our body our liver does it's very best to contain and expel. Those kidneys of ours - gosh, so very little - yet we would need a machine the size of a washer-dryer to do the same thing without them - they clean us up with very little reward. If you give your body good food - food filled with minerals and vitamins and good bacteria and alkaline to balance the acid-heavy diets we eat - your body has got all it needs to deal with almost all illness. When your food is wholesome your body is healthy. It is that simple. And when you deny the body vitamins and minerals in food the first thing it does it takes them from your body itself - it strips your body for nutrients. And when they are out of stock? Well, then, the real trouble begins.

Wholesome, 'tayyib', food is healthcare. Medicine is 'sickcare'. And as the saying goes, you can either pay the farmer now, or pay the doctor later. There is no free ride.

No alcohol needed

So, humour me on the days we talk about food? It's a topic I'm passionate about as I seek to learn and feed my family good things.

Lunch

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6 comments:

  1. you've provoked my thinking this morning.... for sure. it's so easy to throw junk into the body and expect it to feel good!

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  2. I loved this from start to finish. I too grew up on crap packaged as "food" and didn't even know some vegetables existed until a few years ago. I mean, really...things like eggplant, even. And fruit meant bananas, apples, grapes and watermelon. When I was still in the states, I began eating green smoothies every morning and WHOA I felt amazing. Moving to Egypt where it is harder for me to get fresh fruits and veggies without a big production and finding someone to take me and all that, I have also learned the reality I am sure you have always lived with: there is a time for everything and everything has a season. I was flabbergasted the first time my husband told me I couldn't have strawberries because they 'weren't in season'. It was a totally foreign concept to me. Then when I was pregnant with my baby, I got crazy about growing my own food but again, Egypt thwarts me at every turn, this time with sandy alkaline soil and no options for "natural fertilizer". I began reading free books on agriculture for beginners and the chemisty of food and all that. I also recently took a free course on Coursera.com about food sustainability and the way we eat. It was a real eye-opener for me.

    When I first converted, I remember having a conversation with some friends of the family who made fun of me for eating only zabihah. they insisted that in America it is a "hardship" to get zabihah meat and since the meat of the Jews and Christians is "'halal" for us, they just bought theirs from the supermarket. I could not convince them that first of all, not every person killing animals for food is a jew or christian, first, or saying God's name during the process, and for sure even if they were, they are not killing the animal in a halal fashion. They told me I have "convertitis" and I would get over it with time. ;-(
    As I am getting older (nearing the ripe old age of 30) I am feeling for sure what I am putting in my body is affecting me and I feel like if I had a heart attack or contracted cancer, I could know what foods I ate that contributed to it, seriously.
    Write more posts about food!!! (Can I link to this post in my blog and on FB?)

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  3. Oh wow,thank you for great feedback. Yeah link away bismillah.
    I was a bit reticent to talk about it because so many people turn food into a form of snobbery, but I talk from experience - since we've improved our eating I just feel so much better. And I'm sure we've all had days when those gaping mouths of our babes are like empty vessels that need stuffed and if you could feed them styrofoam you would, ya know? Hopefully by making more good days than bad we can aid our bodies into health.

    Ok more food posts then ;) and Thankyou

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  4. I did the same thing....drastically changed my food intake with children. I always feel the tayeb is forgotten which is where the whole argument of what is truly right, organic or halal? There isn't both yet sadly. One thing I'm glad I've done for my family is get smoothies in us to take care of a lot of nutrients in one shot. I'd love ,ore food posts!

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  5. There is both, but you have to look for it,and be prepared to pay more and ship if necessary. Or go without, which is something we've just had to accept as well.

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  6. Loved the post! Looking forward to more.

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