How much of our
food do we actually absorb? In average, our bodies absorb only 40-60 percent of
the nutrients of the food we take. There is a couple of factors behind this,
such as how well you chew your food, the way the food is prepared (whether
cooked or uncooked), the health of our organs, active lifestyle, etc. But one
surprising factor of effective assimilation of nutrients into our bodies is
food combining. Proper food combining renders our digestive system more
effective. Poor food combining, however, causes gas (kabag),
inflammation, upset stomach, etc. (di natunawan). A starchy food (like
bread) should not be combined with proteins in the same meal. They require
different enzymes for digestion. Starchy food needs alkaline while the stomach
is predominantly acidic. Thus with alkaline and acid, the stomach is neutralized
and may find it difficult to digest starch and protein all at the same time.
One good example is the melon. You cannot mix melon with other food lest you
risk having a stomach ache. It is recommended to eat one type of food at a time
that may require the same digestive enzymes. Thus our digestive system can
focus on one food at a time.
In the Gospel (Jn
6:44-51), Jesus presents Himself as the Bread of Life. We often receive Him in
the mass through His words proclaimed, and in the Eucharist, we receive during
communion. But have we fully absorbed this Bread of Life? It promises endless
joy and eternal life. Have we fully assimilating His teaching and commandments
in our life? No! After taking the Lord in our life, we still long for other
things that may provide us joy. We keep sinning and transgressing God. We still
seek immortality through other stuff. We fail to absorb the bread of life and
the values it offers us because we have combined it with other things. We have
not really understood the rituals we perform; the sacraments we receive. Thus,
their efficacies seem to be not complete. We may be reading the scriptures but
not understand it fully. Thus, we are not moved by it to commit ourselves to
it. We may not be fully nourished by it for we do not fully understand it. We
lose focus on receiving the Lord in our lives, and consequently, we have not
fully received Him in our life. If only we understand the scriptures and
appreciate the graces we receive from the Lord, we can cry out, together with
all the earth, to God with joy.
In the Acts of
the Apostles (8:26-40), a eunuch desired to understand the Word of God. And he
sought instructions from Philip. "How can I (understand), unless someone
instructs me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. The eunuch
took time and sat down, to focus and listen intently as Philip explained the
word of God. The eunuch was so moved by what he understood, so much so that the
instance he saw water, he begged to be baptized. The word of God was
assimilated in his life abundantly.
We shall all be
taught by God (cf. Jn 6:44-51). But have we given our undivided attention to
Him that we may understand Him? Or have we poorly combined the Bread of Life
with other food that only poisons us?
