Chapter Nine: Healthy Nutrition

The Essence of Nourishment

For the body and inner being of a human, food is that which resonates with the soul, becomes ingrained within it, and endures. Food shapes the quality of the soul. The act of delicate consumption—such as gazing upon food with reverence and engaging with it lovingly and sincerely—channels nourishment to the mind, intellect, heart, and soul, thereby imbuing both the food and the inner self with light and purity.

Food can embody a spectrum of refined material or transcendental qualities and temperaments. It can be endowed with dignity, grandeur, and nobility, or reduced to insignificance and triviality. It may be accompanied by haste, agitation, and pressure, or imbued with tranquility, composure, and serenity. The body, psyche, character, personality, and continuity of a person are contingent upon the food consumed, while food, in turn, is influenced by human temperaments.

The physical and psychological attributes of an individual mirror the nature of their diet, adopting its flavor and essence. Proximity to a particular food transforms a person, distinguishing them from their prior state when they consumed different fare. Food influences the intellect, willpower, and even the loftiest virtues of human perfection, with specific attributes acquired through particular dietary choices.

Food, as a manifestation of divine sustenance, aligns with the innate disposition of each individual and their divine decrees, rendering the foods, preferences, tastes, and cravings of each person distinct from others. To promote healthy nutrition universally, nations require comprehensive dietary research to enhance awareness, foster well-being, and prevent various diseases. Such research should constitute a significant portion of healthcare expenditure.

Food must be compatible with bodily cells and the nervous and psychological systems to be properly absorbed. Foods that lack compatibility with these systems and cannot be assimilated cause heaviness, burden, and harm to both body and psyche.

The Multifaceted Impact of Food

Each morsel of food can engender tranquility, digestibility, and pleasure, or, if illicit or contaminated, provoke sorrow and distress. Food can induce melancholy, discomfort, despair, or inspire joy, vitality, and hope. It can facilitate deep, restful sleep or precipitate sleep disturbances; it can empower intellect and rationality or lead to sluggishness, stagnation, and dullness, causing fluctuations in cognitive acuity. Food can dysregulate blood pressure, elevating or lowering it, or stabilize the pulse.

Food can render a person gentle and calm or incite anger and aggression. It may induce drowsiness or foster resentment, malice, irritability, or ferocity, causing aversion to some and attraction to others. An example is the consumption of foods prepared hastily, without adherence to their natural preparation process. Food can evoke faith, celestial ecstasy, and monotheistic unity, or it may incite earthly indulgence, lust, or even polytheism and pluralism. It can sharpen intellectual precision, analytical capacity, and reasoning, or engender confusion and disarray. Certain foods are imbued with spirituality and inner essence, aligned with monotheism, while others are devoid of such qualities, resembling polytheistic entities.

Prophets and divine saints possessed healthy and worthy bodies due to their adherence to a nutritional regimen aligned with divine self-care principles and the spiritual essence of food. Their physical health and bodily harmony enabled them to attain spiritual perfections, preserve divine endowments with sanctity, and elevate them. Consequently, one should consume the finest, highest-quality, freshest, and choicest foods—selecting their essence and core—while avoiding spoiled or stale fare.

Nutrition is instrumental in preserving and enhancing sensory perception, intelligence, the integrity of thought, skin health, beauty, physical harmony, gender vitality, and in fostering passion, zeal, love, ecstasy, purity, and vitality. Food is intricately interwoven with the inner self, enabling ascent and expansion, determining the zenith or nadir of an individual’s journey, and shaping their spiritual conduct. Food that lacks spiritual significance and is not sanctified in the name of the Almighty transforms the consumer into a lifeless entity.

A body deprived of healthy nutrition and an efficient excretory system becomes sluggish, idle, and incapacitated, squandering its lifespan in futility. Improper or inadequate nutrition renders a person neither swift nor articulate, dulling the heart, enfeebling the mind, and burdening the body with heaviness and inertia.

Dull and dark complexions signal unhealthy nutrition and an ailing stomach. The color of the face and the quality of the skin serve as mirrors of gastric health or pathology. Gastric weaknesses and disorders manifest visibly in one’s countenance. Poor nutrition compromises skin resilience, causing it to become slack and stretched, a diagnostic marker of underlying ailments.

Even prayer and worship, when performed without proper nutrition, resemble rituals devoid of purity or tainted by usurped resources, failing to yield spiritual ascent, purification, or sanctity. Such practices may lead to callousness, rigidity, arrogance, hubris, polytheism, delusions, or various obsessions, proving detrimental.

Prayer and worship require pure, potent energy, their value contingent upon an individual’s humanity, sincerity, purity, awareness, and strength. A person lacking lawful nutrition, afflicted by constipation, bodily impurities, infections, or burdened by malice, hatred, deceit, or oppression, produces corrupted acts, including prayer and worship, which lack the caliber to facilitate spiritual ascent, divine proximity, or divine insights. Such an individual is unprepared to perform prayer, engage in divine contemplation, or pursue scientific, religious, or divine cultivation, akin to a punctured vehicle, regardless of its advanced safety or luxury features.

An individual devoid of proper nutrition and positive spiritual practices becomes entangled in stress, psychological disturbances, and an accumulation of delusions, described in the Holy Quran as barriers and shackles. Such a person requires meticulous nutritional management, balanced dietary habits, quality sleep, energy expenditure through exercise, and spiritual care through Quranic recitation, worship, and invocations.

Nutritional Mindfulness

Nutritional care encompasses monitoring and refining the food journey from production to consumption. For instance, during meals, one engages intimately with food, inwardly addressing it with affection: “My dear, I cherish you! I consume you to prevent your waste or spoilage, integrating you into my soul, potentially elevating you to the celestial realm.” During animal slaughter, water is offered to the animal—not to quench its thirst but to foster a bond, allowing the person to convey: “My dear, I bear no ill will. I slaughter you with purity, free of malice or cruelty, to elevate your essence, rendering you suitable for the faithful, capable of transcendence, and free from impurity or decay.”

Without nutritional care, quality sleep, and appropriate exercise, spiritual practices, including worship and invocations, lose their vitality and efficacy, rendering spiritual endeavors fruitless. These three elements—nutrition, sleep, and exercise—can become toxic to the nervous system and psyche, impairing brain function and inducing stagnation. Worship and prayer are effective only in individuals whose nutrition is meticulously managed and appropriately consumed.

The Critical Role of the Digestive System

The digestive system, particularly the stomach and intestines, is vital for digestion and nutrient absorption. A cornerstone of self-care is the recognition and monitoring of key bodily systems involved in nutrition and the primary sites of pathogenic microbial proliferation. The stomach is one such critical center, requiring constant oversight, rigorous monitoring, and continuous cleansing to remain robust and healthy, ensuring efficient, comfortable, and wholesome digestion throughout life, without corrupting or spoiling consumed food.

The stomach and digestive system are pivotal in managing bodily functions and movement, even influencing the heart. The second critical center is the brain, mind, and cognitive apparatus, which empower rational bodily activity. A mind afflicted by grief, calamity, or anxiety about the future or loved ones impairs healthy gastric function, leading to nervous anorexia and sleep disturbances.

The stomach possesses awareness and attentiveness, as well as neglect and unawareness. Consuming higher-quality or larger quantities of food heightens the stomach’s focus, prompting earlier hunger. Conversely, consuming low-quality food or habitual undereating diminishes the stomach’s attention to food, fostering neglect and rendering hunger an overlooked habit.

Both health and the majority of bodily ailments and disorders originate in the stomach and intestines, particularly from overeating and filling the stomach with corrupt, futile, or contaminated substances. Greater overeating increases bodily waste, heightening the likelihood of constipation and difficult defecation. The gut microbiome significantly influences physical and mental health, with digestive health critical for nutrient absorption and disease prevention.

The digestive system serves as a primary entry point for many diseases. Maintaining hygiene and health in the stomach and digestive system, and effectively managing this gateway, promotes overall bodily health across various organs and systems. Failure to do so leads to systemic disruption and deterioration. The body’s sensory inputs are closely linked to the stomach.

The second vital organ influencing bodily health is the heart and circulatory system, with blood quality dependent on the stomach, nutrition, digestion, and assimilation. Most diseases stem from poor blood quality, rooted in gastric dysfunction. In a future era, humanity may develop technology to produce blood from specific waste materials, possessing all the properties of natural blood.

As previously noted, human physical and material vitality originates either from the digestive system, particularly the stomach, which influences the mouth, throat, esophagus, circulatory system, heart, lungs, and respiratory system, or from the brain, which governs intellectual processes and rationality, or from a supra-cerebral realm, involving the physical heart, inner penetration, and intuitive wisdom.

Food entering the stomach, once digested, integrates into the bloodstream, thereby affecting the brain. The brain serves as an intermediary tool for thought, its higher function being conceptual understanding and rational life. However, the supreme center of consciousness is the heart, which, beyond flexibility, gentleness, and receptivity—core to guidance—unveils wisdom, constituting the luminous essence of humanity. It interacts with the physical heart, serving as its inner essence.

An individual with a refined heart can derive extraordinary willpower and resolve from material sustenance, storing and gradually utilizing it over time.

Cleansing and Purification of the Stomach and Intestines

A healthy and pristine stomach acts as a purifier, transforming food into purity, whereas a contaminated stomach taints everything, even fresh and wholesome food, rendering it corrupt and wasteful, akin to constipation. Thus, purifying the stomach of contaminants, residues, and delusional thoughts is essential.

Appropriate spiritual invocations regulate an individual’s sleep and eating habits, particularly preventing excessive sleep and overeating. The stomach and intestines require regular cleansing and purification from harmful microbes and complete evacuation. Uncleaned and unpurified digestive organs retain filth and waste residues, leading to bad breath, foul gastric odors in exhalation, dental decay, tinnitus, eyelid twitching, and eye irritation. A contaminated stomach and intestines pollute and damage the entire body, including the brain and intellect. Regular intestinal cleansing, such as proper defecation, is essential for digestive health, as constipation can lead to toxin accumulation, adversely affecting overall health.

An unpurified stomach disrupts the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain function, impairing coherent and logical thought and fostering delusions. Bodily and intellectual health hinges on a clean and pure stomach. The organs of individuals with filthy stomachs and intestines emit odors of contamination and decay.

A contaminated stomach and intestines induce sleep disorders, a group of conditions impairing regular sleep patterns, including excessive or insufficient sleep, waking abruptly, failure to reach deep sleep, difficulty falling asleep, or chronic fatigue syndrome, all of which hinder adequate rest.

A body lacking consistent gastric cleansing and intestinal evacuation, particularly through regular exercise, compromises its external appearance, diminishing transparency, charm, beauty, and comeliness, rendering it unattractive and repellent. In contrast, a healthy body, imbued with inner love and purity, exudes external beauty, joy, and vibrancy.

The Stomach and Nervous Weakness

Certain forms of nervous weakness originate in the stomach. While such conditions are attributed to weak nerves, the true cause lies in a frail and contaminated stomach. The nervous system can be likened to integrated electronic circuits on a board, distributed throughout the body, including bones and hair. Current medical knowledge about nerves remains imprecise. Advancements in medical and industrial sciences will recognize the human body as a composite of nerves, rather than merely flesh and bone. The entire body, including its hair, is permeated with nerves.

Nervous stomachs must not be left hungry, as this leads to compulsive overeating and insatiability. Nervous overeating, akin to a form of tyranny over the body, particularly the nervous and vascular systems, shortens lifespan.

Fresh air, deep breathing, and exercise satiate and nourish the stomach, generating energy surpassing that derived from traditional meals like barbari or sangak bread with koubideh kebab, as previously discussed in this book.

Erroneous dietary habits, rooted in custom rather than bodily nature, resemble addictions, where individuals mistakenly believe relief lies in the misuse of narcotics or opiates. An addict can be prepared for recovery through affection from loved ones, recognition of their inherent dignity and worth, trust, consistent light exercise, exposure to fresh and invigorating air, and the consumption of empowering and delectable foods such as kebabs, pistachios, and sweets like baklava.

The Rights of the Stomach

The Stomach as a Center of Health and Disease

The stomach may serve as the epicenter of ailments. Death, akin to an infant growing within the womb, expands within the stomach. Nothing can impede this gradual demise and the proliferation of aging cells except self-care, which entails abstaining from the inappropriate and excessive use of chemical medications, maintaining weight control, breathing clean and fresh air deeply, adhering to proper sleep hygiene, adopting a balanced and correct diet, conducting self-care assessments, and other practices detailed in this book or to be elaborated upon henceforth.

Particular attention to the utilization of clean and healthy air is of paramount importance and worthy of consideration. The stomach, by harnessing pure air through deep and prolonged respiration, incorporates it into the processes of digestion and internal microbial elimination. Thus, proper breathing of clean air facilitates the purification of the stomach. Prolonged and deep inhalation of fresh air promotes longevity, enhances skin radiance, prevents dullness and wrinkling of the complexion, and serves as a prophylactic against cardiac diseases and abdominal discomfort.

The Interplay of Mind and Stomach

The activity of the brain exerts dominance over the stomach’s functions and can profoundly influence it. Consequently, when an individual engages in deep contemplation, dwells on past sorrows, witnesses distressing scenes such as accidents or the death of loved ones, faces imminent execution, loses a child, or grapples with debt, the mind is set in motion. This mental activity disrupts the stomach’s balanced and healthy functioning, inducing reactions that suppress appetite or reduce the secretion of gastric acids. The stomach is highly susceptible to emotional states, whether grief or joy, and these emotions reverberate throughout the entire body. Many gastric and digestive disorders are psychosomatic in origin.

In healthy contemplation, attention is directed solely to the present moment. An individual preoccupied with tomorrow’s concerns or dwelling on yesterday’s events neglects the present, thereby forfeiting the joy and richness of life, which lies in embracing the now, and consequently loses satisfaction and happiness.

The Impact of Overeating and Dietary Choices

A stomach overburdened with food loses its ability to discern the flavors of meals accurately and impairs cognitive faculties, diminishing analytical and perceptual capacities. To ensure robust, steadfast, and creatively potent thinking, one should prioritize easily digestible foods such as soups, beverages, and liquids, while minimizing consumption of heavy foods that overburden the stomach and induce constipation. Under no circumstances should stale or residual foods be consumed, as they stagnate thought and deprive the mind of fresh insights.

An individual capable of profound thought is one who maintains a balanced and high-quality diet and sleep regimen. A heavy and overfilled stomach, struggling to digest and eliminate food, draws blood to itself, leaving little energy for the brain and cognition. A stomach laden with diverse and colorful foods monopolizes bodily resources to process and expel them, concentrating energy on digestion at the expense of the brain and other faculties. Consequently, human perception weakens, and the pathways to earthly understanding and divine inspiration are obstructed. The distinction between perception, understanding, and inspiration lies in their hierarchical levels: perception pertains to tangible matters and is inferior to understanding, which involves acute discernment of abstract concepts, while inspiration represents the purest form of understanding, received by the sanctified intellect. These concepts are expounded in detail in the book Consciousness and the Divine Human, and the title Logic of Understanding is derived from this framework.

Structured Nutrition and the Role of Choice

Nutrition demands a disciplined approach and a structured plan. A mind that is organized and adheres to a schedule prepares the body well in advance to receive food, conditioning it for a dietary regimen. In such a state, the stomach is primed to digest even the most challenging foods, mitigating conditions of stress, coercion, or peril for the body. A life marked by pressure, disorder, lack of volition, and absence of choice becomes a breeding ground for various ailments.

The body, endowed with the freedom to choose its food and adhering to a selective nutritional plan, develops the capacity to interact with food effectively, ensuring its proper absorption and assimilation. In this scenario, food is utilized by the body even before it is consumed, rendering it harmless to a self-caring physique.

When this book refers to a spiritual nutritional program, it pertains to healthy individuals. Those with medical conditions must consult a physician and adhere to their recommendations.

Nutritional management should prioritize high-quality food and avoid hunger induced by undernourishment. Advocating “hunger” as a blanket principle is misguided, as it leads to physical weakness, nervous strain, and obsessive tendencies, detaching individuals from natural living and personal growth, and disrupting brain functions rather than fostering development. However, one should not eat until genuinely hungry. A body that does not experience natural and moderate hunger risks cerebral constriction, diminished cognitive performance, weakened memory, and forgetfulness.

Just as excessive leisure, overindulgence, and overeating are reprehensible—both being akin to overwork in causing irritability, aggression, lethargy, and weakness—so too is self-deprivation, a source of cruelty, yielding nothing but illness. Likewise, starvation and undereating have their own deleterious effects, rendering the stomach sluggish, weak, frail, and prematurely aged, while inducing melancholy and mental delusions.

Upholding the Rights of the Stomach

To maintain a healthy stomach, the primary command center of a robust human body, its rights must be respected, including avoiding multitasking during meals and focusing solely on eating. This practice helps prevent digestive disorders such as gastric ulcers, as well as melancholy and mental delusions.

Both overeating and starvation are detrimental to the stomach, as is neglecting the quality of food consumed. Emphasis must be placed on food quality, variety, and compatibility, avoiding incongruous combinations. Moderation and balance are essential in all matters, and a scientific approach to life is necessary to live healthily without violating the rights of any bodily organ. This objective cannot be achieved without nutritional engineering, a proper and healthy sleep schedule, and knowledge of the science of living. The science of living teaches individuals to understand their natural systems and navigate their paths correctly and virtuously.

The Influence of Sensory Stimuli

Among the factors affecting the stomach and brain are sexual desire and physical pleasure, which are potent stimulants. An individual excessively exposed to sensual arousal or indulgence in bodily pleasures involuntarily overworks the stomach, rendering it hyperactive.

Stomach Purification

If the stomach is not adequately cleansed of waste or suffers from constipation, it alters the body’s complexion, rendering it dark and dull, and turns hair lifeless and gray. Such a stomach and intestines corrupt food, sap the individual’s vitality and mobility, and hasten premature aging. Conversely, a properly purified stomach results in a vibrant complexion and lustrous, vivid hair.

Consuming cucumbers, which promote skin freshness and vitality, disinfects the stomach due to their high sulfur content, eliminating harmful microbes. Sulfur possesses antimicrobial properties, purifies the blood, protects the body from harmful radiation and pollution, and aids in treating acne and scars. Sulfur deficiency, though rare, can lead to digestive issues and memory impairments. Foods rich in sulfur, such as garlic, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, cruciferous vegetables, parsley, spinach, and egg yolks, should be consumed regularly and in moderation. Sulfur, the third most abundant mineral in the body after calcium and phosphorus, is responsible for maintaining bodily proportions, enhancing physical beauty, detoxifying the body, and cleansing vital organs like the liver.

Diluted apple cider vinegar strengthens gut flora, prevents digestive infections, and reduces their severity. Sulfur, present in proteins and compounds like MSM, contributes to the antimicrobial properties of certain foods, such as garlic, which have been scientifically validated.

Natural and healthy honey, embodying the divine attribute of Samad (the Eternal), is impervious to contamination and possesses antimicrobial properties. Unlike onions, which attract microbes and cleanse their environment, honey repels microbes even in the most contaminated settings and acts as a natural remedy for gastrointestinal and intestinal ailments, as well as a nerve tonic. Its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties make it effective in treating wounds and digestive infections. As one of the finest sweeteners, honey breaks down sugars and invigorates life. The quality of honey depends on its botanical source, determined by the plants accessed by bees in a given region. Honey produced by bees fed artificially lacks therapeutic potency. Bees thriving in their natural habitat and freedom produce honey from sources that are palatable and beneficial to them, deriving pleasure from the process.

The ethereal essence of honey reflects the energy of profound love and inner compassion. Honey is among the most uplifting foods. The Holy Quran states regarding honey: “And your Lord inspired the bee, saying: ‘Take for yourself homes in the mountains, among the trees, and in what they construct. Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord with humility.’ From their bellies emerges a drink of varying colors, in which there is healing for mankind. Indeed, in this is a sign for those who reflect.” (Surah An-Nahl, 68–69).

Premium honey, when consumed with a small amount of milk or warm water, or paired with vegetables (excluding lettuce and mint), particularly basil instead of bread, and combined with foods such as shrimp, caviar, or a modest portion of noble lamb meat, constitutes a fortifying and palatable meal that promotes longevity. The leg of lamb, due to its contact with soil, is less suitable for consumption. Cuts such as fillet, loin, neck, and shoulder, which do not come into contact with the ground, offer greater benefits to the body. Consuming leg meat whitens hair, weakens eyesight, diminishes arm strength, and accelerates premature aging, metaphorically burying the individual’s inner essence under soil.

It is noteworthy that preparing dishes like abgoosht (a traditional Persian stew) in a pressure cooker induces mental and muscular constriction and weakens the nerves. The pressure cooker, by subjecting food to harsh and forceful conditions incompatible with gradual and gentle cooking, imbues it with a bitter, toxic quality. Slow-cooked meals, by contrast, are sweet, harmonious, and digestible to the body.

Two Iranian dishes, koubideh kebab and kalleh-pacheh (sheep’s head and trotters), are unparalleled globally in their delectability and invigorating qualities. Freshly prepared kalleh-pacheh, especially when taken directly from the pot, delivers maximum energy and is exceptionally delicious and agreeable to the body.

An individual consuming fillet, though not gaining physical heft, may experience mental and spiritual heaviness. Therefore, it is advisable to pair fillet with lettuce, cinnamon, and ginger. To facilitate the stomach’s elimination of waste from meat consumption, vinegar should be used, as lemon juice does not suffice. Moderate consumption of green bell peppers with meals stimulates appetite, aids digestion, and alleviates indigestion.

Carbonated beverages, due to their gas content, are effective in mobilizing and flushing out accumulated residues in the stomach and intestines. This bodily cleansing can also be achieved by inhaling fresh air through activities such as swift horseback riding or driving on open roads with windows down, allowing rapid airflow to circulate through the body. Such cleansing dislodges dead cells, ultimately expelling them from the body.

A body sustained by healthy nutrition, strong willpower, and spiritual nourishment—such as purity, love, vision, and divine connection—renews and rejuvenates its cells rapidly, rather than on a multi-year cycle. Consequently, such an individual consistently exhibits vitality, radiant skin, and an attractive, rosy complexion, particularly if they engage with abstract entities, derive sustenance from the immaterial, transform the abstract into the material, or elevate the body to an extraordinary state of refinement.

Gastric Ulcers

Gastric ulcers are open sores on the stomach lining or the initial segment of the intestine (duodenum), resulting from the erosion of the stomach’s protective lining due to excessive gastric acid secretion. The primary symptom is abdominal pain, which may radiate to various parts of the body. This pain intensifies when the stomach is empty, as acid directly affects the exposed lining. Factors such as stress, psychological pressure, bacterial infections, intense physical exertion, or prolonged sleep deprivation can increase acid production, leading to nervous ulcers. Severe ulcers may cause gastrointestinal bleeding and unexplained weight loss. Stress-induced ulcers develop rapidly.

Consuming honey and mint, which possess anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, for two weeks to approximately one month, depending on individual needs, alongside stress management techniques and olive oil intake, is beneficial for treating gastric ulcers. Licorice root and aloe vera gel, as well as avoiding spicy foods, can alleviate gastric inflammation and promote mucosal repair.

Stress and pressure inflame the stomach and contribute to ulcer formation. Stress management strategies, including social support for those affected, taking lukewarm (not overly cold) showers, soaking in a bathtub or swimming every other day, avoiding foods that trigger immune sensitivities or allergies, and engaging in light morning and evening exercise for five to ten minutes, combined with consultation with an internal medicine specialist, are effective in ulcer recovery. Sweet fruits are harmful to individuals with gastric ulcers.

Nutritional Program

A dietary regimen must be balanced, providing essential nutrients including proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats to ensure bodily energy and overall health while preventing diseases. Inappropriate, unscientific, and unbalanced diets, consumed habitually rather than with planning and intention, weaken willpower, render it hollow and vulnerable, and diminish an individual’s capacity for unity and coherence.

To promote sensory acuity, cognitive function, and the benefits of inner strength and willpower, attention to nutrition is paramount. One must be disciplined in dietary habits and adhere to a structured nutritional plan, rather than consuming whatever is available or habitual without conscious choice. The Holy Quran advises: “Eat and drink from the provision of Allah, and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 60). This verse emphasizes the quality of eating and drinking, advocating for well-being and the avoidance of harm to the body and divine sustenance.

Just as narcotics are addictive, so too are dietary habits, which for some engender an insatiable and uncontrollable craving for food, constituting a form of bodily corruption.

The subconscious mind should anticipate the foods to be consumed over at least the next three days to prepare accordingly. The body must know what it will eat, in what quantities, and how to maintain dietary variety. Beyond aligning food intake with physical activity, the type of food consumed is critical. The volume of liquids should be at least twice that of solid foods. Beverages, extracts, and foods produce waste. If the body’s waste proportion is not balanced with adequate liquids, it creates pressure and crises, particularly constipation, transforming the act of elimination into a source of torment and distress. Hypertension and blood sugar issues stem from constipation. Bread, rice, and meat should only be consumed as necessary, within a disciplined and structured dietary framework.

Dietary Variety and Avoiding Habituation

Food must exhibit variety and distinction to prevent nutritional deficiencies and ensure the body does not become habituated to specific foods. Each meal should be consumed with intention, appreciation, and positive emotions, enabling the body to absorb it efficiently and sustain vitality, liveliness, and vigor in both body and soul. The benefits of dietary variety for nutrition have been studied and confirmed.

Food quality profoundly shapes the consciousness, emotions, affections, desires, and inclinations of a sentient and embodied individual. Foods to which the body becomes accustomed are poorly absorbed, offering little benefit and contributing to toxins, waste, and obesity.

Repetitive food consumption and the absence of a nutritional plan that prioritizes variety contribute to mental fatigue, physical weakness, unnatural skin tone, excessive body hair (even in women), and premature graying. An individual lacking dietary variety remains frail and lacks the resilience to cultivate inner depth.

Healthy sustenance entails dietary variety and the inclusion of all food groups. Dietary variety is essential for supplying necessary nutrients and maintaining overall bodily health. Diverse diets can enhance skin health, cognitive function, and energy levels. To attain accurate and reliable knowledge or trustworthy empirical propositions, one must adopt a varied and proper dietary regimen. An individual consuming the same food more than ten times in a month, devoid of variety, experiences a dimmed inner essence and a sluggish, ignorant mind. Such an individual may also struggle to influence the gender of their offspring, as robust nutrition is a key factor in male offspring production. A person lacking adequate vitality, enthusiasm, and vigor may be more likely to produce female offspring, though environmental factors, including air quality, also play a role.

Lack of dietary variety, particularly in children, disrupts cognitive operations, rendering the mind sluggish and weakening innate talents. Diverse foods foster talent development and personal flourishing.

Dietary variety endows the body with structural diversity, age-appropriate proportionality, and the strength to endure, keeping it agile, unburdened, and energetic across all life stages. Such bodies experience a gentle and easy transition through death, coma, or terminal decline.

Dietary variety and compatibility encompass spiritual dimensions, including exemplary, celestial, divine, and transcendent foods, as well as the assimilation of immaterial and abstract energies. Food and sustenance must transcend simplistic dietary frameworks, becoming increasingly diverse and composite, moving toward spiritually enriched substances consumed by all facets of an individual’s being. Emphasis should shift from solids to liquids, from liquids to gases, fresh air, fragrances, and sensory refinement, and ultimately to spiritual and divine sustenance, directing nourishment toward the assimilation of abstract entities.

A varied diet imbued with high energy and superior absorption capacity empowers and energizes the individual. Variety facilitates the assimilation and utilization of food. Monotonous diets and rigidity yield no constructive progress or inner depth. Dietary variety can render willpower multidimensional, spark creative thought, and propel individuals along uncharted paths. Knowledge acquisition necessitates a dietary style rich in diverse foods.

Until dietary variety is established, along with lawful nutrition and proportionate consumption, discussions of the heart and epistemic awareness are premature. Lack of dietary variety deprives one of a pure and fulfilling life, the highest quality of existence enriched by knowledge, and intimacy with diverse phenomena and spiritual realms, leading to constipation and rigidity due to dietary authoritarianism.

Dietary variety, encompassing all food groups—animal and plant-based—balanced cooked and raw consumption, and the inclusion of sweets and sours tailored to the body’s constitution, combined with intense work, effort, and swift movement, prevents stagnation, mental sluggishness, and cognitive disruptions. Such a lifestyle ensures dynamic thought and diverse perceptions, shielding the individual from inertia and intellectual decline.

An individual benefiting from dietary variety is equipped to engage with the most complex subjects, achieving deep understanding without superficiality. Beyond preserving health, dietary variety bestows beauty and dignity to the countenance, fostering a sweet and fulfilling life with ease and momentum. Conversely, dietary monotony can lead to constipation, darkened skin, and an unattractive appearance, rendering life unsatisfying and burdensome.

Habituation to monotonous foods and adherence to a uniform diet impose a form of dietary tyranny, subjecting the body to pressure and rendering life nauseating. Repetitive foods—such as rice, bread, and pasta—not only degrade physical appearance but also impair cognition. The verse by Rumi, “O brother, you are all thought; the rest is but bone and root,” is inaccurate, as even bones, the stomach, intestines, and every cell are imbued with nerves and unique messages. Every thought, visual or auditory perception, imparts a distinct form to the individual, akin to the transformative abilities of jinn. Just as thoughts, aspirations, and desires vary, so too do the foods suited to each individual, shaping their unique form and visage.

Each person’s diet must be varied to prevent the human collective from succumbing to dietary despotism. Otherwise, the body may develop a lasting aversion to foods forced upon it, and correcting this sensitivity or restoring balance to the body’s immune responses is exceedingly challenging.

An individual whose stomach or body emits an odor, or whose physique is impure, produces knowledge that is similarly tainted. According to the principle of collective cognition, each person thinks through their manifest presence and environmental signals. Not only the body and psyche but also food, clothing, others, the environment, and climate influence thought, shaping one’s inner essence, directing cognition, and forming identity and personality.

Based on the collective nature of human behavior and perceptual capacity, we exchange language, words, and glances, capable of unsettling or toxifying one another. An individual with an unhealthy body produces unhealthy knowledge, generating superstitions. Superstitions and distortions in knowledge may stem from a weak, diseased stomach or an impure body. Truthful and accurate discourse cannot emanate from an ailing or unhealthy physique. The stomach and brain are so intricately linked that they can be regarded as twin pillars of human inquiry and knowledge. Time and resources must be genuinely invested in proper nutrition, as this investment equates to cultivating sound knowledge and accurate thought.

Food is absorbed by the body only when dietary variety is maintained, and the stomach approaches food with desire, affection, and willingness, rather than being coerced. A stomach deprived of variety rejects food, harboring resentment in an atmosphere of negativity and reluctantly accepting forced sustenance. Such individuals, failing to consume foods suited to their needs, develop an addictive compulsion to drink excessive water, sodas, or other liquids with meals to expedite the expulsion of repetitive foods. Even foods prepared and consumed only once or twice annually, if lacking variety, are rejected by the stomach, which cannot digest or absorb them willingly.

Types of Nourishments

The nourishments essential for the body are categorized into four primary groups. If we divide bodily nourishments into material and spiritual sections, the material nourishments are further subdivided into three categories: high-energy condiments, voluminous foods, and semantic nourishments. The spiritual nourishments, such as prayer and recitations, will be discussed independently in terms of supplication and devotion.

1. Low-Volume but High-Energy Nourishments

These include items like the elixir of youth, previously mentioned, as well as condiments and spices such as saffron, salt, garlic, onions, various seasonings, tea, fruit juices, and snacks. Although these should be consumed daily, moderation is key to avoid excess or deficiency. Their consumption enhances the senses, emotions, and human awareness.

Daily intake of energizing and invigorating foods, provided moderation and balance are observed, poses no harm to the body. On the contrary, they act as a purge against waste, toxins, and microbes in the stomach, cleansing it and rejuvenating the heart, stomach, intestines, skin, and other organs. Neglecting these foods, particularly vegetables and fruits, leads to a decline in vitality, resulting in bodily weakness and lethargy.

2. Voluminous Foods with Ordinary Energy

Foods such as rice, meat, and bread fall into this category, which can generally be consumed in large quantities daily. In the self-care system, it is crucial to ensure these foods are consumed adequately to build bodily strength, preventing hunger-induced stress while avoiding overeating.

It should be noted that this food group is more suitable for laborers and those engaged in physical activities rather than academic or intellectual groups. In the self-care system, strict raw-food or vegan diets are not recommended, as they may harm the body. However, excessive consumption of cooked foods is also unsuitable. Whenever possible, one should utilize various fruits, vegetables, herbs, and hygienic wild plants that have been thoroughly cleaned and washed.

Raw, unprocessed foods are less harmful to the body; hence, it is preferable to consume vegetables and fruits in their raw, uncooked, or unpreserved forms. Humans should not overconsume these voluminous foods, nor should the stomach be turned into a storehouse for excessive amounts of animal meats, rice, bread, and legumes beyond the body’s needs. These foods must be made digestible through exposure to clean air and exercise, transforming them into nourishment for the body. The body should not become addicted to the pleasure of overeating these foods. Overindulgence in voluminous foods, even with ordinary physical activity, is the root of various diseases, leading to excessive reliance on medications. Such a body becomes incapable of acquiring knowledge, learning, thinking, or researching.

Excessive consumption of these foods results in overactivity of the stomach, digestive system, liver, and other bodily organs, leading to their long-term paralysis, stagnation, weakness, premature aging, and shortened lifespan. The human body can only absorb a portion of the energy from food, expelling the excess. Frequent expulsion of excess food accelerates the aging of involved organs.

Overeating these foods fosters habits such as sleeping on the stomach, which weakens the spine to the extent that it cannot support the individual’s weight during sleep. Consumption of these voluminous foods should be regulated through healthy breathing in fresh air, exercise, willpower management, and ample intake of vegetables and fluids to break the habit of over-reliance on these foods. Sandwiches, for example, fulfill minimal bodily needs and cater to the whims of a pampered stomach. Such cravings can be controlled by consuming water, fluids, and abundant vegetables, ensuring the stomach and palate do not chase insatiable satisfaction and maintain moderation during consumption.

Addiction to the pleasure of eating is akin to some individuals’ obsession with accumulating wealth, driven by greed and avarice, hoarding without addressing necessary consumption. The body, like a vessel, once filled, accepts nothing more. If the stomach becomes a stable for abundant food, it can no longer accommodate knowledge, divine commandments, or worship of God. Even health and strength are not achieved through overeating meat and rice; rather, the body becomes a breeding ground for microbes and diseases.

Moreover, excessive consumption of various foods increases demand, saturating the market with low-quality products. This has left some hospitals struggling to provide high-quality food for patients during pandemics. Overconsumption of these foods by the wealthy, who both overeat and prepare several times more than needed, constitutes wastefulness, depriving the needy and underprivileged of their rightful share. The consequences of such wastefulness and the illicit expenditure of excess wealth manifest as rampant disease, arrogance, resentment, and malice within the body, robbing individuals of comfort, joy, and the happiness of life. Ultimately, eating for mere pleasure is a gradual surrender to the body’s demise, akin to an addiction like opium use or alcohol consumption. The pleasure of eating that fulfills a value is valuable, but pleasure without meeting any need or value, resulting in affliction and disease, is an unjust whim.

It is not the case that overeating foods like meat makes the body healthier or stronger, nor does possessing such consumption equate to dignity. Such possession and consumption bring nothing but harm and affliction to the body. Tranquility and health are not achieved through excessive consumption and overeating; rather, chastity and sufficiency are the criteria for health. Failure to adhere to this principle leads to misery and neurological and psychological disorders, which are the root of many diseases and increase the likelihood of ailments such as cancer.

3. Semantic Nourishments

These are subtle and delicate nourishments, such as joy, humor, and participation in constructive national and religious festivals like Nowruz and Yalda, provided they are free of destructive elements. They also include benefiting from clean and fresh air, as well as factors like love, fulfillment, inner purity, recitation, and the consumption of faith, guardianship, and connection to the Divine.

Appropriate consumption of foods from the first and third categories fosters restful and healthy sleep, balancing the body in most aspects. Breathing clean and fresh air, drinking pure water, engaging in recreation, leisure, exercise, and physical activity constitute the best methods of self-care for the body, ensuring health, beauty, and tranquility. Mornings should begin with fluids, followed by a few minutes of deep breathing in clean air, daily exercise, and consistent physical activity to keep the stomach clean and ensure proper elimination. This prevents the body from succumbing to toxins, complications from constipation, accumulation of microbes in the stomach and intestines, and maintains beauty and physical fitness.

Until the body’s material nutritional needs are met and it is healthy, the foundation for absorbing spiritual nourishments is not only unestablished but may, in the absence of health and balance in this domain, cause harm akin to a deadly poison. Semantic nourishments include fairness, courage, kindness, dignity, joy, contentment, faith, knowledge, religious rituals—especially prayer and prostration, which express ultimate respect and love for God—and various recitations, particularly Quranic recitations and reading the Holy Quran, as well as proximity to divine saints and even the consumption (grace) of God. Consuming God through proximity to Him imparts a divine flavor and strength to the consumer. One who partakes of God through closeness, vision, or attainment becomes robust, expansive, and endowed with ambition, power, and inner purity, easily transcending material and worldly concerns. However, those who lack God’s grace and fail to benefit from energizing and empowering practices like prostration and prayer remain trapped in weakness and frailty, entangled in the world with anxiety, confusion, diminished intelligence, lack of focus, scattered efforts, and deprivation. God and worship of the Divine grant humans strength, resilience, dignity, and invulnerability.

Compatible and Diverse Nourishments

If each individual identifies nourishments compatible with their stomach and consumes suitable foods, rather than a mother, spouse, or chef preparing uniform meals for the entire family, each person should have their own tailored diet. This is a facet of self-care, ensuring that everyone has nourishment suited to their needs, independent of others. Forcing all family members to adhere to a single dietary regimen or dress code signifies tyranny and authoritarianism.

Living in a stressful environment caused by suppression, monolithic pressures, and lack of diversity in food, clothing, and other behaviors reduces human lifespan and causes premature graying. An individual who imposes uniformity and dictatorship may suffer from inferiority complexes, deficiencies, mental impurities, cognitive issues, cowardice, or fear.

A child whose life choices—such as hairstyle, clothing, or color preferences—are dictated by parents loses their sense of taste, critical thinking, discernment, and creativity. Nothing should be imposed on anyone. Human nature resists coercion and seeks to engage in activities out of love, consuming everything from stone to pearl. However, humans welcome benevolent guidance and warnings delivered in a free and compassionate context, perceiving them as kindness and affection.

Alignment of Food with Nature

Food must align with an individual’s nature, physical constitution, capacity, destiny, sustenance, and age group, being relevant, compatible, and diverse to suit individual differences. This ensures it contributes to the individual’s survival and elevation. Nutrition in the self-care system must be tailored to the body and soul of each person, healthy, natural, and consumed with mindfulness and attention to both external senses and inner disposition to fulfill the right of nourishment. Each person’s food should be selected by their natural system in a free and correct state, not by someone else, such as a spouse or a healer unfamiliar with the body’s natural system.

The appropriate food for a child or any individual is one they enjoy and consume willingly. A child should never be forced to eat a specific food. Society should pursue the industry of utilizing various permissible meats, including land and sea animals, birds, and grazers, leveraging the therapeutic properties of all animals, as each possesses unique healing qualities. Consuming an animal, like pruning a tree, fosters industrial mass production and economic justification for breeding.

Monotony in diet, especially when enforced with coercion or insistence, and tainted by dictatorship and tyranny, engenders psychological complexes, disorders, and nausea. Forcing an animal to eat a specific food, even if of the highest quality, creates psychological issues in the animal. Consuming the products or meat of such an animal transfers its disorders to the consumer. For instance, consistent consumption of wild animal meats like lion or leopard, insects, or waste can generate heightened strength and authority, enabling one to subdue malevolent forces but at the cost of losing inner purity and eternal salvation.

Engaging in sports and intense physical activity also elevates and transforms human potential. One who sleeps excessively or remains sedentary, even if not inherently dull, succumbs to mental sluggishness. However, a child who wakes early and stays active sheds some of this dullness.

Diversity in manufactured goods and the fashion industry is a key factor in the success of worldly individuals and economic development. Among animals, flies feed on human waste, and peacocks feed on flies. Human waste, rich in diverse nutritional interactions, imparts beauty to the fly-eating peacock through complex dietary synergy. Human waste is highly valuable for plants and trees. Dietary monotony in humans leads to premature aging, facial unattractiveness, despair, and dejection. Such an individual’s eyes convey a message of death. Lack of dietary diversity turns the intestines into a fertile ground for worms that can disrupt brain function, hindering academic progress. These worms, which vary in type, may cause loss of appetite, fatigue, or intestinal blockages and constipation. Their symptoms may remain silent, operating covertly in the intestines. Parasitic worms affect the brain or protein absorption, reducing it in the host, and can feed on the brain from the intestines, impairing consciousness, focus, learning, and memory. Dietary diversity or drinking cool water on an empty stomach are among the best ways to combat intestinal worms and their detrimental effects. In such individuals, the brain is controlled by the stomach, intestinal worms, and the vapors and gases of waste and spoiled materials.

Through alchemical knowledge, metals like iron or even stones can be melted, and the essence or elixir of life can be extracted from the molten liquid under specific conditions. Consuming a single drop daily under special circumstances can render one invulnerable, ensuring survival for centuries. Those with exceptionally long lifespans may possess formulas for life-sustaining nourishments, distinct from the ordinary consumption of common people.

Dietary care encompasses both pre-consumption and post-elimination phases. It is necessary to examine urine and feces with a clinical perspective, considering medically significant signs to avoid subjecting the body to the tyranny of dietary imposition. To achieve this—i.e., to gauge bodily health—periodic urine, blood, and other necessary tests and checkups are essential.

Alignment of Food with Work

Occupational groups require dietary programs tailored to the lightness or heaviness of their jobs, as uniform diets across diverse professions harm the body. Academic groups should avoid heavy foods in their nutritional plans to ensure the brain, in harmony with a stomach under minimal strain, can extract necessary energy from foods, preventing mental and bodily lethargy. A laborer engaged in heavy work requires heavy foods to avoid quick hunger. Failure to observe these alignments reduces cognitive and memory capabilities, diminishing sensory and intellectual acuity. Affected individuals may struggle to comprehend even the simplest matters, requiring constant repetition. The Holy Quran addresses part of nutritional engineering as follows:

“Eat and drink with pleasure for what you have accomplished.” (Surah At-Tur, 19)

This noble verse implies that one should work to earn their rightful sustenance, as consuming without labor equates to usurping others’ rights. It also suggests that without physical activity, one should not eat, as this damages and sickens the body. The nutritional needs of heavy labor differ from those of sedentary jobs, which require lighter dietary regimens.

Balance and proportionality must be maintained between nourishment and physical activity, or else disharmony will damage bodily organs. Food intake should correspond to activity levels. Those with higher daily activity require more food throughout the day, while those active at night should eat more during the night. Eating and drinking should align with the level of physical work. Moderate and appropriate nourishment ensures quality of life, health, beauty, longevity, and enhanced intelligence and senses.

The notion that an individual’s work determines their nourishment implies that work provides a natural system for eating and drinking. Each person must consume the fruits of their labor, as every task aligns with their nature. Sustenance must be earned according to one’s nature, or else the acquired nourishment does not become their rightful sustenance, failing to integrate into their essence, leaving them perpetually hungry and unfulfilled. Adhering to the balance of work, nourishment, and other aspects of life allows individuals to derive satisfaction from their sustenance and needs within the interconnected universal system, finding nourishment a source of psychological tranquility and blessing. Otherwise, mere consumption, even amidst abundant resources, breeds unrest, and wealth fails to become a blessing. A blessing signifies wholesomeness, tranquility, contentment, and a source of joy and fulfillment.

Food must align with one’s profession. An individual pursuing knowledge and intellectual activity should consume saffron and pistachios daily, not meat and rice, which burden and lock the stomach. A laborer should eat hearty dishes like abgoosht to maintain arm strength and work capacity. Those with weak backs should avoid hazelnuts, while those with strong backs should consume apples.

Proper bodily nutrition, like prayer—a spiritual nourishment—contributes to beauty and attractiveness. A body that derives its beauty from exercise, suitable nutrition, scientific consumption of semantic matters, and avoidance of forbidden items never requires cosmetic surgery to achieve beauty.

Rapid Absorption Through Visual Engagement with Food

The absorption capacity of foods is a composite derived partially from the food’s inherent qualities, the consumer’s personality, their health or illness, strength or weakness, and the compatibility and alignment of the food with the consumer. The speed of food absorption and the body’s ability to replace and transform cells keep the body robust, resilient, vibrant, and youthful. Focusing on the color and texture of food during mindful eating can enhance digestion and increase the pleasure of eating. Mindful eating, by fostering mindfulness, can improve digestion.

The most potent mechanism for absorbing food, delivering it to the innermost subtleties of an individual, is the visual system—eyesight and perception. Thus, the eyes are more significant for absorbing and consuming food than the digestive system. By observing food and semantic matters in an environment free of stress, anxiety, and greed, and with minimal food intake, one can acquire the necessary strength and energy. This explains the correlation between intelligence quotient and food quantity, as individuals with higher intelligence consume less food. Eating in a calm environment without distractions can reduce stress and improve one’s relationship with food. A serene environment, by lowering stress hormones, enhances this relationship.

Absorbed food transforms into imagination, intellect, inner awareness, and their quality. If it shapes an individual’s rational identity or heartfelt personality, it becomes an inseparable part of them, like a heartfelt recitation, eternally defining their essence and unifying with them, shaping the eternity and quality of their everlasting life.

Food itself can possess an inner essence, be pure, permissible, beautiful, endowed with grandeur, nobility, pleasant aroma, hygiene, and health. Such food can bring inner depth, greatness, health, elevation, energy, and pleasure. Therefore, food must first be permissible to then manifest its dominant qualities as energizing and pleasurable.

The focus during eating—whether on love, purity, semantic or divine matters, or on current authority and superiority, or perceiving oneself as destitute—not only shapes the individual’s personality but also the personality of the food consumed. Through mental perceptions and inner content, humans can connect with and utilize food or fail to absorb it. For example, someone averse to a particular type of meat cannot focus on it or assimilate it into their body. An individual’s strength and authority depend on the potency and personality of the food they consume.

The primary mechanism for food absorption is the eyes and visual perception, followed by the sense of smell, and then the stomach. The eyes not only absorb conventional nourishments but, through observing others, integrate their traits into the observer’s nourishment, transferring their temperament to the observer’s intellect, mind, inner essence, and heart.

Foods and fruits should first be carefully observed. Food aims to nourish both the body and the soul. It reaches the soul and psyche faster through the eyes than through the stomach. Foods and drinks should first be seen, gazed upon for a while, and their aroma inhaled before consumption begins; otherwise, the soul and inner essence derive no benefit from them. This is akin to lighting a fire for warmth: one feels more warmth when looking at it than when not, as the sense of sight surpasses other external senses in conveying meaning.

A clear example is an addict’s gaze at narcotics, where their eyes misuse it, deriving satisfaction from the sight alone. In addiction, the body succumbs to a harmful habit. An addict indifferent to gourmet dishes like kebabs or stews finds satisfaction and fulfillment merely from seeing narcotics before misuse.

Prolonged, repeated gazing at a flower softens one’s temperament. Similarly, sitting at a table with alcohol and looking at it afflicts the body with the harmful effects of liquor.

Immersion in Food: A Comprehensive Guide to Self-Care Nutrition

The self-care system of nutrition is activated when an individual meticulously observes food before consumption, engaging in a form of visual reverence and affection. This practice fosters an intimate connection with the food, establishing a visual bond. Following this ocular engagement, the stomach and body form a harmonious affinity with the food, allowing the individual’s inner essence to consume and be satiated by it. Consequently, the eyes and heart derive satisfaction and pleasure, achieving fulfillment. Individuals who eat hastily, impulsively, or excessively are afflicted with a malaise that initially manifests in their psyche.

The Power of Visual Consumption

The eyes possess the capacity to consume and assimilate food through precise observation, deriving pleasure from the act. Optimal food consumption occurs when an individual achieves immersion in eating, with their entire attention devoted to the meal. The more frequent these moments of immersion, the greater the potential for increased longevity. Through immersion, one can perceive the hues and flavors of the universe, tasting the divine essence within creation, unified in its essence. This reflects the boundless consciousness and unceasing collective awareness of humanity, capable of assimilating all things.

The penetrative power of the eyes surpasses that of air in swiftly delivering food to the body and its inner essence. A single glance can wholly and rapidly transform an individual’s identity, reshaping them through internal reflections and reverberations, rendering them a different person. Just as certain infectious diseases are transmitted through air and respiration, some ailments—particularly psychological disorders and ethical aberrations—are conveyed through sight and observation. A contagious glance or a transmittive vision can afflict and ensnare the observer.

The act of smelling food follows visual engagement. The stomach plays a lesser role in food absorption; relying solely on it, without beholding the food or savoring its aroma, results in waste and squandering, failing to truly possess the nourishment.

The Etiquette of Eating

Speaking during meals is discouraged to allow the eyes to meticulously observe and revere the food, entrusting it to the body’s self-care system. This system discerns the spirit and essence of the food—more vital than its physical form—through such visual reverence, integrating it with the body. An individual who incessantly converses or watches television while eating, consuming the essence of others’ words or images instead of the meal, introduces these distractions into the body and stomach, causing disarray. This can contribute to disturbed sleep, with visions of graveyards, death, shrouds, or entrapment in confined spaces like bathrooms or elevators, where escape is unattainable and assistance absent. Such a person, whose gaze wanders freely during meals, may dream of the dead, graveyards, or predatory beasts, inseparable from these disturbances.

The Holy Quran instructs: “Let man observe his food” (Surah Abasa, 24). This directive emphasizes that humans should examine their sustenance with precision, attention, and significance, surrendering it to the body’s self-care system through visual reverence and immersion. This orderly and methodical process prepares the individual to consume the food with intention, choice, and alignment with their disposition.

This noble verse advocates self-care concerning vision and observation. The gaze involves analyzing, dissecting, and evaluating the food’s quality, effects, dominant properties, and the joy derived from engaging with it attentively. Such attention ensures that lawful sustenance, belonging to the individual, is consumed with purity, free from greed or haste.

The eye is a system capable of instantaneously transforming the material food on the table, according to the capacity of the inner essence, into subtlety and abstraction before it reaches the stomach. Through a single glance, focus, and attention, it delivers nourishment to the mind, memory, subconscious, and innate disposition. Thus, the greatest consumption of the inner essence, its growth, and enrichment stem from sight, mental and heartfelt awareness, and environmental colors.

The Consumption of Colors

Certain vibrant foods are meant for visual consumption rather than ingestion, as the body assimilates them through sight and observation. In regions like India and China, the value of such foods is recognized, with colorful spreads arranged solely for the eyes. Not only does the human body and stomach require dietary diversity, but each organ demands its own suitable and varied nourishment. The eyes crave the sight of a beloved’s face, the beauty of the Holy Quran, and a variety of vibrant, uplifting colors. The ears seek the recitation of the Quran, the voice of a loved one, and melodic, soulful music.

Each color exerts a distinct influence on the eyes, nourishing them and imparting specific awareness and attention to the mind. The eyes require diversity in attire, fashion, and access to bright, cheerful colors to harness each hue’s properties, maintaining freshness and vitality in others’ eyes. This fosters personal development, expands diverse talents, and prevents nervous weakness or ennui.

Colors possess therapeutic or disruptive properties. Bright colors, such as white, cream, and lemon, are not only harmless to the nervous system but beneficial, strengthening it. White and light colors signify inner purity and clarity, akin to the consumption of knowledge or love, which purifies the soul. Conversely, dark and somber colors are unsuitable, inducing psychosomatic issues like obsession, lethargy, despair, anxiety, and distress. Distress, like disease, is a manifest quality, afflicting the body, psyche, and inner essence. Red, a dynamic and stimulating color, signals danger; prolonged exposure can weaken the nervous system.

In politics, a leader or government sustains stability and avoids stagnation by drawing on diverse power sources and varied executive programs.

Intimacy and Reverence for Food

Food that is regarded with attention and love, and is rightfully one’s own sustenance, generates profound affection, purity, and love. Conversely, neglecting food, particularly through wastefulness, disrespects it. Intelligent food becomes distressed and imparts this unease to the consumer. An example is stale bread discarded with waste and fed to cattle, resulting in dairy products with adverse effects. However, food produced and consumed with respect, love, and without greed or haste brings delight, as if encountering a cherished companion, naturally integrating into the consumer’s essence. Food, water, and air can embody love, perceiving and receiving the affection of their consumer. Many pure waters yearn to be drunk by their beloved.

Haste in eating should be avoided. Food consumed without sufficient attention, affection, or positive emotion, or eaten hurriedly without small bites and thorough chewing, leads to illness. Fast eating, lack of joy with food, neglect of visual and olfactory engagement, or consumption tainted by distress, sorrow, or anger—akin to impatient or hasty speech—disrupts the natural process. Such haste, resembling attention deficit or hyperactivity, is pathogenic, causing disorders and shortening lifespan.

An individual who eats with sorrow or distress inflicts pain upon themselves, corrupting the food and exhausting body and psyche. Some resort to medications or artificial energy sources to compensate. Attending to the food’s appearance, with eyes and organs engaging joyfully, driven by desire, appetite, gentleness, and vitality, leads to immersion in eating, where nothing but the food is perceived, free from coercion or haste.

Food must be consumed with tranquility and calm to foster love and immersion, infusing it with affectionate sentiment. This ensures the food imparts gentleness, purity, and health, preventing negative residues from affecting the body. Vessels, nerves, organs, and the inner essence benefit, fully absorbing and digesting the nourishment.

The Authority of Assimilation

The natural self-care system asserts that the eyes possess the authority of absorption and assimilation. Directly connected to the heart and soul, whatever is attentively observed is instantly absorbed by the inner essence, consumed through the eyes. This contrasts with stomach-consumed food, which undergoes a protracted process to become part of the essence. If an individual fails to first deliver food to their memory, will, and inner essence through attentive observation, the stomach alone cannot satisfy, leaving the psyche and essence hungry due to insensitivity, inattention, or preoccupation.

The Quranic injunction to observe one’s food underscores the eye’s penetrative power and the potential for any phenomenon to nourish the human soul. Observing others’ virtues or flaws transfers those qualities to the observer, who may eventually embody or commit them. Judging another for their flaws causes the observer to fall from divine favor. Conversely, one who increasingly appreciates others’ virtues progresses toward growth and divine proximity.

The gaze influences temperament. Prolonged observation of water reduces ingrained aggression. Gazing at greenery, beauty, religious scholars, divine scientists, or Quranic verses softens the heart’s hardness. Lack of delicate visual nourishment hardens the heart, rendering the individual harsh. Continuous observation of another unconsciously aligns the observer with them. Associating with a heretic gradually turns one into a heretic, while companionship with a divine saint fosters faith, as each consumes the other through their gaze. Every phenomenon has a divine decree, making it acceptable and sweet accordingly. One must avoid allegiance to illicit authority or those lacking divine sanction.

The Impact of Malnutrition on the Eyes

The eyes require nourishment, particularly through appropriate visual engagement, rendering them vibrant, joyful, beautiful, and endowed with quality, clarity, sweetness, blossoming, auspiciousness, and felicity. Properly nourished, they become lively, fresh, and pure, capable of beholding the Divine. Malnutrition causes the eyelids and eye sockets to contract, with many wrinkles around the eyes stemming from poor dietary habits. Adequate vegetable consumption keeps the stomach active, alleviating such issues. Nutrients like vitamin A and antioxidants are vital for eye health, as malnutrition can cause dryness or other complications.

Breakfast

Appropriate bodily nourishment is distributed across two primary meals: breakfast and afternoon snacks, with light intermediary snacks as needed. It is said that the morning morsel is the body’s anchor, a steadfast root that fortifies it against adversities and diseases. Skipping breakfast leads to self-consumption, depleting energy reserves, causing cerebral decline, and resulting in forgetfulness. Consistent consumption of a healthy, invigorating breakfast can prevent memory decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

Breakfast should commence with a healthy beverage, such as water or tea. Consuming solid food early in the morning strains the stomach, nerves, and vessels, akin to an individual bathing and experiencing redness in the eye’s corner, a sign of unhealthy nutrition. Such nutrition bursts numerous capillaries, though the body is equipped to repair them. A complete breakfast with eggs, whole-grain bread, and fruit boosts morning energy and concentration, supplying protein and carbohydrates.

Snacks

Snacks and light bites are essential for spiritual health and personal growth. Ascetic practices promoted by Indian, Chinese, or Buddhist mysticism, devoid of sweetness and imposing harsh, incompatible regimens, lack health, proximity, and fulfillment, rendering individuals harsh, extreme, and radical. Instead of asceticism, one should embrace care and self-care, taming the body and essence with gentleness, sweetness, and compatibility, progressing through harmony and acceptance.

To prepare the body and essence for solitude, remembrance, worship, and spiritual matters, snacks and light bites are necessary. Drinking tea or juice, eating fruit—especially grapes—or consuming dried plums polishes the inner essence, readying it for movement and elevation. This facilitates living with love, intimacy, purity, loyalty, and insight. Such care makes the body and essence receptive to spiritual matters, enhancing the quality of prayer or remembrance following such snacks, where minimal devotion yields profound energy.

Dried fruit and yogurt provide sustained energy, reducing hunger, while nuts as snacks help maintain blood sugar levels.

Vegetable Consumption

The essence of self-care lies in a nutritional system that provides clean air, fluids, vegetables, and essential vitamins and proteins. All food categories, especially plants and vegetables, must be consumed. Vegetables play a pivotal role in health, their high water content enhancing intelligence, senses, memory stabilization, and longevity. Vegetable consumption increases satiety, aiding obesity treatment, with diversity being a fundamental bodily need.

Neglecting vegetables contributes to dry skin and hair, just as excessive bread, rice, and meat weaken hair follicles, causing hair loss and skin dryness. Fresh, healthy vegetables strengthen hair roots and promote vibrant, hydrated skin. Vegetables like lettuce and cabbage effectively cleanse the stomach and intestines, facilitating waste elimination. Leafy greens like lettuce and spinach in meals provide fiber, improve digestion, and bolster immunity.

Failing to consume fruits and vegetables is akin to smoking—a gradual, imperceptible death. High-fiber diets (vegetables and fruits) and laxative teas like fennel promote toxin elimination, improve digestion, and prevent constipation, as fiber stimulates intestinal peristalsis.

A combination of basil, leek, and radish, which may cause bloating, is suitable. Watercress, though warming, is unsuitable due to its weakening effect. Vegetables include edible greens, stewed, frittata, or casserole varieties, as well as wild herbs, thorns, and flowers—consumed fresh, dried, or ground—comprising thousands of types, a rich nutritional source. Fruits are categorized alongside vegetables.

Thorns serve as both food and medicine, fortifying the body. Those with intuitive insight into herbs’ properties utilize them. While farmers cultivate vegetables, wild herbs and thorns are nurtured by nature, rendering them delectable. Ground thorns are consumable, akin to pure wine among intoxicating purifiers, without inducing hangovers or intoxication.

Wild herbs and forage detoxify animals from contaminants and diseases, particularly in those living naturally, not fed industrial feed. Natural forage and herbs purify animals of microbes. Although the human tongue is a primary disease vector, many animals cleanse and disinfect wounds with their tongues, owing to the antimicrobial properties of forage and herbs. Humans, not being herbivorous, risk infection by licking wounds, but herbs, thorns, and flowers effectively cleanse the stomach. Thorn infusions reduce or eliminate bad stomach and body odors, enhancing vitality, strength, and longevity.

Bread Consumption

The body requires whole-grain bread, which cannot be eliminated from the diet. The healthiest bread is stone-baked sangak, engineered by Sheikh Bahai. Whole-grain barley bread strengthens and builds muscle, though ample vegetables and fruits must accompany it to prevent constipation. Whole-grain bread, unlike white bread, improves digestion and controls blood sugar.

Iranian breads are among the densest foods, challenging the stomach to break down and the intestines to eliminate, unsuitable for those prone to constipation. If imported wheat is improperly stored on ships with excessive salt for preservation, the resulting bread may induce diabetes or narcissism. Combining bread with rice is detrimental, as excessive rice consumption causes abdominal distension, pressure, and elevated blood sugar. Abgoosht broth containing such bread suits those with heavy physical activity. Light foods like barley soup, avoiding heavy meals, reduce digestive stress and enhance mental health.

Excessive bread consumption harms appearance, dulling skin tone—especially under the eyes—and internal organs, particularly the stomach. Even sangak, the finest bread, should not be overconsumed. Periodically, for one to two weeks, bread and rice consumption should be minimized or eliminated to reduce weight and strengthen willpower, increasing healthy vegetables or dairy instead.

A spiritually nourishing dish suitable for all stomachs is dried bread with yogurt, greens, and a pinch of salt, without soaking the greens in yogurt. This delicate dish purifies the body, imparting gentleness. Dried bread produces a soothing melody for the ears, delighting and fortifying the body’s foundation.

Wheat and flour may lack hygienic storage conditions in silos. Nations must enforce robust standards for storing foodstuffs like wheat and olives; otherwise, diseases from unhealthy foods proliferate, increasing medication reliance proportional to food consumption. People are forced to sustain themselves with coercive drugs rather than living through food. The foundation of bodily resilience lies in proper nutrition and adequate sleep. Just as a vehicle cannot move without fuel, humans, through healthy nutrition and bodily fortification, can prevent numerous disorders and diseases.

Cooking Rice and Stews

Cooking rice requires adherence to proper etiquette, recognizing that all existence possesses life, intelligence, and awareness. Rice must be treated with respect during preparation. When boiling rice, avoid inserting a spatula, which breaks the grains, inducing stress akin to an intrusive force. Consuming such rice, shocked and faint, may cause anxiety and psychological unease. Instead of a spatula, add cold water to move the rice and check its readiness.

When placing a lid on the pot for steaming, ensure the rice experiences a harmonious process. Abruptly removing the lid during steaming frightens the grains, causing displacement and spoilage. The most flavorful rice is the middle layer, especially the bottom crust. The surface, exposed to air, lacks the distinctive taste prized by discerning eaters. Water-drained rice and light soups ease digestion by reducing digestive load.

Rice, particularly non-native varieties, is like a crab, tenaciously clinging to the body, akin to the iron-like persistence of bread, resisting expulsion. Imported rice has less starch, but Iranian rice, high in starch, elevates blood sugar and fat. Iranian rice aids kidney cleansing, while foreign rice, especially Indian varieties incompatible with Iran’s climate, weakens nerves and induces aggression. Food must originate from one’s region and soil—true sustenance—ensuring compatibility. Consuming imported food, even if palatable, shortens lifespan.

Mixing various legumes in a dish like ash exerts excessive pressure on the body, heavier on the stomach than rice or bread. Consuming eggs and legumes, like meat, bread, and rice, bombards the stomach.

Comprehensive Guide to Nutritional Self-Care

Dairy Consumption

Healthy and pure dairy products, prepared under stringent standards, must unequivocally be included in the dietary regimen. Milk contaminated with animal excrement or transported in unsanitary containers is unhygienic. If not adequately purified through proper boiling, it can transmit animal-borne contaminants to humans. The salt added to dairy products such as cheese is a significant contributor to impaired vision. Fermented foods like yogurt and probiotics can enhance gut flora, improve nutrient and vitamin absorption, and facilitate digestion. Consuming low-fat yogurt and cheese strengthens bones and promotes a healthy gut microbiome.

Bone and Bone Marrow

The bone marrow of sheep, camels, and cows is a refined, delicate, and uplifting food, imbued with spiritual significance and approaching fragility. It is a concentrated amalgamation of nutrients transformed into marrow, highly purified and refined to the verge of abstraction. It encapsulates all the potency and energy expended by the animal to produce this marrow in a dense and accumulated form. Similarly, muscle meat possesses even greater clarity and refinement. However, excessive meat consumption can engender callousness of the heart. Bone broth, rich in collagen and minerals, or traditional abgoosht, can fortify bones and enhance joint health. Bone broth can be packaged for breakfast consumption, enhanced with wholesome condiments like natural tomato paste or onions for added flavor. Individuals with high cholesterol may pair it with citrus juices such as orange or lemon. Bone marrow consumption is particularly beneficial for pregnant women in the eighth and ninth months, as it strengthens and enhances fetal development.

Bovine Products

The consumption of cow’s milk, dairy products, and beef is inadvisable. Among animals, cows exhibit a lower level of consciousness and awareness, ranking significantly below other creatures, including donkeys. Consequently, ducks, geese, and chickens can easily perturb a cow. Lacking self-restraint, a cow may eat to the point of death, necessitating restraint to prevent overconsumption of grass and fodder. Bovine dairy and meat induce lethargy, weakness, and premature aging, while also detrimentally affecting skin appearance. Although lean beef can provide high-quality protein and support muscle growth and strength, powdered milk is similarly undesirable.

Poultry Consumption

Vitamins and proteins possess both a physical dimension, as acknowledged by conventional science, and an intrinsic dimension that defines their essence and specific effects. By considering this intrinsic dimension, foods can be categorized. For instance, the intrinsic energy of poultry meat or eggs surpasses that of bovine products, which lack such vitality. Contemporary poultry, fattened with hormones, contributes to hair loss and memory impairment. These chickens, subjected to artificial day-night cycles, authoritarian conditions, and insufficient sleep, become stressed, transferring psychological disturbances to consumers. Industrial poultry can be raised in humane, adaptive, joyful environments superior to natural conditions, provided the focus is not solely on profit but also on quality. Consuming such skinless, cooked poultry can provide lean protein and enhance energy levels.

Camel Products

The optimal substitute for cow’s milk is camel milk, which, like pure and sacred intoxicants, empowers the soul, induces vitality, and purges impurities. Camel milk strengthens the immune system and improves digestion. Camel urine, when pure and naturally colored, is as efficacious as its milk in treating numerous ailments and nervous debilities. For consumption, it should be chilled with ample ice and a few drops of lemon juice to neutralize its odor. This potent tonic reveals its strength and efficacy after several months. Camel urine, an essence derived from the camel’s hump, is free from the animal’s fear or anxiety, having been filtered through millions of renal valves, akin to tears in its purity. It is untainted by sediments. Miners and those working underground can wash their eyes with camel urine before descending to protect their vision, as it enhances ocular clarity. For mountaineers or individuals enduring prolonged periods in desolate deserts, camel urine prevents thirst and hunger, offering a permissible alternative to illicit substances like whiskey. It can be combined with a formula for sacred wine to create a potent elixir that inspires poetic ecstasy, as discussed elsewhere. The fat from a camel’s hump is the finest natural analgesic and sedative for pain, particularly for arthritis, joint pain, and varicose vein treatment, free from opium, narcotics, acids, or toxins. Unlike sheep tail fat, which is diluted with water, camel hump fat is pure and unadulterated.

Consumption of Pickled Foods

Moderate and balanced consumption of pickled foods serves as a potent cleanser of the body, particularly the stomach, eliminating various microbes and fortifying the system. Pickles made with natural vinegar aid digestion and provide probiotics. Vinegar, grape juice, lemon juice, and other acidic substances, like garlic, eradicate bodily microbes and break down fats. High-salt pickles lose their beneficial properties; homemade pickles with minimal salt are preferable. Daily, moderate consumption of lemon juice or grape juice, mixed with food or water, along with apples or orange juice, prevents illness, dispels lethargy, and invigorates the body. Regular use of lemon juice is recommended, with sweet lemons being the most digestible among citrus fruits. Consuming lemon juice or other acidic liquids after meat mitigates its adverse effects. Pickles prevent bodily frailty and osteoporosis, imparting strength, vitality, and youthfulness. Individuals deprived of pickles are prone to premature aging. Pure, unadulterated sumac, a tart, purple spice with calming properties, can alleviate fungal infections, enhance immune function, prevent cellular degradation and osteoporosis, and regulate female hormones. Some individuals may experience sensitivity to sumac, leading to digestive issues or allergic reactions, and it may interact with certain medications, necessitating consultation with a healthcare provider. Those unable to tolerate pickles likely suffer from an underlying condition. Individuals with obesity and excessive sleepiness, particularly prone to sleeping face-down—a sign of cerebral lethargy—often lack an appetite for pickles. Excessive or imbalanced pickle consumption can weaken the nervous system. Pickles are unsuitable for pregnant women, as they may impair fetal brain development.

Consumption of Sweets

Consuming sweets without incorporating pickles into the diet weakens the body, rendering it lethargic and frail. Sweets concentrate energy in the body while depositing impurities in the intestines, blood vessels, and nerves, akin to scale buildup in water coolers. These deposits attract and store concentrated energy, contributing to obesity.

Salt

Salt, with its acidic properties, is a purifying condiment. When used immoderately, it damages the stomach, intestines, nerves, and blood vessels, contaminating food and rendering it devoid of nutritional value. Most foods naturally contain ample salt, and additional salt should rarely be used. Excessive salt consumption causes hair whitening, osteoporosis, constipation, and hair loss, transforming it into one of the most dangerous toxins. Individuals with high blood sugar tend to crave more salt, finding unsalted food tasteless. High sodium levels are associated with elevated blood lipids, blood sugar, hypertension, and an increased risk of cerebrovascular events and cardiovascular diseases. To flavor food, compatible spices and condiments such as garlic, cinnamon, ginger, and saffron can be used.

Saffron and Pepper

Saffron consumption prevents strokes, cleanses, and opens blood vessels. Due to its active compounds, such as crocin, saffron exhibits antioxidant, antidepressant, and memory-enhancing effects. Without saffron, the skin gradually becomes dull and darkened. Saffron reduces sleep duration and regulates appetite. It must be soaked in water for at least thirty minutes to dissolve properly. Excessive consumption can be harmful. Alternatively, saffron roots, lighter than the stigmas, can be used, for instance, in abgoosht, to incorporate saffron into the diet. Professionally prepared abgoosht, cooked without mashing its contents, is highly palatable. In rare cases, combining saffron and honey may cause adverse reactions in some individuals, though generally, this combination is beneficial. Saffron enhances brain function, memory, mental health, digestion, and skin health. Excessive or imbalanced saffron consumption, like overuse of pepper, stimulates and subsequently weakens the nervous system, producing counterproductive effects, similar to correcting low blood sugar with sugary drinks or chocolate. Saffron, along with turmeric, black pepper, red pepper, ginger, and cinnamon, is a potent condiment when used in moderation. Pepper, with specific formulations, can address certain skin conditions. However, excessive or imbalanced pepper consumption across all three daily meals, like saffron, dries, ages, and wrinkles the skin, rendering an individual aggressive and irritable within two weeks. Conversely, neglecting saffron consumption once or twice monthly leads to lethargy, weakness, despair, and premature aging.

Olives

Combining olives with saffron or honey creates a vitalizing and energizing blend. Edible olives lubricate the excretory system, acting as a laxative and cleansing the digestive tract. High-quality olives, exposed to ample sunlight, are soft, light, large, and cottony, with small pits relative to their size. High-quality, sun-ripened olive oil from large, soft, cottony olives is highly effective for alleviating back pain, disc issues, arthritis, bone pain, nervous debility, and opening blood vessels. This healing property is absent in low-quality, small, hard olives. Mixing a small cup of such olive oil with a tablespoon of lemon juice and applying it to cracked skin, clogged pores, or sticky fingers heals, revitalizes, and clarifies the skin. For back pain relief, after applying the oil, cover the area with a plastic bag and rest in a warm environment, such as under a blanket, to facilitate absorption and healing. With consistent application, this method surpasses orthopedic treatments. High-quality, sun-ripened olives, inherently radiant, can warm, regenerate, and vitalize the body, imparting luster and life.

Garlic

Garlic strengthens the body and constitution, preventing arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis, thus regulating blood flow. It mitigates vascular blockages that obstruct circulation. Garlic lowers blood pressure and treats inflammation and stomach ulcers. To benefit from garlic, it must be chewed, not swallowed whole, as this negates its efficacy and does not address bad breath. The body only accepts food that has been chewed, and swallowing unchewed food imposes strain. Bad breath from garlic may indicate an unhealthy or contaminated stomach, where garlic exacerbates odor in the presence of dead deposits. A healthy stomach naturally expels bad odors. Consuming one garlic clove daily disinfects the body. Garlic and onions, due to their sulfur compounds and antioxidants, promote cardiovascular health and reduce inflammation.

Onions

Onions impart vitality and freshness, alleviating fatigue and soothing sore throats. Daily consumption of small amounts of onions eliminates harmful bodily microbes. Onions primarily enhance the body’s receptivity and the mind’s absorptive capacity, improving signal transmission and message reception. Garlic or onions can relieve urinary burning, and their moderate consumption is harmless. Large onions are unsuitable; onions should be small, like scallions or radishes. Spicy onions are preferable but should be consumed to avoid stressing the gums.

Walnuts

Paper-shelled walnuts, large, soft, and thin with abundant, easily separable kernels, are expansive and rich in fats that may even possess anti-cancer properties. Small, hard-to-crack walnuts with minimal kernels are constrictive, dry, and astringent, lacking such benefits, making their purchase wasteful. Despite being a fatty nut, walnuts’ pure oil has fat-dissolving properties. Ground walnut shell flour is an exceptional elixir for bodily vigor, preventing osteoporosis, strengthening joints, and enhancing sexual potency. Its consumption requires specific guidance to avoid digestive disruption.

Nutrition for the Weak

Weak individuals cannot tolerate lettuce, which, like camphor, renders them frail, lifeless, and irritable. In military barracks, lettuce can replace camphor for soldiers. To strengthen the body, one may consume a teaspoon of caviar nightly, shrimp, or the entirety or half of a loin or fillet at once, though neck, shoulder, or thigh cuts are neither suitable nor fortifying. Among greens, chives, basil, radishes, and tasty cauliflower are strengthening, unlike mint or watercress. These greens can substitute for bread. In this regimen, high-quality, natural honey and soft or ground figs, mixed with minimal milk, tea, or slightly warm water to dissolve them, should be consumed once or twice weekly—not daily—as they are among the finest fortifiers.

Fetal Nutrition from the Mother

Fetal nutrition is derived from the mother through the placenta and umbilical cord, influenced by the amniotic fluid. Certain childhood ailments, such as jaundice, stem from infections in the amniotic fluid, resulting from the mother’s unhealthy diet. This underscores the necessity for mothers to prioritize their nutrition and adhere to a balanced dietary regimen to ensure a healthy child.