Believe in what you preach: tips on healthy food

How wise stories and educational fairy tales on healthy food can help one to heal - a true story about carrot juice and eyesight.

It seems that the only times when we pay attention to our mental and physical health are when our bodies cannot cope with the burdens, stresses and strains of life. These seem to harass us almost all of the time and it is at these times when we draw on the virtues of nature to provide us with miraculous cures. Just think though, if we were to acquaint ourselves with the wonderful qualities of nature early on in our childhood, then we may not come up against so many problems later in life.

After my hard and pressurising working-week I was so tired that I couldn't sleep properly. The following day I could not find my glasses. I needed them urgently to write a letter but I could not find them anywhere. Imagine my delight when I suddenly found that I could write without my glasses! What a miracle! I was utterly bemused by this for ages but then came to realise that this marvellous discovery was the result of my drinking a glass of fresh carrot juice every day.

Up to that point, I had taken several different supplements and vitamins to improve my eyesight but they didn't seem to make much of a difference. Could it be that the fresh carrot juice that I drank every morning had really provided a cure? I scolded myself, 'You tell everybody about healthy benefits of fruits and vegetables. You wrote so many fairy tales, stories and legends about the miracles of carrots and yet you can't believe in this miracle!' One day, teachers from a school in Russia sent us a letter telling us about how they had incorporated our fairytales into their children's lessons. They had brought a large pumpkin along to the lessons and told the children that 'Auntie Pumpkin' ruled the vegetable kingdom as she was the largest and most caring vegetable on the planet. They then told the children about the miracles that the green-eyed Auntie Pumpkin could make in her splendid orange dress; how she could cure painful joints and strengthen bones and bowels.

It wasn't long before parents started to complain. One mother moaned: 'My daughter won't let her father relax. He loves to lie down in front of the television after work but she keeps pulling at his sleeves to come into the kitchen and eat pumpkin. She was repeating all evening, 'Papa, now I know why you are always so tired. It is because you don't eat pumpkin. It is pumpkin which gives strenghth and energy!'

'My son keeps pestering me about pumpkins. Every day he wants to have it for dinner. He keeps saying, 'I don't want my teeth to turn bad.'In the past he would never eat pumpkin,' exclaimed another mother.

Here, we have evidence of what just one fairytale can do - it can make a profound and miraculous impression on children.

One day, I visited a school at lunchtime. The cooks were giving carrot salad to the children. When I saw how one boy pushed away his plate of salad with hatred in his eyes, I asked him, 'Do you know why gnomes like carrots more than gold?' At that point, all conversations in the dining hall stopped and all eyes turned to me. 'They really do like carrots more than gold.' I said again. 'In many countries they tell stories about how gnomes trade lumps of gold with woodcutters in exchange for delicious carrots.' - This is because there is vitamin A in carrots which helps people to grow big and strong. Gnomes grow very slowly so vitamins that can help them to grow quicker are more valuable to them that all the jewels on the earth. The vitamins in carrots can also help you to see perfectly. The light underground is very bad so gnomes' eyes suffer. Fresh carrot is a wonderful cure for them. If you want to see a gnome you should always go into the forest with some carrots.

After dinner, the school's cook told the teacher that everyone wanted extra helpings of carrot salad. 'They're probably up to some kind of mischief. We always have loads of salad left over.' The cook said.

It is strange but very often we receive letters from students from different colleges and schools who are writing essays and reports on healthy food and ask if we will allow them to use our illustrations of talking strawberries and playful bananas!

Our message to all: Dear friends, our fruits and vegetables do not only talk and play in our illustrations. They also talk and play in the fairytales and stories which tell us of their wonderful secrets. These wonderful gifts of nature will live in our hearts forever. All we must do is learn about their miraculous qualities and make use of them in our everyday lives.