Since the Second World War, the risk of famine in Europe and other developed countries no longer exists. Paradoxically, researchers have told us that a number of new diseases are caused by or aggravated by the food consumed by the people of these developed countries. Despite an abundant supply of food, large numbers of people suffer from malnutrition, due to an inadequate, imbalanced diet. This may be partly due to excess, but mostly it is caused by a lack of knowledge of proper nutrition and healthy eating practices. The quality of food, its freshness and sustaining life force is the most importance consideration, rather than the bulk of food that is consumed. Therefore the gifts of nature’s wild garden, and those foods produced organically, without the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, are what nourish us in our health and existence.

One of the main reasons for this lack is that much of the food currently sold on the market is highly processed in different ways. Such products may provide plenty of calories but often have very little of the nutrition essential for maintaining our body in a healthy condition. This deficiency of essential elements in the food we eat is responsible for many of the diseases in our times. As Hippocrates said: “May your food be your medicine and your medicine your food.” It is far better to cure oneself with well-balanced nutrition than to end up on the operation-table. Medical professionals have finally begun to recognize the role that nutrition plays in one’s physical health and intellectual and spiritual well-being. They have observed that in certain disorders, proper nourishment is the only befitting remedy. It has also been seen that some proverbs, old sayings that have been passed on to us down through the ages, are full of good advice regarding bodily nourishment. Based on solid observations and application, their conclusions are still valid.

Though a person eats out of hunger, the means should justify the end, the attainment of optimal health. There is no particular diet that can be recommended on a universal level. Since everybody is different; that which may be good for one, may be poison for another. Advice received from experts in the field—researchers, nutritionists, dieticians and doctors may be invaluable in choosing a diet that is appropriate for us, according to time, place and circumstance. At the same time an ideal health regime cannot be obtained simply through mechanically calculating and combining vitamins, amino acids, minerals, oligo-elements, proteins, carbohydrates and so on.

As a general rule, all agree that cereals, fruits, vegetables and leguminous plants, taken in reasonable quantities, are beneficial to the health, since they contain the essential micro-elements needed for the well-being of the body. Based on my own personal experience I can support this opinion, since I have not needed to visit a doctor in over 35 years. In India or China, one prefers to visit a doctor to maintain good health rather than to treat an emergency, according to the principle of “prevention is better than cure.” Maintaining a balance between body and soul, reflected in one’s outlook on life and daily activities, is vital to one’s overall health.

Many of us have forgotten or else are simply unaware of the importance of listening to our body and its needs. Its messages are often alarm signals, warning us of the ruin that a lifestyle beset with bad habits can bring. Why do we wait for a disease to appear before taking the steps needed to adjust our unbalanced lives? The incidents of life, good and bad, are mostly not the products of chance. We, specifically, are their architects. We should have more confidence in our own intuition and listen to the subtle, inner voice that guides us to our real well-being, giving clear signals when change is needed in our lifestyle. Though receiving help from external sources, we ourselves are mostly responsible for curing ourselves. We, the conscious beings who inhabit the body, can receive the greatest help from this “doctor of the soul”, more so than from anything else.