Food
energy to sustain life
You are what you eat, fact or
fallacy?
The Human Organism is made up from a highly
complex, organized and integrated group of systems that requires a constant
supply of ordered energy for development and maintenance (*1). According to
Science the source of this energy is believed to be the centre of our Solar
System the Sun, which is a giant Hydrogen bomb. Green plants are the initial
trappers of the Sun’s energy. They convert solar radiant energy into chemical
energy that is stored in the bonds of organic substances such as glucose. This
energy moves through our living world as green plants that are eaten by
herbivorous animals, which are in turn then eaten by carnivorous predators.
This eating progression is known as a food chain. Each organism in the food
chain transforms the energy (which was as we remember "solar radiant
energy") contained in its meal and creates a store of chemical energy that
continually undergoes transformations at the Cellular and Sub-Cellular levels.
There is a law in Thermodynamics which states
that with each subsequent transformation of energy there is a phenominum of energy degradation and disorder accounting
for a slight decrease in potential energy which must be replaced by new
supplies of ordered energy.
This is the metabolic cycle or mill where we
extract energy from the chemical bonds and then synthesize needed compounds.
Essentially the human organism requires energy
which it acquires from the outside environment, be it in the form of the food
we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe or the sun’s rays that we feel.
From a Physics viewpoint energy can be of many categories such as light or
sound etc. On a sub –cellular level, atomic or sub-atomic level, matter is
looked upon as energy. Therefore the human organism could be thought of as
living energy that is continually extracting, converting, synthesizing,
transmuting and combining different forms of energy in its quest for
understanding and experiencing life.
Biologically at a metabolic level only about 40%
of the energy of metabolized fuel is captured in the high-energy bonds of the
body’s energy currency ATP. The remainder is liberated as heat.
Cellular metabolic pathways govern the energy
economy of the organism. The coordinated steps or stages along the metabolic
pathway control the breakdown of food molecules and the release of energy.
The metabolic pathways include the 1) anaerobic
pathway and 2) aerobic pathway which includes the Kreb’s
cycle and the Electron transport chain
Catabolism is the term used to describe cellular
or molecular breakdown, which is the product and price we pay for the many
metabolic reactions that occur in the human organism to maintain order within
the cells. Anabolism (building up) uses the energy from catabolism to make
various complex substances that form body structures and enable them to
function. The manufacture of glucose is an example.
Food the way it is prepared, the environment in which we eat it
and the frame of mind at the time of eating are still other variables that can
alter the cellular and chemical effect of even a nutritious meal. Rushing meals
or even eating meals when we are under mental stress all have deleterious
effects that effect the digestion of our much needed ,
energy packed morsels of food.
We ingest our essential proteins, carbohydrates
and lipids so that our metabolism can maintain our requirements for cellular
growth, reproduction and protein synthesis. Interestingly enough most energy
sources throughout life come from outside our body and interacts
with our own energy sources. Even before life begins as a zygote in our mothers womb, the energy spark and genetic makeup in our
parents DNA came together and exchange their energies. One fact that I stumbled
across whilst doing this essay was interesting. George H Friend, Ph.D., George Hademones Ph.D. say that mitochondrial DNA is only received
from our mothers, not our fathers. This could provide the proof for the
maternal instinct or as some would say, the ‘psychic link’ between mother and
child. The mighty mitochondria and our digestive fire (Agni)
are such a powerful evolutionary component.
Considering again the question of "you are
what you eat, fact or fallacy?"
It depends on how you look at your food and also
what you perceive yourself to be.
·
A
person with gross awareness might say ‘I don’t look like a baked dinner or a hamburger’.
So for them it would be a fallacy.
·
A
person with a slightly more mechanical or chemical aptitude might view food and
their body as looking good, tastes good, supplies the essential nutrients and
performs the required function. So for them it would be a fact.
·
Another
person might analyze and study their food and their bodies and say that both
are energy interactions which eventually convert to chemicals and for them it
would be a fact.
·
Others
might view food and their bodies like a psychic viewpoint, mystical alchemy at
work.
·
Others
may view food as a sacred offering and their body as a sacred temple and the
act of eating as a divine ritual
You are what you eat fact or fallacy is an
interesting question to ponder. Because at every different meal of our lives
energy is broken down for the needs of our body, yet very few people view there
meals with this much sense of awareness of what is going on inside their
bodies. You are what you eat is also a controversial statement these days, with
conflicting information confusing consumers the world over. Some become
neurotic health food fanatics, neurotic nutrition supplement fanatics, others
neurotic overeaters or others simply starve themselves. In many cases the
stress of it all may end up creating psychosomatic or somatopsychic
disorders and diseases.
Do you think vegetarianism is the only diet
recommended for serious yoga aspirants? When I took up the practice of Yoga, of
course I became strict vegan to the extreme just like my Yoga. In 1998 after
seven dedicated years of pure vegan diet to go with my Yoga Sadhana, I finally
met my Guru in the form of Paramahamsa Satyananda Saraswati. One of the things that
Swami Satyananda recommended to me was
diet changes, saying that * You should increase the fat content in your
diet”. This was a revelation for me, as I was until that day a very lean
vegan with a strict diet which resulted in minimal body fat. Swamiji could easily see that, and what was great about his
practical wisdom is that he could offer guidance from the physical to the
hidden mystical with absolute precision and inner clarity. For more http://satyamyoga.com/Inner
Experiences/htm
(*2 ) Real hunger is fortunately a rare
experience for most of us. However, statistics show that at least 300 million
children in the world experience real hunger everyday and perhaps very rarely
satisfy it. Protein deficiency effects half of the
world’s population. The contrast between East and West makes us realize just
how unevenly distributed the worlds food resources are. This imbalance is
reflected in the diseases of excess so prevalent in the west and the poor
nutrition so common in the east.
Science although without a Prophet or single
founder is like a religion in one respect as it gives hope ,
faith and answers to many intriguing questions that baffle mankind’s curious
and often adventurous mind. I am sure that with the new century and Millennium
fast approaching that science will explore some believed fallacies and find
them to be fact. And what is believed to be today’s fact could also prove to be
tomorrow’s Fallacy.
References
*1 Fried.G.H ,Ph.D.&
Hademenos.G.J,Ph.D.
Theory and Problems of Biology
1999 Mc Graw – Hill
companies Inc. USA
*2 Saraswati
Dr Shankardevananda .MB,BS, MSc
Practices of Yoga for the Digestive system
1979
Copyright
© 2000
Swami
Mounamurti