The Hidden Energy of Food - Seasoning With Love.

Why does a home made cake taste so much nicer than a shop bought one, no matter if that shop is the most top notch, high end patisserie going?
The meal that is home cooked from scratch rather than scrapped out of a carton after the 'ping' of a microwave will always have that little extra.
Going out to dinner to a restaurant is lovely and the food will probably be great, cooked well, presented well but still missing that little extra too.

What is that little extra then?

I have to confess I am a complete foody and enjoy the whole experience of shopping, cooking and eating. Even when time is very tight, which like most of us, is pretty well always, the time taken to shop,cook and eat, for me, is worth squeezing the time for.

Isn't it always great to eat what a friend has cooked for you, when that food was prepared with the guests in mind and the host wanting it to be good to eat and enjoyed, it has that special quality, love!

Can love make a difference to the taste of a meal? well there is an experiment to be had, but as we are increasingly more aware of the subtleties around us and the energy that goes into and stays within us, may be that kind and loving energy does indeed enhance the food we eat.

It is surely a given that by using the best ingredients we can afford will enhance the taste, ie butter in a cake over margarine is certainly going to make a better cake.  Organic eggs taste better than factory farmed eggs from caged birds.
But what if all that, the main ingredient is energy and i'm not talking about what fires your stove.
If the meal is prepared with kindness and care, love and compassion, then will it not taste better than something prepared in a factory? The remote human contact it has had, could be one of a factory worker, fed up that day, in a bad mood,disgruntled etc etc....even if the factory worker is the happiest he/she can be - there is no soul connection with the end recipient.

This goes all the way through the food process, the energy and intention planted with the seeds for the crops, the animal husbandry from rearing through to the butchers display.  If each step has been done by some one who cares about the outcome and is passionate about what they do and working in harmony with the environment and compassion for the animals they rear, has that not got to come through energetically in our food and ultimately effect us and our well being.

Ask any one that grows their own food.  I live near some allotments, and it is a pleasure to watch the allotment holders plant, nurture and harvest their well deserved crops. The thought of what to plant,the sharing of seeds with others.  They tend to them with a vested interest in their success and for the pleasure of eating something they have grown and nurtured themselves - look at the lovely energy that food has within it already.

The type of food and quality of it, is one thing, but food is energy or fuel for our bodies needs and if you think that we are energy beings on one level, we will resonate with other energies.

Many of us shop in a hurry,throwing the items into the trolley as we hurtle around the supermarket. We are less inclined to 'select' looking for the one we want, the supermarket homogenises that experience and we just take the next one on the shelf. Little thought and intention at this stage, but we can add that special ingredient when we cook. Supermarkets can be a soul less shopping experience, but for most of us, this is the way of shopping today, not always by choice but through necessity.

If we prepare food as if we are spitting venom, chances are it's not as great as when we prepare it from the heart and because we want to nourish and please the recipient. A quick snack, a simple spread of salad and cold meats, a full dinner or a lovely home made cake, the intentions in our heart might just be received and enhance the well being, albeit subtly, of those that get to eat it. It is not about being a fantastic cook - we can't all be Nigella, Delia, or Ms Berry, but we can all add that little bit of love.

Radio 4 and the Flu

A couple of weeks ago whilst travelling in the car, I caught the tail end of Woman's Hour on Radio 4. I tuned in to the last 10 minutes to hear part four of what turned out to be their 5 apart mini drama serial of the week - My Life With Flu.   I heard a voiceover describe what is in the flu vaccine and how that would react in the body etc - slightly odd I thought, as it sounded more like a campaign to get people to have a flu jab. At first I thought it was a radio ad for the flu jab...not far from the fact!

So having looked up just what this story was about, I was compelled to listen to the back episodes and hear the final instalment.  Here was a story charting the history and development of the original Hong Kong flu of 1969,through the life and loves of Jill and David, up to present day. It charted the damage the flu can inflict on us and the disruption it can cause in our lives...much like any illness I guess, just that those we don't have a vaccine for as yet are never labelled as deadly or harmful or I'm sure they would be pushed too.

But we are in the middle of the flu jab campaign and this collaboration between the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute and Sarah Woods, the writer for this drama was snugly placed at the end of every Woman's Hour - a drip feed reminder of the flu, what it can do, and with a lot of references through out, to the consequences of getting flu and of people asking 'have you had the flu jab?'.  A blow by blow account of how seemingly easy it is to catch it and that it mutates, so getting the jab once is not enough. The same virus that Jill was infected with in '69 has mutated several times across the decades and to Jill's body it is new each time as her immune system doesn't recognise it.

The words are always key, 'attacking' the immune system etc and stressing the disruption it can cause, in this case never quite letting 2 people in love be together......

I see many people who have the flu jab and despite what doctors say,they seem to be the only ones that get a dose of flu on a regular basis...not sure that's the desired outcome.  Some are so proud to get their jabs every year and for those that don't end up with a dose of flu are convinced it was the flu jab that stopped it - but the chances of getting flu every year are rare,even every 5 years.  We have a tendency to call a heavy cold 'the flu' so the definition and understanding of it is a little vague but plays in to the hands of those that want to push the flu jab.

The conflict of interest is great, and with a GP's and Pharmacists paid for every jab, is it any wonder it can feel we are nothing more than a market for a commodity. 

If the key is to prevent you getting flu, then why not a big push on vitamin C and Vitamin D in the run up to winter, typical flu season.   It could cost a lot less than the vaccine, no side effects other than additional benefits to you health.

It is no surprise that winter is a prime time for such viruses. To ensure a healthy immune system, we need good doses of Vit D, most of us this far north of the equator are well under healthy Vit D levels and as the days grow shorter, what sun we have and the time we are actually exposed to it, is so short that we go into winter with already depleted immunity.

So never mind the not so subtle campaigns to get us to have flu jabs, how about a campaign for us all to get a Vit D test or just increase our levels to the optimum for strong immunity.

The best thing about this approach is that it is not a one trick pony...the flu jab 'might' protect you from certain flu viruses the WHO have figured we are susceptible to, some believe it doesn't even do that.  For the sake of argument, let us give it the credit for protecting you from the flu.....Increasing your Vit D and Vit C, will boost your immune system and help protect you against what ever other viruses and cell mutations might occur - Vitamins multi task in your body.

Between the two options, the vitamin approach has more going for it, cheaper and no hidden ingredients that we might like first to be informed about before taking the shot.  A win win!

May be we need a radio 4 serial that drip feeds us the benefits of vitamins,then we might take them and have healthier lives as a result.....not sure the Sanger Centre will collaborate on that one.