HOLISTIC HEALTH NOTEBOOK

Several years ago, I was presenting at a luncheon and a woman approached my autograph-signing table afterward and tossed a bag onto the table in front of me. A bag from a famous but no-name-mentioned fast food chain. I made a joke about "what is this doing here?" and the woman said, "No, no! Look inside the bag!" I opened it and the aroma of hot cinnamon wafted into my nostrils. I saw a hamburger, a bag of fries and an apple pie.

She explained that she purchased that bag of food about 10 years prior. The bun and burger were still intact. Hard, but still in shape. No bugs or mold. The apple pie still smelled fresh, hot out of the oven.

About a week after Luminary on Sanibel this year, I saw that someone had dropped a hot dog bun in the parking lot where I work. I walked past it for several days, thinking that birds or bugs would get it. But day after day, I noticed that no living creature approached it, it wasn't getting moldy and, in fact, might live forever. Curious, I picked it up and dropped it behind a bush, hoping that the landscapers would ignore it so I could see what happened.

Unfortunately, it disappeared within a few days, but the point is that after at least 10 days in the moist, warm air of Florida, it did not get moldy, did not get bugs, and only hardened with time. It did not deteriorate. Like the apple pie from that unnamed restaurant.

I don't think we need to speculate about why. Interestingly, I recently

read that human bodies now take longer to decompose than they used to. Would someone please verify that for me, because that i s a fascinating tidbit? We can speculate about the amount of preservatives we all consume and the fact that they may never really exit our bodies. They just stay there and… well, they stay and preserve.

Some people may say, "That's a good thing!" But it really isn't. Our bodies need whole, living food to infuse vibrant life. What happens after death should happen.

Three weeks ago, our community supported agriculture started delivering boxes of living, vibrant organic produce and I have been feasting on organics. Life-giving!

— Carol is a certified lifestyle educator at the offices of Dr. Alan Gruning in Fort Myers, 939-3303. She owns the Island Nutrition Center on Sanibel, 472-4499.