Great Construction

The Comedy of the “Science of Nutrition”

     “The Comedy of the ‘Science of Nutrition’” will surely seem a rather strange title. I would really not care to use this sort of expression, but I do hope readers will see why any other expression is impossible to find.
     The science of nutrition generally accepted and followed today is fallacicious. It is more than pathetic that in spite of the fact that this fallacious notion of nutrition does more harm than good, today enormous amounts of effort and money are expended in what is popularly believed to be a facet of advanced culture. I make this bold, audacious statement knowing that I may be thought crazy because I cannot watch the situation today and remain silent. The following explains why.
     At the very peak of what is considered nutritive today are the vitamins called A, B, C, followed by a further classification of different and varying substances such as amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. As is well known, the list of these substances grows each year, but when ingested or injected as is into the body, these substances have a temporary effect but no continuity. The effect is ultimately contrary, so as more nutritive supplements continue to be ingested, the human body weakens. It should not be necessary to explain here that human beings ingest foodstuffs to maintain life and manifest vitality, but it is the very interpretation of this point that is at odds with human knowledge of and theory about “nutrition” today.
     To begin, let us observe how human beings consume foodstuffs. Food is chewed with the teeth and passes through the throat after which it enters the stomach, then the intestines, what is unnecessary is separated into excrement and eliminated, and only necessary elements for the body are absorbed. Throughout this process, at various stages, the nutritive-producing functions of the liver, gall bladder, kidneys, pancreas, and so forth, produce, select and send to the appropriate areas of the body all the necessary elements for the functioning of such parts as the blood, muscles, bones, skin, hair, teeth, and nails in a very inscrutable process that maintains life, so indeed the mystery and subtly of the wonder of creation cannot be expressed in human terms. This process is the state of nature as it is.
     The necessary elements to support human life are included within all foodstuffs. The fact that there are so many varieties of foodstuffs is moreover because each contains necessary nutritious elements. Also, taste and amount differ for person and time, and the fact that what is available is not the same everywhere comes about because what is needed by physical bodies in varying places also differs. Basically, if your stomach empties, you eat; if your throat gets dry, you drink water; if you want something sweet, it is because your body is lacking in sugar content, and if you want something spicier than usual, it is because your system lacks salt. The basic principles of nutrition are well illustrated by the natural desires of human beings. When human beings want food, it naturally must be delicious. Therefore, it should be understandable why it is a mistake to forcibly ingest the unpalatable and bitter substances that are labeled medicines. The aphorisms and maxims which have existed since antiquity that emphasize the benefits of bitter medicines are greatly mistaken as the Creator made poisons bitter as an indication that human beings should not ingest them. Thus, the more delicious something is, the more nutritious it is, and foodstuffs are delicious because they have a high spiritual content. The fresher the fish or vegetable, the higher is the level of spirituality. The taste declines as time passes because the spirituality dissipates.
     At this point, I would like to discuss nutritional supplements. Within the human body, nutritive-producing functions create as necessary the required amount of nutrition, that is, vitamins or other substances. The nutritive-producing functions of human bodies have the uncanny power to produce the needed amount of vitamins even from foods that do not contain vitamins. The vitality of a human being is the very activity of the process that generates the nutritive elements from ingested food. Simply speaking, the activity of the process that creates a perfect substance from an uncompleted one is none other than life itself.
     From what I have explained above it should be obvious that so-called nutritive supplements, which are finished, perfected substances, if ingested, will naturally weaken the body’s nutritive-producing functions since there is no necessity for their activity. As the nutritive-producing function weakens, other bodily functions naturally weaken due to the collective responsibility of all the body’s functions, and finally the entire physical body gradually weakens. Let me give a few examples of how this can happen.
     The first example is Fletcherism which used to be highly touted in the United States. This approach held that chewing food thoroughly until it was mush in the mouth was beneficial. I myself religiously followed this system for a month, but I found that, rather than helping me, I became weaker. I was surprised to feel that I just did not have the energy that I thought I should have, so I stopped following the method, went back to my normal eating habits, and my strength returned. That was when I learned what a mistake it is to completely masticate one’s food. I realized it is mistaken because when the teeth overly masticate, the stomach has no room to function fully and thus weakens. Thus, I learned that food really only has to be masticated halfway. An old saying has it that the person who eats and defecates quickly is a healthy person, and in this sense, the ancients were well advanced of our contemporary civilization.
     Another factor is the ingestion of stomach medicines which weaken the stomach. The sufferers, therefore, ingests stomach medicine, and the stomach continues to weaken. It is an unmistakable fact that the cause of stomach conditions is the use of stomach medicines. I often hear of patients who suffer from chronic stomach diseases or conditions who do not improve as long as they continue to eat regular food that is easy to digest, but who upon eating pickled vegetables in Japanese rice gruel, that is, food that needs exercise of fundamental digestive action, improve.
     Let me compare to a manufacturing plant the energy, the vitality within the human body that upon ingestion changes unprocessed foods into the necessary nutritional elements for the human body.
     First, the raw materials are brought into the factory. The furnaces are lit, the machinery begins to move, workers perform their jobs, and gradually the finished product is created. That process is the raison d’être for the factory. If, on the other hand, finished goods were brought into the factory, there would be no need for work in the factory, coal would not be burned, machinery would not be operated, and there would be no need for workers. Shutting down the plant would be the inevitable outcome.
     I have sought to explain the issue of diet in terms easy to understand, and if my discussion is given some thought, “foolishness” and “comedy” should be the only words available to describe the vapid, worthless substances such as nutritional supplements that squander money and do nothing but weaken the body. Hence the title of this essay.

The Divinely-Inspired Approach to Health, Jikan Library, Volume 10, page 24, April 20, 1950
    translated by cynndd

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“Eiyô no Kigeki” (“The Comedy of the ‘Science’ of Nutrition”), the sixth chapter of Shinji no Kenkôhô, Jikan Sôsho Daijippen (The Divinely-Inspired Approach to Health, Jikan Library, Volume 10), April 20, 1950, has previously appeared in translation. The titles of previously published translations are given below for reference.

“The Comedy of Nutrition,” True Health, 1987, page 142.

“The comedy of nutrition,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, no date, page 200.