A bit of Ayurvedic wisdom

The use of beneficial food is the only cause of growth of a person, while the use of food that is injurious is the cause of disease. It is in consequence of this deterioration that there took place a corresponding deterioration in the sap, purity, taste, potency, post-digestive effect and quality of seeds and plants. In this manner, righteousness dwindles in each succeeding age by one quarter... Until eventually the world comes to dissolution (and is reborn). ~Charaka Samhita