Healthy Diet, Healthy Soul
Eat for Yourself
Eating wholesome food can do much to enable us to fulfill our duty of state and avoid falling into the temptations of depression, crabbiness, anger, and inattention among others.
By Kate Larson
Irecently watched a documentary on vegetarianism (a diet I would under no conditions promote, by the way).
It sought to win viewers over to a vegetarian diet by portraying several individuals who initially consumed diets heavy in processed foods and animal products but, after switching to a plant-based diet, experienced dramatic improvements in their health. One of the documentary’s strongest arguments in favor of vegetarianism came in the form of a seventy-year-old woman whose cancer had gone into remission after she switched to a plant-based diet. She was, in fact, so healthy now that she was training for a marathon. Unfortunately, the story had almost the opposite of its intended effect on me. I found this woman’s attempt to cling to the physical strength of youth almost sickening in its denial of human mortality. Like it or not, we die – no matter how healthily we eat. Nevertheless, longevity almost implying the possibility of immortality seems to be our neo-pagan society's favorite argument in favor of health food. But ultimately, it doesn't fly. We just can't live forever. Still, the Catholic Church has never had a problem with promoting human health in its proper place, and in fact, was once one of the greatest proponents of medicine. She has a long tradition of setting up hospitals run by religious and free to the public.
Never has the Church held the health of the body as something unimportant or trivial; indeed, many of the miracles performed by the saints, and even Our Lord Himself, center on the restoration of bodily health. After all, it is clear that to be healthy is in better alignment with God’s design for the human body than to be unhealthy.
There must, then, be a legitimate application for nutrition in the Catholic life; there must be better reasons for eating well than those offered by secular culture. Food, after all, plays a pretty significant part in everyday human life.
Could what we eat perhaps affect us not only on a physical but also on a spiritual level? Could it not, like any created thing, be a tool in the spiritual life?
Let's first look at man's end. As the most basic of catechisms tells us, our end is God Himself and eternal life with Him. If this is the purpose of life, then one’s physical state must be ordered towards this end – sometimes in the form of mortification, but also in the form of proper care of one’s body for the sake of better pursuing our goal. Yes, being well, making sure one’s body is in a healthy state, may help one to attain eternal life if for no other reason than that most of us have to have a certain level of physical health in order even to function.
For instance, I know that, if I don’t eat a substantial, healthy breakfast, I've a fair chance of being an emotional wreck by lunch time. Since I know this about myself, since I’m aware that a lack of proper nutrition makes me more irritable, it’s an act of charity towards the rest of my family to eat a decent breakfast. I’m simply better able to fulfill my duty of state that way. Silly as such an example may seem, I’m not the only person whose emotional state is tied to her stomach.
But the idea that our bodily health affects our ability to fulfill our duty of state applies on more than a day-to-day level. Over the long term, perpetual poor nutrition can have a devastating effect both on one’s physical and emotional health. "But what of the many saints who fasted perpetually?"
one might object, "They did not seem to care about their physical health!"
These saints, however, were depriving themselves of food intentionally, for a specific, spiritual purpose, and with the aid of special graces. Additionally, what food they ate was generally whole and substantial if small in quantity, thus providing them with sufficient nutrition.
Most modern Americans, on the other hand, merely neglect to give themselves sufficiently wholesome food, rather opting to eat processed, poor-quality foods, often in large quantities, out of laziness or ignorance. Thus, they end up simultaneously overeating and under nourishing themselves. This can in no way be equated to the fasting of the saints; it tends more towards gluttony than temperance or a proper ordering of physical and spiritual.
It is these modern convenience foods (no matter in what quantity) that are most likely to cause physical degeneration over time. While we are to accept whatever physical ailments God sends us, we are equally bound to not knowingly inflict them upon ourselves – especially when the physical ailment is likely to weaken us in dealing with temptations and other trials, as poor nutrition can. For example, the effect of large quantities of sugar on young children is undeniable: they become almost incapable of controlling their already high levels of energy and distractibility. While we are inclined first to scold them and then to put them on drugs for A.D.D., we might first think about what we’re feeding our children and how this may be affecting their ability to control themselves and develop virtuous habits. Eating wholesome food can do much to enable us to fulfill our duty of state and avoid falling into the temptations of depression, crabbiness, anger, and inattention among others.
Apart even from these practical concerns, I think there is a basic respect for God’s Creation which plays into our duty to eat as well as we are able.
After all, our bodies are not merely vessels for our souls in this life, as Plato thought. Rather, we are a true composite of body and soul. We are eternally and inextricably bound to the very bodies we inhabit now, for we will be reunited for eternity to our perfected bodies after the Last Judgment. If our bodies as well as our souls have been created by God for the purpose of Heaven, can we deny that they demand a certain amount of care?
As something created by God, and more importantly a Temple of the Holy Ghost, our bodies deserve respect. Thus, we ought neither to misuse them by making them the vehicle of evil deeds nor abuse them by giving them food, drugs, and injuries that are outside of God’s intentions for the human body.
Of course, though food can be misused, it need not be. As G.K.
Chesterton so famously put it in Orthodoxy, "we should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them." It is in viewing nutrition as a tool in the quest for eternal life (rather than a means of prolonging temporal life) that it can be ordered in the Catholic worldview. Like all things of this world, food can be a help in attaining the Beatific Vision and a means of showing our love for God through the proper use of the gifts He has bestowed upon us.
Eat for Your Kids
"Your idealistic talk is all very well, but we have a large family and we can't afford to eat expensive health food." This might be the response of a Catholic parent to my previous statements and not without reason. Yes, it’s true that one must find the balance between quality and economy in running a large household. However, it is part of our duty as parents to care not only for our children’s souls but also their bodies to the best of our ability.
We are what we eat, and this certainly goes for our children. Thus, we ought to feed them foods that will nourish them and give them the matter they need to grow into strong, healthy, stable adults. The plight of the young traditionalist in the modern world is difficult enough without adding to his setbacks poor eating habits and poor health in consequence of these habits. If, on the other hand, he learns at a young age to value both his body and his food as the gifts of God that they are, he will be more likely to avoid abusing either later in life. He will find in the things of daily life a constant reminder of their Creator.
"Alright. But that doesn’t mean I have to eat well, just that my children do," might be the reply. This, however, is not quite true either. In fact, not only are we what we eat, but our children are what we eat, too. It’s absolutely essential that parents, especially women of childbearing age, eat well because their babies will literally be formed from their parents' matter. If, however, you do not provide your own body with proper nutrition, the matter from which your child draws his substance will be lacking. This is simply common sense -- though such wisdom seems to have become uncommon in our age.
We now insist that women drink not a drop of wine for the whole nine months of pregnancy, but don’t bat an eyelash when she consumes corn-syrup- and dye- filled soda or processed, sugar-filled cereals.
"Fine," one might concede, "but after we've stopped having children, we needn’t worry so much, right?" Perhaps not, but children observe their parents
- G.K. Chesterton -
very closely and are apt to follow their example. If parents do not set the example of eating well for their children, the children will more than likely not see the importance of doing so themselves.
Would we not want -- nay, are we not bound -- to equip our children with the tools to live a good and healthy life?
"But we just can't afford expensive foods!" my readers may still insist. Yes, this is a serious objection since we have an obligation to provide for our families in more ways than simply nutritionally.
Our children must be housed, clothed, educated, and driven about in expensive automobiles. Thus, one has to make sacrifices somewhere, and occasionally this may be on the grocery front. You might not always be able to afford organic produce or even fresh produce.
However, these sacrifices can sometimes be in the types of food one eats rather than in its quality. You might have to forgo yogurt for breakfast this week, but that doesn't mean you have resort to highly-processed, sugary cereal in its place; rather, you could try oldfashioned rolled oats, one of the most inexpensive yet nutritionally-sound breakfast foods out there.
Another option for the budgetconscious is to grow your own food.
Even if you have very limited space, you can grow pots of herbs, lettuce, and tomatoes, or build a backyard chicken co-op, or make your own bread from ingredients you've bought in bulk at reduced prices. Yes, this requires more work than picking up a bag of prepackaged lettuce or mass-produced bread from the grocery store, but it is much, much fresher and healthier and generally costs much, much less. In fact, you may even save yourself a doctor's bill or two simply by eating to prevent health problems.
Of course, when all’s said and done, you can only afford what your bank account allows, but if you can manage to eat mostly whole, fresh foods and perhaps make or grow some of your own food, you will be benefiting not only yourself, but your children – perhaps for generations to come. God has given us a world of resources, but we, too, must do our part to cultivate them. We must be sure to use His gifts according to the order He established and for the purpose He intended.
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