Last update - 00:00 15/03/2007
Eating Well / 45. The philosophy behind healthful eating
By Rachel Talshir
The first association that a person has when thinking about the concept of eating healthfully is practical: It concerns the avoidance of eating harmful industrial foods, and the recommendation to eat foods of high nutritional value. But eating the right way is also a worldview, which groups and individuals have adopted as a way of life. For some, the philosophy of healthful eating incorporates the idea that the consumption of various types of junk food is just one symptom of our contemptuous attitude toward the planet. Accordingly, the habits of many of those who eat healthfully also have a moral dimension that includes concern for the well-being of our planet and for the creatures that inhabit it.
Some of those who make a point of eating right are willing to eat fish and even other animals - but only those that do not undergo unnecessary suffering - and animal products (eggs, milk and even honey) if the animals in question are not harmed or subjected to suffering during the food-production process. Some people insist on eating only fruits and vegetables that are grown in a way that does not damage water sources or poison the land and air. There are also those who refuse to buy foods whose production involves the exploitation of human beings. So, in its broader context, eating healthfully can be seen also as part of a general philosophy that rejects violence aimed at people, animals and the world in general.
The definition of what constitutes violence differs from group to group. Some take into account what they define as animals' consciousness and urge that consideration be given to their emotional life. There are even more extreme people who would have us contemplate the sensitive soul of cucumbers and tomatoes, as well. Some include only mammals in the category of animals; others are ready to swear that fish feel pain and that chickens mourn every egg that is plundered from them. Here and there we also find people who take it upon themselves to act as spokespersons for the bees.
The primary argument of people who seek to eat healthfully and thereby respect the universe is that anyone who avoids violence in connection with food learns also to avoid all types of violence in other spheres of life. Therefore, those who eat food that does not entail any violence will avoid wars and refrain from taking an arrogant, belittling posture toward the "other."
Those who contend that people are what they are because "you are what you eat" believe also that those who eat right behave modestly and with consideration for their fellow men in other spheres of life. Those who eat in a vulgar way will also speak in such a fashion, while those who eat with moderation will speak with moderation.
Many of those who eat only healthful foods consider their method of eating just one dimension of a larger whole, and advocate a life ranging from the simple to the ascetic in every realm. According to this approach, the consumption of processed industrial products and fast food, as well as "inconsiderate" eating, are only external expressions of an unrestrained, wasteful and hedonistic culture at its most fundamental and deepest level.
According to the principles of philosophically based proper eating, the junk-food culture leads to an inefficient use of food and increases hunger in the world, while also ravaging the land, leading to the destruction of the planet.
All these conceptions, together with daily confrontations with one's immediate surroundings, heighten the tendency to label the people in question as eccentrics or even social deviants. Many of those who are motivated to eat right by a worldview live in relative isolation in their communities, and thereby avoid frequent clashes with a majority that questions their approach to life.
In Israel, those who advocate healthful, philosophically based eating habits frequently invoke Jewish arguments in support of their views. They like to cite the prohibitions that stem from the rules of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) and say that these are recommendations for avoiding unrestrained eating. They also invoke the example of the Garden of Eden, the utopian world from which we were driven out, to persuade people that human beings were intended to eat only natural foods that grew harmoniously and to make do with them alone.
The first vow of the Jain sect in India is not to harm any living thing. The Jatis, the most extreme of the Jains, always carry a broom in order to remove from their path all insects and crawling things; their shoes have high heels that are supposed to reduce the chances of treading on living beings. They are prohibited from drinking water in the dark, lest they swallow some creature, and also abstain from eating honey because bees are destroyed in the course of its production. Some of the Jatis cover their mouth and nose with a handkerchief for fear that they will annihilate creatures in the course of inhaling and exhaling. The Jain religion bars working the land because the plow, for example, hurts many living creatures. Many restaurants in India state on their menu which foods are prohibited to Jains, including all kinds of vegetables that are liable to hamper digestion, raise the blood pressure or enflame one's passions.