Every food we eat has a spiritual and energetic effect on the body, mind and spirit. Becoming aware of this fact and working with it in a conscious way is the basis of spiritual nourishment. In almost every culture, food has long played a dual physical and spiritual role, and with it, many rules have been dictated. Food connects us to others; we meet with friends and family to share bread and share our faith, culture and heritage.
When properly understood as a gift, it becomes clear that food is a tangible expression of God's love for us. Since food is a gift, what we eat and how we eat it is much more than a matter of convenience, taste, desire or consumption. In today's society, food is a source of endless distress and anxiety and can play God's role in people's lives. We fight against obesity and eating disorders and a myriad of diseases.
How we respond to the gift of food indicates how we feel about the person giving it to us. The food you put in your mouth is there to sustain you (according to Indian tradition, a gift from the god Vishnu). It creates a fire in the stomach for good digestion (goddess Agni: fire) and then breaks down into the many elements necessary to form healthy cells. If you eat junk food, you get junk cells and the simple explanation is that it makes you sick.
From this perspective, the joint research area between food and spirituality is a favorable and fertile ground for new knowledge, both for academics and professionals. Any information they give you will serve as “food” for your future outlook and will help you on your future journey. It's full of empty calories, such as pasta, pizza, and foods that contain dead matter energy, such as meat. Both food and spirituality encompass equally broad areas in terms of scope, subjectivity and areas of research.
Psychologically, the food you eat will also affect you, as your healthy cells reach beyond the physical body. Food is a universal and multidimensional aspect of human life, which includes psychological, physical and emotional characteristics, and is independent of any particular theory or subjective point of view (Pilner and Rozin, 2000). On the other hand, samic foods, such as whole, natural and organic foods (fruits and vegetables from Mother Earth) are good for calm, peace, digestion and health. The spiritual aspect of nutrition has recently begun to be explored in literature and, taking into account the number of published articles, it is clear that this is a novel and emerging research topic.
