Going on the "Amish Diet"

 

In light of studies showing that members of Old Order Amish communities have significantly fewer cases of obesity, diabetes and related health problems, some have suggested that an “Amish diet” might work even better than, say, an Atkins diet.

In short, it would mean eating hearty meals every day but being as physically active as are typical members of Amish farm families. Their meals routinely include lots of home grown meats, fruits and vegetables, but also some very tasty desserts. But all of that is accompanied by hours of good manual labor (and the use of far less fossil fuel) in the growing, preserving, preparing and transporting of food, in making many of their own clothes and otherwise taking good care of their households and farms.

In his book, "Great Possessions, An Amish Farmer's Journal," David Kline describes some of the simple everyday pleasures of living on their 120-acre Holmes County, Ohio, farm, where the entire family works together to grow and market food and take care of the land that is so vital to their way of life. Without the distractions of radio, television, computers, e-mail, or cell phones, something as ordinary as cleaning out their horse barn becomes an opportunity for Kline and his teenage son to experience rigorous exercise while engaging in an extended man-to-man conversation, something that happens all too seldom between most fathers and sons in our faster paced urban society.

While not many of us urbanites will be able to live like the Amish, a healthier, lower-tech lifestyle might involve the following:

1) less mowing and more hoeing--and gardening
2) less shopping at crowded malls and more sharing of home produced goods and resources with our neighbors
3) less dependence on far-off corporate farms and factories and more reliance on home and locally grown products
4) less dependence on passive forms of media entertainment and more involvement in physically active and socially interactive work and play
5) less riding and more walking and biking

We could call it the latest, state-of-the-art "Amish Diet and Workout Plan."

P. S.  I grew up in an Amish family and community but have been a member of the Virginia Conference Mennonite church most of my adult life.

Waste Amid Want

In his new book "American Wasteland," writer Jonathan Bloom documents how so much food produced in America is wasted along every step of the supply chain from field to fridge. Somewhere between 25-50% of all food produced in America, he says, goes to waste every year.

Journalist and author Bloom documents specific examples, beginning with food crops lying rotting in fields owing to intentional policy, economic factors, and sheer ignorance. And in restaurants, portion sizes have become ever larger and daily buffet meals result in enormous amounts of delicious leftover food being thrown away at the end of every day.

Unlike my mother, who believed wasting food was a mortal sin, Bloom points out how many Americans allow food to spoil in their refrigerators out of carelessness, lack of meal planning, and just plain neglect.

He does find hopeful signs, though, in some grocery stores and restaurants disposing of their surplus through food pantries and other charities. And some socially conscious farmers are even reviving the ancient practice of allowing those in need to glean from their fields after a harvest.

What makes food waste especially appalling is that while in developed nations like ours we throw away massive amounts of food, people all over the globe are starving. Every day we see TV images of dying children and gaunt mothers dying of malnutrition in Somali refugee camps--interspersed with ads urging already overweight Americans to gorge on super-sized burgers and fries and to make yet another trip to an abundance laden supermarket or a restaurant buffet. 

Bloom believes we have trained ourselves to regard food as a symbol of American plenty that should always be available cheaply in all seasons and times, and in limitless quantities. He warns, "Current rates of waste and population growth can't coexist much longer," and makes practical suggestions on how we can all help "keep our Earth and its inhabitants physically and morally healthy."

My mother would like that.

P. S.  Here are some agencies that can help provide urgently needed food relief:  http://www.care.org/    http://www.mcc.org/, http://www.oxfamamerica.org/

Everyday Eucharist

In the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect we spoke at home (as well as in the High German from which it derives) there are two words for eating. “Esse” is for what humans engage in when they take in nourishment.  “Fresse” for what animals do when grazing or when devouring their food.

In the case of animals, "fresse" is a neutral term, but if used to describe a person eating, it suggests a serious lack of refinement and good manners. As children we were also reminded that "esse" is to be associated with gratitude, that you don’t just dive in and begin to gobble down what’s on your plate, but first take time to express thanks to your Creator, to ask God’s blessing on the meal.

There is something especially sacred about the act of eating when you think of the fact that every item on our plate has giving up its life for the sake of sustaining our life. This is true whether that be some form of animal life that has been sacrificed for our nourishment, a vegetable that’s been uprooted or otherwise harvested and prepared for our benefit, or an egg or a seed which will never live to reproduce itself because it has been offered up so that we have what we need to live.

In the Christian tradition, Jesus further blesses the common meal when at one of them he tells his followers that when they gather to break bread they should take time to remember the giving of his body on their behalf, and when they drink of the cup they are to recall the offering up of his very life for them all.

In my faith tradition that isn’t seen as a literal act of partaking of Christ's bodily flesh or blood, but as a sacred sign that we can be sustained only by ingesting the blessing of God’s good gifts, the greatest being that of God's very self. We take God in. Jesus becomes an integral part of us.

Since it is only through divine offerings that life and growth are possible, we should never partake of the Eucharist or of any meal without reflecting on what an amazing grace it represents.