The Dynamics of Nutrition

Book excerpt: Drawing on research and Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science, this book by Gerhard Schmidt, M.D. looks at nutrition, offering a new dynamic view of humanity and the world -- and of food as a community-building force. Concerned with the problems resulting from the modern viewpoint of nutrition and the research of modern science, this book examines the fundamental and general aspects of nutrition. Schmidt makes the case that continued healthy human development will require us to re-conceptualize our understandings of nutrition, to find "a new light of consciousness to illumine our conception." Topics include: Basic questions of nutrition Nutritional research through Steiner's Spiritual Science What is the purpose of nutrition? General aspects of the physiology of nutrition Smell and taste: spices and aromatic substances Rhythm in nutrition; Raw and cooked foods Foods -- dietary substances -- medicinal substances Nutrition from the realm of plants, nutrition from the realm of animals Nutrition and spiritual life Nutrition and soul life Community-building through the meal The history of human nutrition The development of nutrition in the age of technology