Steve Gagné - Food Energetics: The Spiritual, Emotional, and Nutritional Power of What We Eat

I dedicate this book to my children: Taran, Shayla, Annette, Annika, Madeleine, Brendan, Sofia, and Soren.

FOOD
Energetics

Nobody understands the power, magic, and impact of food better than Steve Gagn. Prepare to read, eat, and be transformed!

JOHN DAVID MANN, COAUTHOR OF THE GO-GIVER: A LITTLE STORY ABOUT A POWERFUL BUSINESS IDEA

This book is exceptional in the field of diet today. Steve Gagns deep, informed perspective helps elucidate the thoughts of Michael Pollan and gives us access to a simple, user-friendly way of understanding food.

JOSHUA ROSENTHAL, AUTHOR OF INTEGRATIVE NUTRITION

One of the most important insights for anyone who has personally experienced the diet/disease, diet/symptom connection is the awareness of inevitable food diet dogmameaning, the initial tendency for any student of natural health to create fairly hard-edged principles around what is Right Food and Wrong Food and believe them as incontrovertibly true for the rest of their life and for all of humanity. Generally at that moment, a student of natural health will join one of the groups that best fit those beliefs, be it the All Raw group, or Vegetarianism, or Macrobiotic/Vegan/ Natural Hygiene/Paleolithic or any other of the well-known food philosophies. Gagn gently helps dislodge this dogma and gets us to see a wider view of what food is, what it isnt, and how it has been used by healthy cultures throughout the world to heal and stay healthy. Whether you are just waking up to the realization that most of your symptoms are diet related or are an old salt in the study of the food and health connection, Food Energetics is simply a must-have book.

SCOTT OHLGREN, AUTHOR OF THE 28-DAY CLEANSING PROGRAM

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my good friend John David Mann for all of his work on the original manuscript and for his professional input every step of the way. Even though John was up to his ears in high-level professional work, writing, co-writing, and editing tomorrows bestsellers with some of the hottest authors in publishing, he managed to take the time to tirelessly go through the material. Johns practical suggestions and uncanny grasp of any material he works with are trademarks that helped to earn him the impeccable reputation in the field of publishing, as an author, interviewer, and editor that he deserves.

I also want to thank all of those wonderful good-hearted people from different parts of the world who have shared their home and hearth with me. The experiences and knowledge I have gained about food and natural living have been an educational experience that will forever be burned into my memory and I will continue to draw on those memories in times of reflection and contemplation. Even though many of these people will never see this book or even the written word in their lifetime, I will never forget and always cherish the generosity and love you showed this stranger from the West.

Introduction

Traditional foods and ancient cultural mysteries have long been a passion of mine, especially when viewed through the interconnected web of archaeology, anthropology, and the written and oral traditions of myths and legends.

Having had the opportunity to interact with numerous traditional cultures as I traveled and researched the globe both confirmed my ideas about food energetics and increased my knowledge of the continuity that exists with food traditions the world over. In fact, it could be argued that food may very well be the strongest cultural thread linking traditional peoples to their ancient past.

Moreover, the tremendous respect, reverence, and understanding traditional peoples have of the inherent energies and power of their food are examples of wisdom we can all use to help ourselves and each other in our awareness of health and happiness.

And it is this distinctive sense of being so intimately connected with their food, combined with their deep humility, that never fails to touch me deeplynor to add to the growing store of lasting memories and images that have changed my life in ways I could never have imagined before my travels began.

The purpose of this book is to open the closed doors of the past and awaken our inner knowledge to the potential effects of our daily nourishment. Our food speaks a language through the science of nature that is very easy to understand and the benefits gained from this understanding can greatly assist us in healing both our planet and ourselves if we are willing to listen.

I hope you enjoy Food Energetics and that you find the material in these pages useful in your pursuit of health through natural and wholesome foods.

PART I

Energetics

Quality and Quantity

Beyond the Realm of the Senses

It is late September; the evening air is cooling rapidly. The elderly farmer sits quietly surrounded by the warmth of his wood-burning stove, his battered rocking chair creaking softly as he reflects on another long, full days work. His field of organically grown rice is ready for the harvest; Mother Nature was generous this year. He knows there will be little rain for a few days, but this is fine: there is much to be done before winter sets in. The work is not a problem; he and his two sons will do whatever needs doing, for he also knows that all he gives to nature will be given back equally by her.

The hardwood fire in the stove pops and snaps. Lulled by its unpredictable rhythms, his mind wanders back over the acres outside....

The quality of life has changed so much since his great-grandfather farmed this same land. There is plenty of demand today for the foods he grows, but he still prays for the day when more people will understand, as his grandparents did, the importance of simple, carefully wrought foods like his organic crops. A stubborn old man! Thats what hes called by the neighboring farmers, because he prefers the old ways of farming to the new technology of big, loud machines, chemical sprays, and high-tech fertilizers. Their reasons for using these things never did make much sense to him; still dont. He silently prays that his sons will feel the same way he does when they get to be his age. But you never can tell, the way things are going these days....

The old mans thoughts are interrupted by the sweet smell of freshly cooked ricecooked to perfection, as usual. He returns to his rocking chair with a steaming bowl of rice, simple fare for this late eveningand to him, all that is needed to celebrate another good harvest. He closes his eyes and silently thanks the Creator for all that has been given to him and his family. He ponders the many satisfied consumers of his rice. He wonders if they know how much he really cares about quality, or if they, too, think he is just a stubborn old manor if they even think of him and his farm at all. The warm bowl in his hands and the rising steam remind him it is time to eat. A smile appears on his wrinkled face, and he says to himself, Of course they knowthey eat the rice!

And he is right: they do know itwhether or not they realize it consciously. This entire scene is in the food theyre eating. In fact, it is as much a part of that food as the carbohydrates, fiber, and phosphorous that nutritionists analyze. In terms of human experience, it even may be considered the more important part of the food.

When they partake of that farmers crops, the foods own experience is recorded electrically, through their digestive systems onto the awareness of their nervous systems. Their educated minds, distracted by a modern world of data and information, may not register the rhythms, melodies, and harmonies of the food. But every one of their cells catches that musicand dances to it.