Food is truly one of the great and enduring pleasures of life. Many of our earliest childhood memories are tied to the evocative smells, colors, and tastes of our favorite foods; and there are few things more satisfying than a thoughtfully prepared meal shared with the people we love.

Ironically, before food was readily available, it actually had greater intrinsic value. Many backbreaking hours were spent planting, harvesting, storing, and preparing it. Because it came from the sweat of our own labor, food was very precious to us and connected us in an intimate way with the earth. Mealtimes were bonding occasions when the extended family got together, often offering a prayer of thanks for the bountiful food they had been given and asking that it nourish and strengthen them.

Even in the early 20th century, food was still treated in this respectful way. The mass production of food and the advent of the refrigerator in the 1920s and ’30s were milestones in human evolution (not unlike the discovery of fire or the invention of the telephone). Refrigeration transformed how, when, and what we ate. Before that time, food was preserved by cooling it with snow and ice or by fermenting, pickling, dehydrating, salting, smoking, or canning.

Food often had the power to bind communities or countries together in times of need. During World War II, people planted “Victory Gardens” in their backyards and on rooftops. These vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens helped reduce the pressure on the food supply brought on by the war effort. After the war was over, many people continued this practice, growing what we might now call “organic” produce. The harvesting of crops in the fall and the preserving of produce for the winter months were often a community effort. It was the season when neighbors and families often gathered together for canning or pickling and preserving foods in large mason jars for the winter. As a Baby Boomer, you might remember your own mother or grandmother devoting an entire day of the week just to baking loaves of bread and pies or putting up casseroles.

Today, food can play many different roles in our lives. We eat what we want, when we want it. Food makes us feel good and satisfies our cravings. It appeases and soothes us in times of stress. Unfortunately, many of the things we eat to satisfy these urgent hungers and emotional voids are low-vibrational foods that are stripped of their nutrients and depleted of their life force.

Accordingly, food is no longer appreciated as a source of sustenance. More attention and money are invested in the marketing, packaging, and distribution of food than in its nutritional value. Foods are mass-produced and prepared with an emphasis on how they taste, not on how they nourish. It would be unthinkable to our ancestors that today’s foods—so easily found in the supermarket—contain hundreds of harmful ingredients and chemicals, and give us so little energy to live.

The busy, fun-loving lifestyle of the typical Boomer led to an entirely new industry in America: fast food. It seemed like a great idea at the time—to be able to eat exactly what we wanted, cheaply, and on the go. But we are paying a heavy price for this self-indulgence—our children and grandchildren even more so. Do we ever stop to think about the message we convey to them when we take them to fast-food restaurants?

We are telling them that food is merely a means of quick gratification, rather than a way to fortify and sustain us in the days and years ahead. We have taken food for granted, and this thankless attitude is now reflected back to us in the mirror in our appearance and in our behavior. We are not happy, healthy people.

At Body Ecology, we, like our ancestors, view food as energy and fuel for the body. We know that whole, pure foods vibrate with a positive, spiritual life force. These high vibrational foods are the ones that create the greatest chi—that optimal youthful energy we so desire. And they can actually restore our constitutional prenatal jing. The healthier we are, the more we will vibrate the kind of energy that makes us—and those around us—feel good.