Editorial May 22, 1971 Issue

A Healthy Diet

Alan A. Aylwin

There is a current focus on what are called natural foods— simple fare such as raw grains, fruits, vegetables. The belief is that these promote health but that the more elaborate products of the kitchen do not and, in fact, as the story goes, are definitely harmful.

One needs to be very careful that he is not taken in by this belief. He, of course, should strive to be wise and temperate in his eating habits as in anything else he does. A student of Christian Science knows that at present a right amount of wholesome food seems necessary to sustain human life, but he does not make a god of eating, either as a substitute for medicine or as sensual pleasure. Nor does he avoid certain foods because of fear of what is claimed by the faddists to be their harmful effects. Paul's advice gives him wise guidance: "Whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no questions for conscience sake."^{I Cor. 10:27 ;}

Although the need for material food is universal, and is likely to be for many years to come, we should begin now to lift our mental sights above the present limited sense of man and his needs and glimpse something of his real, spiritual identity and its sustaining Principle, God, the one divine Life. As the truth of man's vitalizing unity with God is understood, a higher and truer view of nourishment is gained. The desire for excessive amounts of material food begins to abate, and the belief disappears that certain kinds of food are either harmful or especially beneficial, even medicinal in effect.

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