From NativeAmerican Times - LIVE FOOD

[Guest guest]

Our ill ones and our hopeless cry out to God

Yet we let the answer slip through our fingertips

 

 

Liz Gray 3/28/2007

 

I've seen many tribal leaders and council members wringing their

hands when they are confronted with the illnesses of their people.

The stories of limb loss and blindness due to diabetes of their

people plague them. When the issue gets overwhelming and they don't

know where to turn, sometimes they shut it out, or give in, accepting

the idea that we are genetically destined to this disease. They

accept the lie that Indian people are prone to diabetes and its side

effects and there is nothing that can be done about it. They hang

their head for a while from despair because many of them truly wanted

to help their people. Then they stop talking about it because they

don't know what to do. The issue was just too confusing and

overwhelming for them to conquer. So, it silently haunts them as they

ignore it. And the plague continues.

 

Let me make it simple for you by asking this question: Would the

Creator design an environment or a genetic flaw that would allow this

horrific illness to happen to His people? This Creator we have danced

for since the beginning of our time?

 

No, He wouldn't, anymore than he would the other animals of the earth.

 

 

If you could imagine a herd of caribou running across the tundra of

Alaska healthy and free would you believe that they are created to do

such a thing? And if the Caribou all of a sudden stopped running and

became short of breath, and if they obtained a disease that rotted

their hooves or blinded their eyes, would you blame their genetic

makeup that the Creator put in to existence for our four-legged

relatives? No. You would probably first look at their environment to

see what had changed. You would look at their food source to see what

toxins or change took place within it. But you certainly would not

blame the Caribou for being Caribou.

 

 

Such as it is for our people. We are designed to be as healthy as the

Caribou. We are a reflection of the Creator's harmonious creation.

The problem is we are no longer in harmony with Him and our

environment. We are no longer fed by Him like we used to be… like our

animal relatives of the earth and our elders before us. As a result,

we are ill. The various " lifeforce " that flowed from the sun to the

plants to the animals that we ate have been cut off from us; either

thru our own choice or thru our circumstances.

 

 

We as Native people take pride in our dance celebrations. The poorest

of our poor somehow still have the ability to put together dance

regalia for their children or themselves. They collect bead after

bead. They trade, they borrow or they labor over the task until it is

complete.

 

 

So why don't we do that with our traditional diet?

 

 

Why don't we hold on to that tradition? We want to hold on to our

language, our clan identities, our lands, even our jewelry. But we

tend to ignore the traditional knowledge of our elders when it comes

to diet.

 

 

We've been taught that our traditional knowledge of food isn't as

good as the federal government's knowledge of today. We listen to

their advice over and over yet we are still ill. We follow their food

pyramid and we don't argue with the foods they provide us thru the

government commodity program. Yet we are more ill than anytime in

history… any time in history.

 

 

When is it time to stop listening to those who pose as intellectuals

who know more than our people and begin again to think for ourselves

as the Creator intended? To reestablish our inherent knowledge of how

and what to eat by what used to work.

Some would say, " We can't. " But have we tried? Have we tried to

regain our traditions that pertain to food or are we too in love with

the modern foods we are eating?

 

 

Prior to 1936, Indian people didn't have diabetes. What changed? It

can't be that we exercised more, because we had lame and elderly that

were no longer able to exercise, yet they didn't obtain diabetes. We

have the Pima Indians who have four times the national average of

diabetes. Almost half of the entire tribe are diabetic. Yet their

relatives south of the border, who live from traditional foods have

almost no signs of diabetes.

 

 

There has been study after study that proves diabetes is curable thru

diet. Yet that information is accessible to only those who seek it

through medical libraries and the like. Actually the cure for

diabetes is through the " medicine " that is implanted, by our Creator,

in living foods; foods that have not been processed to death. Foods

that still have the " life force " or the energy of the Creator

existing inside of it. That is one way our ancestors sought the

Creator. They were always seeking that " life force " . Sometimes they

called it a blessing, sometimes they called it the " spirit " of the

animal. That's why the plains tribes ate the raw liver of a buffalo

during a hunt. Scientists today will tell you it was full of

nutrients. Which is this " life force " we need that God implanted in

the animal.

 

 

The woodland tribes " blessed " their corn by putting ash on it when

they cooked it. Many people still do that today and don't really know

why. Yet, scientifically, it has been proven that it causes the

corn's acid level to change and chemically release more nutrients. We

just knew it as a " blessing " .

 

 

This energy of nutrients was actually the blessing our ancestors were

always looking for. It was just spoke of with different terminology.

But THAT was the key to their health! And it is the key to ours.

 

 

If we were to only seek after that " life force " once again, we would

find the answer to our illnesses.

 

 

Our ancestors understood that their traditions, related to food, was

actually a connection to the Creator and his creation. Not only that,

but they realized it was good for them! And it was good for their

soul. They cherished it. They were proud of it. They even celebrated

it.

 

 

Today we eat foods that have purposefully been processed to remove

this " life force " because it shortens the shelf life of food

products. Food producers know that other living organisms cherish

this " life force " , organisms that grow on these foods and cause

rotting or mold.

 

 

So today we are doing the opposite of our ancestors. We are eating

foods that are purposefully depleted of the " life force " . Apparently

they knew how important these traditions were because look at the

condition we are in today.

 

 

Tribal leaders need to assign historians teamed up with cooks to

gather this information and support their tribe's traditions related

to food once again. Make it as important as their NAGPRA programs or

their HUD programs. Knowing that this is directly related to the life

or death of their tribal members, is it not just as important?

We need to reconnect with our Creator in this way. Then we would

realize how well made we are when our bodies respond in a positive

manner. And we would find the Creator made no mistakes when making

His native people.

 

 

For whatever reason, we have been separated from Him. It's not time

to place blame, it's just time to reconnect.

 

[Liz can be reached at lizgray]

 

 

Blissed be, Annie

BodyByBliss

bodybybliss.com