Food Life

Nowhere is the potential of food so fully revealed (I think) than in the bounties of Spring and Summer.

I’m sure it’s no news to you that there are about twenty different ways we humans “should” be eating and it can get so distracting from what is really important. We start seeing food only in terms of “good” and “bad” and “high fat” and “low-cal” and all the rest, that we start to miss out on seeing the bounty of the Earth that is sometimes right in front of us, and that is naturally so good for us!

Of course, the politics of food start to creep into the back of my mind when I say things like “the bounty of the Earth” because so many people in this country, and the world, literally do not have access to that bounty. And yet, trees planted somewhere they can be happy will bear food, and a myriad other plants will produce nutritious food given the right conditions.

Maybe then one of our jobs as eaters is to try to make conscious decisions about when we choose to eat the things that quite literally come right out of the soil, and the things that are mass-produced and sometimes fun to eat, but that aren’t really connecting us back to the Earth with which we live.

I love feeling like I’m a part of the Earth. And eating plums off a tree helps me to stay connected to that feeling of belonging.

Author Profile

Isabel Spradlin: Isabel Spradlin is a Registered Nurse (RN), Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), and abdominal adhesion specialist in Portland, OR. She specializes in educating people about manual treatment (massage) for abdominal pain and dysfunction, especially when it is adhesion related. Please see the "Programs" page to see her offerings.