That body
I have to admit, I have a newfound respect for the human body after spending two hours last night, off and on, hacking my guts up from eating some tempeh. It's a fermented soy cake that's more nutritious than tofu. It's cheaper than the Morningstar Farms soy burgers I've been eating since forever, has more protein and fiber, and virtually no sodium. Basically a really healthy food, everything we're supposed to be eating. Except it tastes like shit to me and apparently I just can't stomach it, literally. That sucks too since it has some good stats.
My reverence for the body has been long-standing. When I was a kid I read a book about it and when I got to the part about the lungs I suddenly had a hard time breathing. Up until then it was just an automatic thing: you breathe, don't know how but you do. Trying to consciously control my breathing though made me appreciate the fact it's an automatic thing. The body's a product of millions of years of evolution, longer than that if you include the creatures we evolved from. It knows how to take care of itself and survive. There must've been something really disagreeable about that tempeh for my body to try so violently to get rid of it. Good stats or not it was just not for me to consume.
There are a few branching off points from here. One, focus on the wisdom of the body. Two, focus on individual bodily needs. When I say the wisdom of the body I'm referring to the years and years of encoded learning built into our genes. Vomiting is a survival mechanism. You eat something that looks otherwise fine to eat, but has some hidden bacterium, your body has learned in some cases it's best to just reject the whole meal. Better to get energy from fat stores than risk compromising itself trying to digest a new energy source. Particles enter your lungs that can compromise breathing, and hence surviving, it violently expels them via sneezing. Runny nose? Body trying to get of bacteria, viruses, particles, or in general foreign substances that would impair it.
It's a point to mention when you consider all the prescription drugs out there designed to tamp down on bodily processes that don't fit cultured society. Anti-histamines, decongestants, cough suppressants. Your body needs the very thing these drugs are trying to prevent to heal itself. Of course drugs almost always seem to focus on symptoms than causes. "Who cares why you're sneezing like crazy, coughing your lungs out, or whatever, just take this pill and it'll all be better." Of course the pill itself probably has a long litany of side-effects that have nothing to do with the symptom you're trying to control. Scientists study the body for a few hundred years and think they understand it enough to interfere with it.
The second point is that everyone is unique and responds differently to the same things. Not everyone exhibits side-effects from drugs, but some do. Not everyone can't handle tempeh, being eaten for hundreds of years proves many people can tolerate it. You have to listen to your body. Truth be told I knew within the first bite I didn't like tempeh, but since it was so healthy I was determined to like it. The sense of taste is cool because it makes things that are good for you pleasurable so you want to eat more of it. Sugary things are high in energy and so are highly desired by the body, and thus taste so good. Things that taste bad to you? Maybe you just don't like it, maybe your body detects it just doesn't jibe with that thing you're eating. Lactose intolerance just sprang to mind. Your body doesn't produce the lactase enzyme and milk will be hard to digest.
It's almost like we rent our bodies. As much as we think we're in control when extreme situations present themselves it takes over. But we can poison and abuse our bodies for years and it'll compensate the best it can. At some point a limit is reached and disease seems to manifest. In truth it's probably just the body could no longer compensate what was happening to it; exhausted its resources. Live fast and die young. There's certainly a harmonious interaction necessary for sustainability of the body. Especially if we have the ability to do things to it that are to its detriment.