Nutrition

     When unable to think, sleep, or work that is a sign of being separate from Tao. Food plays a vital role in keeping us in harmony with Tao. In America, we tend to eat food that is not very healthy for us. The obesity rate continues to skyrocket as people consume more fast food, hydrogenated oils, and “food” composed of chemicals. The body has not evolved to process these efficiently and soon we are out of balance and harmony. Even eating too much of a healthy item can be poisonous.
    
     We can not live without water. It is the most important and healthiest fluid that that we can put into our body. Too much and it will kill you! Water intoxication occurs when the normal balance of electrolytes are changed through too much water consumption. This causes a fatal disturbance in the brain. One woman actually died from this while trying to win a Nintendo Wii.
    
      Another factor of food balance has been proven in an experiment in schools. In Appleton, Wisconsin, the school continuously had issues with students being disruptive and obtaining poor grades. The administrators tried a new tactic. They substituted healthy food for the high carbohydrate foods. The change was dramatic as most of the problems virtually went away.

At Tao Healing:

If you want to live, you must eat wisely. But eating wisely may not prevent you from becoming sick. Something is missing from the grocery-bought, or common, regular foods. Yet if these inadequate, or "weak" foods can support our life, then "strong" foods must be able to strengthen and protect life. This kind of reasoning has driven Taoists to investigate herbs.

Herbs are plants, animals, and minerals that are ingested or applied externally to the human body to prevent and heal physical illnesses by adjusting the flow of vital energy and supplying the better materials for regeneration of body cells or tissues.

The Rambling Taoist:

One of the points that is repeated more than once is that what we put into our bodies has a lot to do with how we feel about ourselves and how we relate to the world. Spend your days eating a lot of processed junk and the flow of energy within and from you becomes stagnant. Eat a balance diet, one featuring a good mix of yin and yang foods, and the energy flows throughout your body and from you out into the world.

 At Touch of Tao:

Even though we might not think about it much, the food we eat is a form of medicine in that everything that goes into us has some kind of effect on our body – either therapeutic or harmful, it does something to us. We can begin to look at our diet (lifestyle eating habits) as a powerful way to change our health. From a mind-body-spirit viewpoint, food can be used to affect our physical bodies, our emotions, and our sense of purpose in life.

     Eating a balanced diet is important and should be examined when we feel out of step with life. The nutrients will help with your overall feeling and it is important to not just randomly eat what is thought to be healthy. Take the time to understand nutrition and how your body responds. In some cases food is superior to medicine. We will always fall in an out of Tao, but it is important to prepare for and understand balance and harmony to return as fast as possible. Don’t worry about the return, if you’re prepared it will come naturally.