Good food & conversation

Dear Editor:
I want to acknowledge the good work done by the people of the Berkeley Springs Seventh Day Adventist Church in their monthly Supper and Healthy Diet message. I count this contact as one of the many blessings we’ve received this year.

Last year, the supper was provided by the members of the church on the evening of the second Tuesday of the month. The meal was followed by a presentation of various topics regarding healthy diet and chemical free living using whole foods/non-toxic products, the connection to health and spirituality. I believe that the dinner program commences this January.

The church members, in part, subscribe to a Vegan diet and therefore, animal products are excluded from their diets. A visitor need not hold to their practice, nor beliefs, to receive the gift of good food, a warm community and vital messages regarding healthy diet and lifestyle.

I personally think that the substitution of vegetable oil-based margarine for butter, which has been chemically altered through trans-hydrogenation, thus a “Trans” fat, a cardio-toxin, is not a good idea. But the love and intention permeate the material reality.

West Virginia is a state that ranks 50th in accepted measures of health. Morgan County is fortunate to have these folks, almost a voice in the wilderness, witnessing the benefits of healthy diet and freedom from toxic products used in our homes and occupations, not to mention the yummy food and good conversation.

“As above, so below” has a reciprocal teaching: “As below, so above,” which echoes the more general “You are what you eat.” All the world’s medical systems, (excluding “Western” medicine which doesn’t seem to have an opinion about this) teach that the quality of our consciousness, character, discernment, choice, as well as the results of our spiritual efforts (freedom and awakening) is conditioned by the vitality of food eaten.

Ironically, we remain asleep to this truth when devitalized foods form the diet and toxins poison the cell membranes of tissues forming, brain, immune, hormonal and excretory organs.

Robert Dixon, DC
Berkeley Springs