WEB POSTED 10-05-2000

'YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT' REVISTED'

Probably, one of the most oft-repeated opinions voiced by our people about Muslims is that we "eat funny". If, indeed, we eat as we are being taught by The Honorable Louis Farrakhan, it is certainly different from the eating pattern developed for us during slavery, and which exists on the vast majority of our plates today.

If we are unaware of the reasons for this change of menu, it is because we have fallen victim to the warning in the Bible that, "There is none so blind as he who will not see."

A prime example is our reaction to the diet of some Orientals, especially after having lived among them during wartime. Hardly a veteran that I know of who returned from the battlefields of Korea failed to be repulsed by the fact that the Koreans ate dogs. Many times they would condemn this dietary practice while chewing on a pork chop or a ham sandwich.

Little did they know that, not only is the hog one of the nastiest creatures in existence, but he was originally produced by grafting together the cat, rat and dog. They, therefore, were eating three times the filth that their Asian brother was, but didn�t know it.

An article by Ed Ayres of the Worldwatch Institute, which appears in the November 8, 1999 issue of TIME magazine, is entitled, "WILL WE STILL EAT MEAT?" and points out that, "Since 1950, per capita consumption of meat around the globe has more than doubled." This, the author points out, helps to account for the "rising rates of heart disease and other degenerative illnesses..." He further points out that, "There are plenty of vegetable sources �including the grains now squandered on feed�that can provide the protein we need."

Further damage is done to human beings, the author points out, by the pollution of drinking water by livestock. This has resulted in "massive fish kills and outbreaks of such diseases as pfiesteria, which causes memory loss, confusion and acute skin burning in people exposed to contaminated water."

The Chinese, who were always known for their grain-dominated diet, have reportedly shifted to meat-heavy diets, causing an increase in obesity, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

Equally important as what you eat is how much you eat, or, more specifically, how often. It once was common knowledge that members of the Nation of Islam ate no often than once every 24 hours. Illness was rare among us, especially serious illness. Scientists today are readily admitting that this was no mere coincidence. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin and the attached Veterans Administration Hospital have stated that, "At the molecular level in muscle, normal aging looks like a state of chronic injury." They have conducted studies which show that restricting food intake, while keeping the diet nutritious, can slow down the aging process. In their studies, they reportedly used mice, rats and human beings � all producing the same results. The researchers stated in their report, "Most (aging) alterations were either completely or partially prevented by caloric restriction, the only intervention known to retard aging in mammals."

The scientists concluded, without a doubt, that, "It is clear the strict diet extends life. Some of the mice given the diet are now 40 months old, while mice of the same strain, fed a normal diet, all died by the age of about 35 months."

Did somebody say something about "One meal a day?"