Malnourishment
Lack of proper nourishment has a profound impact upon the body in terms of its ability to remain healthy that cannot be underestimated.
If adequate nourishment is not transported throughout the body on a cellular level for any extended period of time, the cells eventually become unable to repair themselves and begin to malfunction and/or die. Ultimately, lack of nourishment causes the immune system to malfunction, leaving us vulnerable to chronic illness.
Sparse Nutrition in the Land of Plenty
Here in the west we live in a culture where food is abundant and many people have access to lots of it. Well stocked food stores and restaurants abound and the majority of people have plenty to eat. So at first glance, the notion that people are suffering from malnourishment in this world of plenty may seem unlikely. In fact, one would be inclined to think that with all the food that so many of us eat, we’d be better nourished than ever. Unfortunately for many people this is not the case. Even in this age of apparent abundance, many seemingly well fed people are indeed malnourished to one degree or another. We may be eating more food, but much of it is quite devoid of nourishment. As a result, not only are we suffering from more obesity than ever, but we’re succumbing to more often chronic illness than ever too.
One big reason so much of our food is so lacking in nutrients is because its quality has deteriorated during recent times. Much of what we consume today has been highly industrialized and/or over-processed, destroying many of the nutrients any one food may have ever contained to begin with.
Another major factor in the degradation of the nutritional value of our food stems from the fact that much of the soil in which our food is grown has become radically depleted of both minerals and microbial life, rendering it essentially infertile and dead.
The combination of the industrialization and over-processing of food and the extreme degradation of the planet’s soils has debased our food’s nutritional value significantly.
Much of what we eat and drink is not only nutrient sparse, but is often also laden with scads of empty calories in the form of things like white flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup and highly processed trans fats in the form of partially hydrogenated seed oils.
The Industrialization of Agriculture
The symbol of the industrial revolution is the factory. And those greedy corporations that have industrialized agriculture have attempted to take that iconic model of industrial productivity and apply it to living plants in an effort to turn them into factories in the name of profit. However, nature will not and cannot successfully be so unnaturally subverted indefinitely. As many people are beginning to realize, going against nature in this way comes at a great price and is ultimately a losing proposition.
Turning farms into factories often involves planting vast areas of land with just one kind of crop. This is called monoculture, and it’s something that simply does not exist in Nature, where biodiversity rules.
Forcing thousands of the exact same species of plants to grow on vast tracts of land is completely unnatural for them. As a result, plants compelled to grow under these conditions inevitably become stressed, which in turn makes them vulnerable to disease and infestation by destructive pests.
Soil Depletion and Petrochemicals
Growing the same crop in the same soil year after year drains the soil of the same minerals season after season, leaving it extremely depleted. This dearth of minerals causes the nutrient profile of the soil to become unbalanced and skewed, making it an attractive breeding ground for certain invasive weeds that are able to take root in such impoverished soil.
So this unnatural industrialized way of growing food not only attracts both an inordinate amount of pests and weeds, but it also drains the soil of certain vital trace minerals. The agricultural industry’s answer to these problems is to apply petrochemicals.
Pesticides toxic poisons that kill not only pests, but also all manner of other, beneficial insects and natural soil dwellers like earthworms. They are also potentially harmful to many other kinds of creatures, particularly those that serve as pollinators such as bees, butterflies and birds
Herbicides are toxic poisons too. They not only kill weeds, but can also annihilate other species of flora that would otherwise contribute to the natural diversity of the land.
Synthetic fertilizers are caustic, and their repeated use destroys whatever bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi and other microbial organisms essential for soil fertility that may have survived the onslaught of pesticides and herbicides.
Lifeless, Mineral Depleted Soil Forms the Foundation of Our Food Chain
A portion of the food grown in this bankrupt soil is not meant for direct human consumption. Rather it’s destined to become fodder for the animals whose flesh and dairy products are consumed by humans.
Affecting every level from the very bottom all the way to the top of the food chain, clearly the unhealthy, exhausted quality of our soils serves as an abysmal foundation for our food supply. It’s no wonder that so many people today are malnourished, considering the devastating destruction of the health of the earth’s topsoil.
Understanding the detrimental impact this lack of soil health has upon the quality of our food chain and how this adversely affects our ability to consume a healthy and nourishing diet are key factors in understanding one of the most fundamental reasons why we get sick.